Rage, Frenzy, and Fury: Going Berserk in Partholon

A berserker rage is a state of violent madness that can be induced through drugs, brain damage, or deliberate practice.

Rage

In a state of rage, you are filled with bloodlust and an urge for action and violence. It is difficult to concentrate or to keep patient.

• -2 Reaction for the team. Even if you keep your mouth shut your bristling, pacing, and glaring is overtly hostile.
• +2 to mind-based saves, including charm-type spells and monstrous fear effects. However, if an effect instills an altered state of emotion and you fail the save, this new emotion overrides your rage. 
• Overheating: If wearing chainmail or plate & chain, you will become fatigued (-2 attack & saves). If wearing basic plate, must adjust the fit for comfort, which reduces AC -2. (But if wearing no armor or using just a shield, gain a +1 AC bonus.)
• Difficulty concentrating on magic or delicate tasks; requires total concentration.
• Increased risk of chance encounters; Target Number of encounter checks increases by 1 as you find it difficult to keep quiet and patient.
• When combat begins, enter a state of Frenzy.

Frenzy

When a fight breaks out, the smoldering rage explodes into violence. Depending on the source of your Rage, a frenzy may be triggered in every combat or only under certain circumstances.

• +2 to Attacks.
• Upgrade weapon damage by one die type.
• Can't shoot but can throw.
• Resistant to mental effects such as charm and fear. (Some complex interactions happen here, noted below.)
• Any action besides attacking the nearest foe requires a mind-based save, and the +2 Rage bonus does not apply. This includes such actions as withdrawing, fleeing, defending, casting a spell, activating an artifact, or even moving past an opponent to attack a different one. 

Resistance to mental effects in a Frenzy must be adjudicated by the referee. Some guidelines:

• Ongoing effects continue, but new ones usually can't be introduced.
• New effects might only be delayed until the end of the frenzy, however.
• While in a state of frenzy, the Rage can't be overridden unless something dramatically changes the situation.

For example, a hag induces a few-based weakness in those who fail their save when they first see her. A berserker could be pushed out of Rage before entering into Frenzy. Once he enters a Frenzy, the arrival of more hags won't be able to end his Rage until it is spent. However, if the first hag doesn't appear until the berserker is already frenzying, her sudden appearance could be enough to end his Rage and his Frenzy at once, if he fails his save (which still benefits form the +2 Rage bonus).


Sources of Rage have different procedures and may alter specific interactions.

Mushroom Tea
A special concoction available for 25 silver pennies.

• Spend 1 turn preparing with a quaff of water and a source of heat (like a torch)
• Make a Body save (poison). Additional doses in one day will add a -2 cumulative penalty. 
• Pass: enter a Rage for 1 hour (6 turns). Frenzy in every combat. 
• Fail: spend 1 turn vomiting, suffer 1 damage per HD, become fatigued (-2 AP & Saves). 

Skull-cracked
Head injuries sustained when dropped to 0 hit points.

• Always in a state of Rage. 
• If an altered state is induced, will revert to Rage at the end of that effect's duration
• Frenzy only when fighting humans or human-like foes

Primal Fury
A feature of the Berserker subclass of fighter

• Invoke as a free action, in or out of combat, to enter a Rage. Frenzy in every combat. 
• After combat, may choose to make a Body save vs fatigue to sustain the Rage, or may let it go and revert to normal state of mind. 
• After 1 hour without combat, must choose to save & sustain or let the Rage go, as above.
• May renew invocation at cost of 1 hp per HD.
• Additional abilities, such as Renewed Rage and Relentless Rage, allow additional invocation of the Fury without the hp cost. 

Mages in Partholon

Art by Victoria Frances

Magic-users have always been my favorite fantasy archetype, which probably owes to seeing Willow at an early age.  I like to present the class as more sinister and mysterious than is typical of D&D campaigns these days, and to that end I've tempered the resource-management with an edge of risk-management.    

The Magic-user did not study at some school of wizardry, and she is not to be found behind the counter of a cozy magic shop. She learned her secret lore through a years-long and often lonely apprenticeship, and her mentor may well be the only other mage she has met in her life. When her apprenticeship reached its end, she was sent forth to test her spellcraft in the real world and earn her initiation into the ranks of the Adepts. Delving into buried ruins in search of lost treasure and forgotten artifacts is very possibly the most dangerous way to begin a career, but anyone too timid to face great risk in search of great reward should never have trucked with magic in the first place!

Although there are other techniques and traditions, the default form of spellcraft is Vornish Sorcery, which channels the power of dead-but-dreaming abominations from before the dawn of time to warp reality according to the sorcerer's will. Other traditions will be presented as sub-classes.

The mage is perhaps the most challenging class to play. With forethought and planning, she has potential to overcome almost any obstacle, but if not properly prepared can wind up being frustratingly helpless. This class will perform best with a distinct goal for each delve, and with long-term goals in mind throughout the campaign. To broaden her options, the player should expect to reinvest most of her treasure into arcane projects, and might be wise to hire retainers for bodyguards. Despite all of these challenges, a well-played magic-user can eventually become one of the most powerful and versatile characters in the campaign.

Basic Traits
Neophyte: From levels 1-3, the character is tasked with proving that her apprenticeship is complete. She is independent, succeeding or failing by her own skill, but she is not yet ranked as a full member of her sorcerous tradition. Her mentor, an NPC of at least 6th level, oversees her progress and remains available for consultation and occasional aid.

At the dawn of her career, the mage has a compendium containing the spells known as the "common grimoire" (Gloaming, Protection, Scrivening, and Sense Arcana) as well as one of the signature spells of the Vornish tradition (Charm, Decipher Script, Lock, and Sleep). A talented mage with Int of 9-12 will have learned two of these spells, while a gifted mage with Int of 13+ will have learned three. As she attains each new level, her mentor will teach her an additional spell until 4th level, at which point he shall give her a final spell as a sort of 'graduation present' and initiate her as an Adept.

Arcane Lore: When the mage encounters an artifact or an arcane phenomenon (an "arcanum"), there is a chance she will recognize it, or recall similar arcana that might provide a clue as to what she has encountered. She will need to examine the arcanum in some way - this may be as simple as looking closely at an artifact, or may require some sort of interaction (which may prove hazardous). If she can pass a Saving Roll, she will gain an insight into the arcanum's nature. She might predict one of an artifact's powers, or guess a likely incantation for a magic mirror, or realize why the dungeon corridors keep changing, etc.

Failing this, if the mage has an arcane toolkit with her, she may devote a turn to analyzing the occult resonance of the arcanum. By testing how different herbs and reagents react to the arcanum's presence, she may be able to divine its nature, gaining a second attempt at the roll.

The mage may research in a library (her own or her mentor's) to seek more insights. This is an all-day project, but the roll may enjoy a bonus depending on the library's rating (larger libraries, or libraries stocked with rarer tomes, will tend to yield better results).

Scrivening: During her apprenticeship, a mage relies on the Scrivening spell extensively in order to read arcane glyphs and runes, as well as to transcribe spells into her own compendium. Even when she has not formally memorized the complete formula, enough of the spell can be recalled that she can always cast Scrivening. However, without the complete formula, she cannot completely hide herself from the Things Outside that hunger for the life-force of mages. Casting Scrivening without memorizing it first always counts as Echoing the spell. 

Advanced traits
Adept: The mage can undertake simple arcane projects such as brewing potions and researching spells known to her tradition. (She is not yet able to discover original, unknown spells.) Her mentor remains an ally, but expects his pupil to be truly independent of his expertise. Calling on him for help may require trades of services or treasure, if only as a show of respect.

Arcane Instruments: The mage can imbue her magical essence into a staff and a dagger (called a "virge" and an "athame," respectively). Each arcane instrument is a magical weapon in its creator's hand, and she can sense its direction at any distance. While she carries either instrument, other magic-users can sense her arcane power, giving her a +1 reaction bonus. She can withdraw her essence from either instrument and imbue it into a new one, but the process takes 1d6 days. She can never have more than a single virge and a single athame at any time.


Magister: The mage can now take on advanced arcane projects, such as re-creating artifacts from the lore found in her library, or discovering original, previously-unknown spells. She can also take on an apprentice to assist her in these projects.

The apprentice begins as a 0-level retainer, typically working as a lackey to earn his keep (and to pay the costs of the spells taught to him). Once he has been given the Scrivening spell, he can assist in arcane projects and will earn a half-share of experience from that work. Normally, this would be the apprentice's only source of XP, but if he accompanies the Magister on adventures, he will be likely to advance very quickly indeed! Once he has earned 1,000 xp as an apprentice, he can be initiated to Neophyte status, but it is best to ensure he has more spells than just Scrivening in his compendium!

Presence: The mage now exudes a subtle but palpable aura of power. She gains +1 to Command and Leadership [number of retainers and retainer morale], while her enemies suffer -1 morale. She also enjoys a +1 on reaction rolls, as even her enemies are not eager to provoke her.

Cantrips: So long as she carries her arcane instruments, the mage can create very minor magical effects using the potential of items on or about her person. For example, if she carries a tinderbox, she can light a fire with a snap of her fingers; if she has coins in a pouch, she can drop them from an empty hand. If she has a torch in her backpack, she could carry an open flame in her hand, but the torch would still be consumed as though burned. In general, these cantrips are more showy than useful, and their effects do not extend beyond her person.

Arch-mage: An arch-mage is a sovereign power unto herself. She may build or seize a tower to serve as her seclusium and claim the surrounding lands as her domain. Only the strongest and most confident warlords will dare to dispute her claim; most will leave her to her own affairs, or even send gifts to curry her favor. 

Upon establishing her seclusium, she will attract the attention of several would-be students: 1-12 0-level supplicants and 1-6 journeymages (levels 1-3) seeking superior training.


The Magic-user

Level	XP	HD	AP		Traits	I	II	III	IV	V
1	0	1	1		Neophyte, Arcane Lore, Scrivening	1	-	-	-	-
2	2,500	+1 hp	1			2	-	-	-	-
3	5,000	2	1			3	1	-	-	-
4	10,000	+1 hp	2		Adept, Arcane Instruments	4	2	-	-	-
5	20,000	3	2			4	2	1	-	-
6	40,000	+1 hp	3		Magister	4	2	2	-	-
7	80,000	4	3		Weapon damage: 1d8	4	3	2	1	-
8	150,000	+1 hp	3		Presence, Cantrips	4	3	3	2	-
9	300,000	5	4			4	3	3	2	1
10	450,000	+1 hp	4		Arch-mage	4	4	3	2	2
...	+150,000	+1 hp	5			...	...	...	...	...

Saves: +2 vs Magic

Status Ailments

The most common perils of a dungeon-delving career are probably injuries and death. But sometimes special effects kick in that don't kill a delver outright, but do make life a little more difficult for a while. Here are some of them.

Drain
The living dead hunger for the life-force of those still living. Any undead monster greater than ghouls and ghasts are likely to drain the living essence out of their victims. The effect is called Drain, and is normally inflicted one or two levels at a time. If the total of Drain levels exceeds the level of the character suffering from them, he is cursed to a living death.

Each level of Drain causes -1 to attacks, saves, and hit points recovered (both for spells and for any single stretch of rest & recuperation), and it blocks the highest available spell slot from being used (so with enough levels drained, you can lose all spells and it may be virtually impossible to recover hit points). Each week of complete rest reduces the Drain level by 1. If the PC goes a month without eliminating a Drain level, all remaining levels convert to permanent level loss.

A Remove Curse spell converts all Drain levels into temporary level loss (which, after you convert the attack & save stats, is usually a big improvement). A week of rest recovers one level, but going a month without recovering a level renders all remaining temporary loss permanent. XP gained while level is temporarily reduced should be recorded separately, added to the PC's total only when all temporary levels are either eliminated or converted.

Grave Rot
This ancient curse manifests the hunger of the grave, forever striving to devour the living. The victim of grave rot gains no benefits from magical healing and has only a 10% chance of recovering any hp on any given day of rest. Wounds and even minor abrasions begin to fester, so that the character soon looks and smells ghastly. Each day the character bears wounds and fails to recover hp, he loses 1 Charisma. When hp is full, he recovers 1 Charisma per day of rest.


Paralysis
The victim is helpless for 1d4+2 turns after combat ends. Any Cure spell can end this effect in lieu of other effects.

Stun
A stunned combatant can't attack, reduces speed to 1/3 normal, suffers -4 on AC & Saves, and can't focus on magic at all. This status normally lasts only a single round.

Weakness
Each level of Weakness causes -1 to attacks and damage. Weakness persists for 1d6 turns. If additional levels are added before the first levels are fully recovered, roll duration again and start the count anew. If a character suffers more levels of weakness than her level, she recovers from half when the duration lapses, and compare again the following turn.

Arcane Lore: Echoes & Incantations

"Certain names have the power to echo across the worlds when intoned, and there are always things listening for those names to be spoken... The only thing that tethered the Children of Night to reality was their names, and each time a name was called, that tether pulled a Child closer to wakefulness... Taking the root of a name and changing it, or masking it behind foreign mortal languages enabled a sufficiently cunning priest to draw upon a fraction of a sleeping entity's might without rousing it... The Children sleep fitfully yet, and their dreams are less pleasing to them than once they were."

 -Lucien Soulban & Sven Skoog, Clanbook: Baali

Art by Vince Locke

And so I accidentally deleted this post and must reconstruct it. Or maybe it was eaten by the things that slumber beyond the bounds of time and space? Whatever. Let's see if we can improve on the original.

Traditionally, magic in D&D is a matter of resource management: memorize a selection of spells before the adventure, cast each once per day, and when you get back to town where your spellbooks are safely stored, you can change your memorization. "Once per day." It feels a little like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

But Partholon is a little less fairy tale and a little more weird tale, so I want magic to carry an edge of danger, a sense of temptation and consequence. I also happen to be fond of risk management as a game mechanic. Some brainstorming, some playtesting, and a little help from the Amazing Sam of Difficult Terrain, and we've got a fun twist on Vancian magic that continually offers players interesting choices.

Incantations & Echoes

When a spell's incantation and infra-rational formulae are memorized, that spell can be cast at any time. The first casting each day is as safe as chanting the names of dead-but-dreaming abominations in order to steal a fragment of their powers can be. A daring or desperate mage can "echo" an incantation, casting the same spell a second time, but there is always a price. The more a sleeper's deathly slumber is disturbed, the more exhausting it is to channel its dreams into the waking world, and the more difficult it is to conceal this transfer of power from the things that stalk the shadow-realm.

When a mage echoes a spell, he suffers 1d6 damage. If this damage would reduce him to 0 hp, he rolls on the Echo Table instead. Additionally, if the next chance encounter check is affirmative, there is a 1 in 4 chance that the encounter will be with a Thing From Beyond (see below).


Echo Table

2d6	Result
12	You got lucky, punk Everything is fine... for now.
9-11	Woops, something noticed! Roll again the next time you cast an Echo.
6-8	You arrogant fool! Roll again the next time you cast any spell.
3-5	Bad trip! Out of body experience or total comprehension of infinity. Either way you're catatonic. Save vs Magic each morning to see if you come out of it.
2	Ye gods, no! Devoured by invisible demons, or yanked to a higher plane. Either way you vanish. Roll for resurrection survival: if you pass, most of you comes back.

You may notice that this is frankly just a modified Reaction Roll. I like to get more mileage out of existing resources rather than compounding the number of charts I have to keep track of.

Clerics and Others

Clerics channel their power from the cosmic spheres and the higher planes, and Druids invoke the spirits of the natural world and the twilight realm of faerie, but the mechanics of echoing spells remain unchanged. Other spellcasting classes have not yet appeared in the campaign.

Things From Beyond

This is the perfect time to throw in any wild, weird, and awesome monster that just doesn't have a place in the normal campaign milieu. Sleestaks, xenomorphs, terror dogs, splugorth, mind flayers and beholders: whatever you've always wanted to use without making it a part of the world. If you're using this echoed spell concept in a more d&d-traditional or even a gonzo campaign, there's still plenty of room for eldritch weirdness. Use the Psionic Encounters table from the 1e DMG, make a Realms of Crawling Chaos encounter table, use the stat-block for an invisible stalker and play it like the Predator - this is a chance to go outside whatever your campaign's normal boundaries may be without consequence. Even a silly encounter with flumph philosophers in the middle of a grim & gritty adventure can work out just fine as long as the creatures are clearly manifesting from outside the campaign world.

Fighters in Partholon

Art by Storn Cook

It seems that, by and large, the OSR as a whole has embraced the idea that the fighter needs a little something extra - the writeup as it appears in Holmes, B/X, or BECMI is lacking somewhat compared to other classes. There are some hints in Chainmail and the LBBs as to rectifying the imperfection, and some ideas have become so prevalent as to be almost standardized within the OSR. I've got my own ideas. 

The Fighter is already a veteran of several battles before he begins his dungeon-delving career. He may have been a member of a village militia or a city guard, or may have fought in some warlord's campaign. He may come from a lineage of knights or similar warrior-lords charged with safeguarding the realm. Whatever his background, he has left the battlefield behind and turned to crypts and catacombs, hoping that his battle-skills will keep him alive long enough to collect lost treasures.

The fighter is in many ways the easiest class to play.  He doesn't depend greatly on planning and forethought (though he will benefit from both!) and with proper equipment is about as ready as he'll ever be for whatever situations come up. He can adapt to most any situation as needed, but his standard tactic (kill monsters and stay alive) is a smart choice most of the time.

Basic Traits

Guard: When a fighter chooses to fight defensively, he gets the normal +2 bonus to AC, but can also grant an additional +2 AC bonus to a nearby ally. Guard bonuses do not stack, so a given individual can benefit from only a single fighter's protection.

Overkill: The fighter is trained to fight his enemies not as individuals but as a unit. When he deals damage in excess of that needed to slay a foe, he can deliver the excess damage to another foe in reach (so long as that target's AC is no greater than the fighter's attack). He can combine his movement and attack if needed to deliver the overkill.

Martial Skill: The fighter has learned how to get optimal performance out of all manner of weapons. A fighter can:

• can move and shoot with bow or crossbow
• use a spear one-handed, or set against a charge for first strike and x2 damage
• charge with a spear or lance for +2 AP and x2 damage
• add his Dex bonus to AP and damage when fighting with two weapons

Expert Traits

Hero: +1 to Command and Leadership [that's Number of Retainers and Retainer Morale]

Champion: a further +1 to Command and Leadership

Daunting: Starting at 8th level, when the fighter moves to engage enemies of 4HD or less, he may force them to make a morale check.

Warlord:  By ancient custom, only the most powerful warriors could be recognized as boyars, the warlords who governed and protected the clans. Imperial rule replaced the boyars with barons who grant their position to legal heirs, but with the decay of Imperial authority, the ancient customs are being revived. A fighter who declares himself a Warlord will attract a small army of followers above and beyond the command allotted by his Charisma. If he doesn't want trouble with the local barons or Duke Bellorum, he may seek to pledge fealty or claim a domain in the wilderness beyond Imperial control. If he doesn't mind defying the authorities, he may claim existing settlements as his own, or he and his men can live as brigands and outlaws within Imperial lands.

The Fighter

Level	XP	HD	AP		Traits
1	0	1+1	1		Guard, Overkill, Martial Skill
2	2,000	2	2
3	4,000	3	3
4	8,000	4	3		1d8 damage, Hero
5	16,000	5	4
6	32,000	6	5		Champion
7	64,000	7	5
8	120,000	8	6		1d10 damage, Daunting
9	240,000	9	7		Warlord
10	360,000	10	7
...	+120,000	+2 hp	...

Saves: +2 Physical

Have Mule, Will Travel

A mule is a crossbreed of between a horse and a donkey. Mules are stubborn, and if bothered or excited they may either bite or kick... Mules cannot be trained to attack, but will fight in their own defense.
-The Red Book of Moldvay

When your adventure takes you out to the middle of the wilderness, you don't want to be caught short of food, torches, oil, or any other supplies. Every journey back to town is time wasted - and that means chance encounters rolled, and opportunities for death and mayhem without the payoff of treasure. The best way to maximize your carrying capacity without slowing the expedition to a crawl is to load up the extra gear on a mule.

Here's my super-clever Mule Record Sheet:

Obviously I have played Diablo II a few times

If a PC's backpack was laid out the same way, it would only have three or four rows. So, like, a mule can carry a whole lot. If the party is traveling on foot, their usual movement rate is the 60'/20' speed of a fully laden mule, so that's handy. However, if the party is riding horses, their movement could be significantly faster, and they might be wise to ensure their mule never slows them down below 120'/40' speed.

By my encumbrance rules, every item takes up a whole slot - every torch, every day's worth of rations (for each person!), to say nothing of bringing feed for the horses. As great as the mule's carrying capacity may be, sometimes you need an expert to do the packing for you. For a proper adventure, you'll want to hire a teamster or a carter. A carter can pack bundles of objects (such as a week's rations or a six-pack of torches) to take up only two spaces on the Mule Sheet. The carter will also tend to the party's mule and horses during travel and while camping, but will need an assistant if tending more than six animals.

The best carter in Sham is Randol, and he normally charges ten silver pennies a day, twenty if his assistant Maya is required. However, he has been known to offer discounts in the past provided that his employers cover all necessary expenses (food, camping gear, etc). The negotiation will depend on a Reaction roll - a good result will get the discount, a neutral result will require further negotiation, and a poor result will see him stand firm - or possibly insist on some additional 'hazard pay' for traveling into the heart of Kruthar territory!

Travel Rules

Up to this point, most of the campaign play has focused on local adventures, within a few hours' travel from town. Occasionally the party has made longer journeys, but in most cases this has been fairly straightforward, following a trail or a map. Now that the party is getting set to venture into the wilderness, it's time to lay down the rules for an old-fashioned hexcrawl.

Overview

Travel overland uses a hexmap, where each hex represents 6 miles of travel. This hex system is a little abstract compared to exploring dungeons and other adventure sites, but it's a useful way to streamline days of travel, and it simplifies mapping. From the center of a hex to the edge is just about the horizon line in clear terrain, but the entire game of Skyrim would fit into a single hex on this scale. The party can pass through on their way to a known destination, or explore for other adventure sites as much as they like.

Where dungeon exploration is divided into turns of ten minutes, overland travel is played from day to day. Each day, the party begins with a number of travel points based on its exploration speed. Those points are spent to enter hexes until the party runs out of points, and the day's travel is concluded. Often, there will be points leftover, not quite enough to enter the next hex. In that case, these extra points can be invested into a desired hex, which will reduce the cost needed to enter that hex on the next day of travel.

When the party enters a hex, roll a d6. On a 6, the party finds a major site as marked on the referee's map (e.g. ruins, lair, castle). On a 5, the party finds a landmark or settlement that helps to point the way (+1 on next search). The party may spend the hex's cost again to search further. If the refree's map shows nothing but terrain, a successful search will point the party toward an encounter, with the option to avoid it if desired.

Travel Points

Load	Move	Travel
None	120'	12 points
Light	90'	9 points
Medium	60'	6 points
Heavy	30'	3 points

Hex Costs

Cost	Terrain Types
2 points	Imperial road
3 points	Clear, trail, lightly forested, grasslands, settled & civilized
4 points	Heavily forested, hilly, desert, broken land
6 points	Mountain, swamp, jungle

Special Terrain Notes
Much of the Shimrod Forest is a "black forest," where trees grow so thick that sunlight can barely penetrate. In this terrain, horses cannot be ridden and the party must travel afoot leading their mounts.

Usually a hex must be entered to be mapped, but the party can spend an extra point to find a good vantage point (such as a sturdy treetop) from which to map surrounding hexes. From Hilly terrain, the line of sight extends up to 3 hexes away, but is blocked by hilly or mountainous terrain. From mountainous terrain, the line of sight extends up to 7 hexes away on a clear day. These elevated hexes can also be mapped from lower elevation at similar ranges. Mountains can be dimly seen, though not mapped, at 10 hex distance - even up to 20 hexes for some peaks.

Encounters
Each day of travel, the referee will check for encounters. Normally a single check is sufficient, but in more dangerous territory as many as 4 checks might be rolled. The default is a 2 in 6 chance, reduced to 1 in 6 in clear and inhabited hexes, or increased to 3 in 6 in swamps, jungles, and mountains. Encounters may happen in the starting hex, in any of the hexes traveled, or while camping at night.

Disorientation
Each day of travel, the referee will check for disorientation unless the party is following a river, trail, road, or a reliable guide. The default is a 2 in 6 chance of disorientation, reduced to 1 in 6 for clear, open terrain like grasslands, or increased to 3 in 6 for swamp, jungle, and desert travel. In the event of disorientation, the party's travel will be rotated either sunwise or widdershins by one hex face. The party is assumed to reorient the following morning (barring such conditions as would conceal the sunrise, such as terrible weather or camping within a black forest), but runs the risk of becoming disoriented again as usual.

Hunting & Foraging
It's recommended that the party should pack rations for their intended travel time, plus 50% in case of delays. The party extend their supplies at the cost of some travel time for hunting or foraging.


Foraging requires the party to spend 1/3 of its travel points (4, 3, 2, or 1 on foot) and roll:

1d6	Result
1-3	Consume rations as usual
4-5	No rations spent today
6	Add 1d6 rations to supply!

Hunting requires a full day of activity, and requires one extra Encounter check

1d6	Result
1-3	Spend no rations
4-5	Add 1d6 rations to supply
6	Add 2d6 rations to supply!

Forced March
The party can push for greater time or speed to cover more distance, but the following day must be spent resting. No foraging is possible during a forced march, and no hunting or exploration is possible during a rest day.  The party gains an additional 50% of travel points (6, 4, 3, 1)

Riding
Faster travel rates are possible with good mounts.

Move	Travel	Forage	Forced
240'	24 pts	-8	+12
210'	21 pts	-7	+10
180'	18 pts	-6	+9
150'	15 pts	-5	+7

Art by Larry Elmore

To whatever degree the system above has merit, a debt is owed to Mentzer, Proctor, Cook, and the Judges Guild. To whatever degree it is flawed, the blame is largely my own. My sole intent was to recreate the results of these designers through a system that I find simple and fun. If it proves to be a useful plugin for your own campaign, I will be thrilled beyond words.

The Wages of Death

The players in the Partholon campaign have been fortunate enough that in the years we've been playing, only a single PC has died (and technically he's been petrified, and may well survive in a state of suspended animation). Partly this is due to my incapacitation rules which create unpleasant consequences for letting your character run out of hit points without necessarily losing the character, but partly this is due to the players' mix of skillful play and dumb luck. However, in our most recent session Bill the Green was incapacitated and may yet die (we suspended play before we could confirm his status), so this seems like a good time to review what happens when a PC actually does bite the dust.

For one thing, this being Dungeons & Dragons, there is no certainty that death is permanent. There is a sacred grove just one or two days' travel from Sham where, with proper sacrifices, the spirits may be petitioned to raise the dead. The sacrifices would be costly, and results are not guaranteed, but there is some chance at least.

Second, if a party member is given proper burial (or an appropriate pyre, or whatever funeral rites seem appropriate), the party will actually gain xp for any treasures they bury with him (including artifacts!). Tyrhennean culture has a minor but noteworthy tradition of sacrifices to departed allies & ancestors that can provide PCs with some options to translate spare wealth into xp later in the campaign as well.

Naturally, the player will want to get back into the game as soon as possible, and there are two readily available options.

Take over an existing NPC: The party frequently employs mercenaries and retainers who accumulate treasure and experience. One of these characters could be upgraded to PC status quite naturally (for example if Ash died, it would be appropriate for either Spurlock or Molin to step up to fill his role in the party). The advantage here is, of course, that the character already has equipment, money, and experience, so the player isn't forced to start over from scratch. Unfortunately, since these characters have most of their necessities already paid for, they are prone to frittering their wealth away off-camera. When an NPC is upgraded to a PC, we discover that they only have (5d20)% of the listed treasure hoard (averaging around 50%).

Generating a new PC: A new PC can be generated and added to the game, and can even be introduced as the heir to the fallen character's fortune. This is a good way to start off with a preferred class or just get a fresh start on the game, and to retain 90% of accumulated treasure (that remaining 10% is lost for any number of reasons - funeral costs, traditional sacrifices, inheritance tax, legal fees, etc). The downside is, of course, the fact that the new PC starts from first level and may have a hard time facing the sorts of dangers the rest of the party is used to. On the other hand, if the party takes care to protect their new ally, the kind of expeditions they can handle should ensure he gains levels rapidly.

This new heir might be a relative of the fallen character, or perhaps a (previously unseen) protege, or similar. For example, if Bill dies, he could be replaced with an apprentice who is retconned into the game, or perhaps Bill's mentor, Incanus, could send another student of his to ensure that Bill's arcane lore doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Such a character would of course benefit from the magical research Bill has previously undertaken.

Incapacitation

I'm re-posting this section for ease of reference

When reduced to 0 hp, the PC is not automatically slain. He collapses unconscious and must roll a d6 to determine his status. On a 1 or 2, he is revived after combat ends, but suffers a hampering injury for 2d6 days. On a 4-6, his wounds are more serious and may prove fatal. A roll of 3 is treated as a 1-2 result if he was wearing a helmet, in which case the helm is ruined but his life is surely saved. Without the helm, a roll of 3 is treated as a 4-6 result.

In the case of serious wounds, the PC will not revive after combat ends. The following turn, if he is not revived by magic, he may roll a d6 again. On a 1, he recovers on his own. On a 6, he succumbs to his wounds and dies. On a 2-5, he remains unconscious and must continue to roll on each subsequent turn. In any case, when and if he recovers from this state, he suffers a hampering injury for 2d6 weeks.

If a PC is already injured and receives the same injury again, the effect is extended. If the existing injury has less than two weeks remaining to heal, the duration is extended to 2d6 weeks. If the existing injury has more than two weeks remaining, compounding the injury makes it permanent.

Hampering Injuries

Roll	Injury	Effect
1	Arm rendered useless*	Cannot put the afflicted arm to use.
2	Eye damaged*	-2 Ranged, or blinded if both eyes have become injured
3	Leg impaired*	Reduce speed by one level
4	Hideous scars/disfiguring	-1 to Reaction rolls, Command, and Leadership
5	Enfeebled (broken ribs or similar)	-2 AP, AC, & Carrying capacity, and run at x2 rather than x3
6	Skull-cracked	Must roll Int or Wis to cast spells and becomes Berserker**

*In the case of arm, eye, and leg injuries, roll even/odds to determine left/right.
**Berserker characters become irrationally violent during combat. Must roll Wisdom to resist plunging into melee when combat begins, and must similarly roll Wisdom to withdraw or retreat from melee. While in melee, the character gets +2 AP and -2 AC.

Loving and Hating Hit Points

I love how simple hit points are as a mechanic. I hate how abstract they can be, especially as levels add up and totals rise. I love how easy it is to go from "6 damage? Run for your lives!" to "6 damage? Whatevs, I got this." I also hate it.

I love how, at low levels, players have good reason to avoid battles because one or two wounds could easily prove fatal. I hate seeing players burn through PCs like extra lives in a circa 1985 arcade game. (But I kinda love it, too.)

I love how, at high levels, players can press on through more dangers and get themselves deeper into the dungeon before they have to turn back and hope they didn't push their luck too far. I hate how the mechanic pushes toward either a slog of multiple melees in which the PCs are gradually whittled or a tac-nuke monster that barely cares that the PCs have leveled up.

I hate how environmental hazards, like fire, falling, and traps, wind up being less dangerous at higher levels just like melee. I hate how healing spells are less effective on high-level characters than on low-level ones.

I've tried to get around a few of these issues in my campaign. For example, I base most healing on hit dice - a Cure spell restores hit points equal to 1d6 + the recipient's hit dice (e.g. if you have 3 HD, it's 1d6+3). Likewise, a hazard that doesn't care how good you are at taking a hit in combat will roll your hit dice in damage (instead of "Save or die," you might call it "Save or possibly die, depending on the luck of the dice, and if you're already wounded the odds are against you, but hey you might get lucky").

I like the game being pretty gritty, but I like the odds in favor of survival - if the party survives by the skin of its collective teeth, I feel like everybody gets the maximum excitement. I respect the mathematical architecture of 4e - or Type IV, or whatever the kids call it nowadays - for providing that experience pretty reliably, but that math is pretty fragile, and a simple thing like changing the number or composition of the party can have dire consequences (this is what killed my attempt at a 4e campaign in its infancy, and eventually led me to the OSR).

I like to ramble, but I hate the fact that I'm rambling (and I like to end paragraphs with pointless parentheticals, for some reason).

So here's an idea the combine gritty, survive-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth action with that-was-exciting-now-let's-keep-going adventure. The idea is that PCs begin with a Hit Die full of hit points, as usual (and you can use your favorite Hit Die rules - max at first level, reroll 1s, variable or standard, whatever). When the PC would normally gain a new Hit Die, he adds +1 to his hit point maximum and gains a "reserve" point. A reserve point can be spent to recover a Hit Die's worth of hit points. You can't go above your maximum, as with any hit point recovery. Spending a reserve point this way should take a full turn of rest.

The idea is that every battle remains gritty and stark, although the PCs will gain an edge in toughness over time; but the more remarkable and heroic development is the reserves of strength that enable them to carry on even when hurt and exhausted. I envision a scenario in which the party finishes a battle and spends the rest of the round catching their breath and binding their wounds, and the players roll their reserve dice to discover who was simply running out of stamina and who has a serious injury.

I wouldn't implement this system for monsters. Monster Hit Dice are more related to the size and toughness of the monster than its melee skill, and there's no need for every PC mechanic to be paralleled in monster mechanics (that way lies the excess of 3.x). I'd probably give Reserves equal to HD to any monster that's a named individual (e.g. Brok the orc warlord, Anton the evil high priest, Skaldar the legendary ogre, and Azraphael the dragon). Everybody else is an extra, and runs by the book.

I'd love to test this system out, but I'm pretty sure my regular players would rebel if I imposed it on their long-standing characters. Maybe I can test it in some side project, like a scifi one-shot or something.

Exploring the Labyrinth: Doors

Since the party brings torches and lanterns into the otherwise lightless depths of the underworld, it is rare that they get a chance to surprise monsters. Doors present a rare opportunity to gain this tactical advantage.

Doors in the dungeon stick firmly in their frames - the wood warped by long ages of underground humidity. Opening such a door will often be too slow and loud to allow the party to surprise monsters that may be lurking on the other side. However, the party may attempt to breach the door in order to secure that surprise.

To breach a door, one or two party members will attempt to push or pull the door open swiftly enough for the party to rush through before the monsters get a chance to react. PCs with average strength roll a single d6, while PCs with high strength roll two dice.  If any die turns up a 1 or 2, the breach has succeeded. (PCs with low strength can't contribute meaningfully to a breach attempt - they can still force a door open, but the time & effort required blows any chance of surprise.)

With a successful breach, the party can rush in ready for combat, and roll a surprise check with 2 in 6 odds. If the party wins surprise, they get a round of combat before the monsters have even a chance of reacting. Surprised monsters usually lose any chance of First Strike and similar reactive abilities.

After this, the party rolls for initiative against the monsters. With luck, the party can win initiative and take a second round of combat before the monsters can take their first. This may well allow the party to finish an encounter without taking a single wound!

To summarize: Roll 1 to 4 dice with 2/6 odds to breach the door, depending on who's helping. Then roll 2/6 on a single die to surprise the enemy, and roll initiative as usual.

Armor in Partholon

Armor is a trade-off between protection and mobility.

Soft Armor such as soft leather, padded tunics, or the heavy robes favored by magic-users.
AC 11 for 10 silver. Counts as a heavy item, but does not hinder movement otherwise (120''turn, 40'/round.

Light Armor such as boiled leather plates, gladiator harness, or layered hides & furs.
AC 13 for 20 silver. Slows movement to 90'/turn & 30'/round.

Medium Armor such as chainmail or basic plate (breastplate, greaves & bracers).
AC 15 for 40 silver (plate) or 60 silver (chain). Slows movement to 60'/turn & 20'/round.

Heavy Armor layers plate & chain for maximum protection.
AC 17 for 100 silver. Slows movement to 60'/turn & 20'/round and counts as a heavy item.

Shields are wooden with metal reinforcements and may be painted with a design indicative of the bearer or his company or lord. Special: When the bearer would be reduced to 0 hp, the shield is destroyed and the bearer reduced to 1 hp instead.
AC 12, or +1 to other armor, for 30 silver. Counts as a heavy item.


In the Dark Age of Partholon, chainmail is the pinnacle of military technology. A smith who can craft mail is rare indeed, so most warriors get by with basic plate. A fighter in plate & chain might as well be Robocop as far as the peasantry is concerned, and anyone traveling in such harness will generate ripples of gossip.

Soft armors can generally pass for civilian garb and do not mark the wearer as a combatant. A padded tunic may be the outfit of choice for a career warrior whenever heavier armor would be socially unacceptable.

[Edited to reflect updates in my campaign.]

Exploring the Labyrinth: Movement

Much of the gameplay in my campaign is centered around exploring the dungeon. Exploring speed is noted on the character sheet, modified by armor and encumbrance. Each ten-minute turn, the party can make a single-, double-, or triple-move.

Single-moves allow you to map the dungeon with more-or-less accurate measurements, and gives 1 in 6 odds for chance encounters. The party is assumed to be watching for unusual features that might indicate a trap, and will have a chance to approach such features cautiously to out-think the trap. If someone in the front rank has a mirror, the players will be given info about what's visible through doorways and around corners while the party still has cover.

Double-moves allow you to consult the map, but you get no measurements while traveling, so any mapping must be sketchy and brief. Chance encounters are checked at  2 in 6 odds, as the party is less stealthy than usual. The party is being less cautious about traps, and has only a 2/6 chance to spot potential trouble before walking into it. Mirrors are being checked only briefly, so that lights and creatures may be spotted while the party has cover, but details will not be immediately obvious.

Triple-moves are the swiftest pace that can be maintained without exhausting the party, being roughly a jog. The party can't consult the map, and check for chance encounters at 3 in 6 odds. Traps can be avoided only by dumb luck (assume a 2/6 chance of each rank passing by unless otherwise noted). Mirrors can't be used effectively, and the party make only 5 triple-moves before it must rest for 1 turn - these moves can be all at once or brief bursts of speed amidst turns of slower travel.

Melee for Metalheads Part 2: How to Kick All the Ass

Continuing my presentation of melee house rules for the players who don't want to read long, rambling posts. I don't know if this is any better. 

Dude, remember those slavering monsters that want to eat your lungs? Well, you just walked up to within lung-eating range. But that also means they're within ass-kicking range, right? Now, how are you gonna do it?

How to Be a Badass in Melee

First, remember that all dice hate you, and you must never ever trust them. You don't want to play the odds, because you aren't here to amuse a crowd of spectators and attract advertising revenue. You are here to get the other guy dead and find some damn treasure. So you want to fight dirty.

Make up stunts and change the battlefield and take advantage of anything that makes a lick of sense. When you have a clear advantage, like jumping on the monster's head from on top of some demon idol or whatever, that's worth a good +2 AP bonus. When you are completely batshit with awesome, like being fucking invisible or something, that's worth +4 AP.

Gang up on the monsters. When and your buddy are both beating on the same monster, you get a +1 bonus to AP. When you and your buddy are on opposite sides of the monster, you get another +1 bonus for outflanking it.

Do other stuff besides just beat on it for damage. You can try to disarm, stun, knockdown, or push a monster, or you can even try to break through the enemy line if you are made of solid badass.  You'll still roll your attack like usual, but if you hit, the monster can submit to your dirty trick or can absorb damage instead - a win-win for you. If you get a natural 20, call it out! Then the monster doesn't get to choose, it has to be affected by whatever you were trying to do. But hey, you have to say what you're trying to do before you make your roll, so no whining if you get that beautiful 20 and failed to say you wanted to kick that thing down that deep dark pit you've been fighting next to.

Defend yourself. Instead of trying to hurt the other guy, just concentrate on staying alive. You don't make any attacks, but you get +2 AC instead.

But wait! I'm a totally awesome fighter!

Well why didn't you say so? You're even better at this!

If you defend, you get a whole 'nother +2 AC bonus that you use to defend one of your buddies. But one dude can only be defended by a single fighter - so like if Ash and Nylian both wanted to defend Bill, only one of them could. Make sense?

Charge! If you can run in a straight line for 40 feet, you get +2 AP and +1d6 damage. This is why crazy people fight naked and why rich people ride horses, but if you run on foot for two rounds without getting interrupted, you could make it work.

If you have a spear and monsters are charging at you or pouncing on you or something, you actually get a First Strike with +1d6 damage because spears are awesome!

If you are a real BAMF like Ash, you can try the Ash Smash (a.k.a. the Massive Attack for trip-hop fans). You take a -5 AP penalty, but if you still hurt the monster, you roll your 2 or 3 damage dice and instead of taking the best one, you add 'em all up!

A Word About Weapon Choice

If all weapons do 1d6 damage, shouldn't I be a cheapskate and just buy daggers?

No. Don't be stupid. If you are swinging a dagger and the other guy has like a claymore you are in bad shape. We represent this by giving you a -2 penalty to your AP, because you just don't get as many opportunities to slip past his guard when his guard is like the length of your entire body. Get your self a grown-up weapon!

On the other hand, if you're bold enough to leap past that six feet of pointy death and like wrap your legs around the guy and just keep stabbing at him until he stops twitching, the advantage is yours, because it's really hard to use a claymore or a spear or something to scrape a crazy bastard off your chest. So that's useful.

Also, different weapons are good for different things. Like, chopping and stabbing isn't the best way to go against things that are already dead. They don't really bleed and the meat you cut off is probably just slowing them down. For those guys, you want to whack 'em with something blunt, like a mace, until the bones are powder. Stuff like that.

Melee for Metalheads Part 1: Getting Close Enough to Kick Ass

Since some of my players have lousy eyeballs or poor attention spans or both, and they happen to play fighters, I'm re-writing my melee house rules just for them.

Dude, a fight broke out! All those slavering monsters want to eat your lungs or something. Go kick some ass!

Where am I?

Either you're "engaged in melee," meaning you're standing toe-to-toe with some other guy that wants to kill you - or some slavering monster that wants to eat your lungs or something - or else you're "not in melee," meaning you can mover around a lot more freely so you can decide who you want to go toe-to-toe with. Or maybe throw stuff or something, whatever.

But if you're not in melee and you want to be, you need to get moving.



How Far Can I Move?


If you just want to move around the battlefield and not do anything else, you can run up to your Exploring speed. That's useful when you're chasing or running away from the monsters. 


If you want to do something useful, like charge into melee or pull a flask out of your pack, you can only move your Encounter speed. That's way slower than running, but at least you can still attack.


If it's your ass that's getting kicked, you can try to leave melee, but the monsters might not let you off the hook. You can either withdraw, which means you back away but you're still ready for a fight, or you can retreat, which means you just want to get the hell out of here.

If you withdraw, you only move half your Encounter speed, but if a monster advances you get First Strike - you get to attack it on its own turn and maybe kill it and be all, "You shoulda just let me walk away."

If you retreat, you get to move your full Encounter speed, but if a monster advances you're boned - it gets +2 AP and ignores your shield. But hey, if the monsters don't advance on you, you're not in melee anymore, and you can run for your life or drink your potion or whatever you wanted to do.


And if the monsters chicken out and try to get out of the fight, you can let 'em go or you can advance on 'em at full Encounter speed, and try to cut 'em down while they flee your awesome wrath. Just pay attention to if they're withdrawing or retreating, so you know if they've still got some fight left in 'em.

Next time: how to kick all the ass. 

20 Questions for Partholon

 Brendan of Untimately has organized a fantastic set of simple rules questions  that should make it easy to translate between referees. Here's the answers for Partholon:

Ability scores generation method? 3d6 in order, make a one-time swap of any two scores.
How are death and dying handled? At 0 hp, you are incapacitated and might die. If you survive, you will be saddled with a hampering injury. Details here. 
What about raising the dead? Bring offerings to a sacred grove of dryads and score a good reaction roll. 
How are replacement PCs handled? So far: promoting a retainer to PC status. PCs can also designate heirs to their wealth (minus 10%). New characters always start at 1st level.
Initiative: individual, group, or something else? Group d6 at start of encounter, high roll wins, ties lead to roll-off. Groups alternate for remainder of combat.
Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? Natural 1 always fails and natural 20 always succeeds. If you're trying some fancy stunt, the referee may interpret rolls more elaborately.
Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet? It could save your life at 0 hp. It's definitely helpful when green slime or spiders are dropping on you from above.
Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? Yes, absolutely. Ranged attacks target the melee group, with hits distributed randomly among the combatants.
Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? I'm often surprised by what the party manages to kill, as well as what they have to run from. Setting things on fire is usually a good idea one way or another. 
Level-draining monsters: yes or no? Yes, but you can recover the lost levels with extensive bed rest. 
Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? Usually a failed save just means you take massive damage, so it's likely to be fatal, but there remains a slim chance of survival. 
How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked? Pretty strictly, but I use a simplified encumbrance system similar to LotFP.
What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? With rare exceptions, XP and advancement is handled only during down time, and no training is necessary. Clerics get new spell access automatically. A magic-user will be offered a new spell by his/her mentor at each level-up through 4th level.
What do I get experience for? Treasure, defeating foes, unlocking new campaign resources.Magic-users get xp for money spent on each original project (e.g. the first time you make a given type of potion).
How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination? If the party is moving at mapping/sneaking speed, I assume they're looking for signs of traps. The locations of traps are therefore usually fairly obvious. How to get past them is a puzzle for the players to work out. Once a strategy is in place, dice rolls help to see if anyone goofs up. Influenced by Ben Robbins "Bad Trap Syndrome," part 1 and part 2.
Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? Retainers are awesome, and I use B/X morale. 
How do I identify magic items? A magic-user with proper equipment can run some tests and eat up time and resources, and it might even work. Or you can just try doing things and see what happens. 
Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions? Not currently. Opportunities may be discovered in the future, though.
Can I create magic items? When and how? The rules I use are modified from LotFP. I'm also looking at the Crimson Pandect for additional refinements. 
What about splitting the party? I discourage it under most circumstances. As a tactic for outflanking opponents or investigating an enigma, it's fine. As a strategy for exploration, I'd rather not deal with it.

And I'm appending a couple of extras:
What kind of saving throws do you use? Modified from Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox, one target number based on class and level, with modifiers based on class and ability scores.
What's your base currency? Prices and XP are based on a silver standard.

Update: Beedo, of  Dreams in the Lich House, had some good add-ons.
How is alignment used? Among PCs, it's an ethical measure of just how trustworthy the character is, in a Sword & Sorcery or Spaghetti Western way. Among Monsters, it frequently reflects a more cosmological significance.
Are demi-human level limits enforced? Until the players find and make alliance with some demi-humans, there aren't any in the party.

Combat Rules II: Melee

Edited because I realized something nifty I wanted to tweak. 


Movement

If not in melee, a character can move at at Encounter speed and still take actions (such as casting spells or pulling equipment out of a backpack, etc). This can be used to close into melee and attack. Alternately, a character can move at up to Exploring speed at a run, but can take no other actions.

A combatant in melee can maneuver around an enemy at Encounter speed, given sufficient room, while still attacking. Thus a party may attempt to 'wrap' around an enemy unit to outflank and even surround them. A combatant in melee may also choose to withdraw or retreat from combat in lieu of attacking. A withdraw action moves at 1/2 Encounter speed, and grants the combatant First Strike against an advancing enemy. A retreat action moves at full Encounter speed, but makes the combatant vulnerable against advancing enemies.

If a combatant chooses to advance against an enemy that is withdrawing, the enemy gets First Strike: it makes a melee roll against the advancing combatant as soon as contact is reestablished. Only if the combatant survives does he get to make his own attack against the enemy. In the case of advancing against an enemy that is retreating, the combatant gets +2 AP and ignores the enemy's shield (if any). If no combatant advances on a withdrawing or retreating enemy, the enemy is no longer in melee and can move as normal, including fleeing at a run.

Weapon Choice

I don't use variable damage or Weapon vs AC modifiers, but I do want weapon choice to matter. A few guidelines seem to be sufficient: Swords can be drawn and used in the same round. Blunt instruments are more effective against undead, where cutting and stabbing them generally does half damage.  Axes are normally bearded, and therefore are better at disarming and similar maneuvers. Spears and other long weapons can attack from the second rank. Bows are capable of indirect shots, arching over the line of skirmish to strike further enemy ranks. So on and so forth.

As a general rule, if a combatant is attempting to fight an enemy with superior weaponry (e.g. bringing a dagger to a sword fight), he is "outclassed" and suffers -2 AP. What constitutes "superior weaponry" may change contextually (e.g., once you've slipped past a pike's superior reach, it's the pikeman who is at a disadvantage).

Tactics, Stunts and Maneuvers

If two allies are attacking the same enemy, each enjoys a gang-up bonus of +1 AP. If the allies are on opposite sides of the enemy, they also enjoy a flanking bonus of a further +1 AP. Thus, if the party has completely surrounded a monster, each attacker enjoys a full +2 bonus.

Any combatant can declare a stunt in order to achieve some special result or advantage. Stunts are adjudicated by the referee. In general, if the stunt or tactic provides a clear advantage on par with outflanking an enemy, it's worth a +2 AP bonus. In rare cases, an overwhelming tactic may actually be worth as much as +4! However, stunts can be risky - a poor combat roll may leave the combatant at a disadvantage. The classic example is the fighter leaping off a balcony to attack foes below. This unexpected move could provide a substantial bonus, but an unfortunate roll - say a natural 4 or less - may leave the fighter sprawled at the feet of his enemies.

A combatant may also declare a special move, such as attempting to disarm, push, knockdown, stun, or break through an enemy line. The combat roll is made as usual, including the damage roll. If the AP roll indicates a wound, the enemy can choose either to accept the damage as rolled or to suffer the effects of the special move. On a natural 20, the enemy does not get the choice.

A combatant may fight defensively, foregoing all attacks to concentrate on defense, for a +2 AC bonus. A Fighter gains an extra +2 bonus which may be given to  an adjacent ally. Only a single fighter can defend a given character. 

A fighter armed with a spear or lance can charge the enemy if able to move 40 ft in a line and attack with +2 AP and +1d6 damage. This is most effective when mounted or unencumbered, but the movement can be split across two rounds if not interrupted (such as by being attacked in between).  

If the fighter is defending against a charging enemy and is armed with a spear or lance, he may "set the spear" to gain First Strike and +1d6 damage against the enemy. This counterattack can be attempted as long as the fighter is not surprised.

A PC with "best of 2d6" or "best of 3d6" damage can declare a massive attack. The attack suffers -5 AP, but if a wound is scored, the damage dealt is the total of all damage dice, not just the best. This maneuver is also known as the "Ash Smash," at least by Ash Slayum's allies.

Combat Rules I: the Basics

Philosophically, I regard combat as a complication in the exploration/treasure-hunting game that is D&D. Monster encounters are a risk that can totally derail an expedition, or use up valuable resources (spells, arrows, flasks, hit points, etc), not to mention eating up table-time (of particular importance with my Black Fog rules in play). The party is awarded XP for these encounters as a kind of consolation prize for the resources, or as a reward for good tactics & strategies that allow them to overcome the encounter at little or no cost.

The way that combat itself plays out has been fine-tuned over the years as I increase my understanding of what works for me and what my players enjoy. We have a thorough mix of Combat as Sport vs Combat as War perspectives, so I've tried to aim toward a middle-ground. My players like to meet monsters head-on, but they have also learned not to rely too much on luck or statistics to keep them on their feet.

The combat mechanics start from the Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox rules. Many of my alterations are inspired by the various editions of Basic D&D, from B/X through RC, with borrowings also from AD&D 1st edition and of course the OSR. A number of terms have been renamed either to guide interpretation of the mechanic, or to borrow terminology familiar to my players (so a number of terms have been borrowed from Warhammer 40,000 and Magic: the Gather, for example).

Mechanical Overview

The Partholon campaign uses ascending Armor Class. My calculations differ from those used by S&W, so that an unarmored character is AC 10, and the descending AC 0 is converted to AC 20. Similarly, my calculation of combat modifiers differ slightly, so that a level 1 PC starts with an attack bonus of +1. I do not use variable weapon damage, so all attacks deal d6 damage, and I don't normally use multiple attacks for monsters or for PCs. If a monster attacks twice in a round, that's a special ability.

A natural 20 always penetrates armor, a natural 1 always fails. I don't normally include critical hits or fumbles, but circumstances may call for similar outcomes - such as when a PC attempts some inspired stunt and the dice just hate him.

Time & Movement

A combat round is roughly 10 seconds of game time. A character or monster may move at Encounter speed and still take an action, or run at Explore speed without taking any other action. 

AP vs AC

Attack modifiers are termed AP, which stands for either Attack Power or Armor Penetration. AP is based off of class & level primarily. Dexterity modifies Ranged AP, and Strength modifies Melee AP only when a heavy weapon is being used.

If AP equals or exceeds AC, a wound is scored for 1d6 hp. A PC with HD 4 or better deals the best of 2d6, while a PC with HD 8 or better deals the best of 3d6 damage. A monster with HD 5 or better deals a full 2d6 damage, while a monster with HD 10 or better deals a full 3d6 damage. Monsters with these improved damage ratings may be able to split their attacks among multiple targets, rolling AP vs AC for each target and dealing a single d6 to each.

A damage result that is no more than the target's HD is very minor, suggesting the fatigue of fending off deadly strikes and the dull aches of repeated blows foiled by armor. Of course, this damage adds up, and an exhausted combatant may be unable to mount any meaningful defense. Being nickled and dimed to 0 hp is every bit as dangerous as being dropped by a few brutal hits.

In the course of a round, each combatant is understood to be making several physical attacks against an opponent, as well as parrying and evading incoming attacks. The combat roll abstracts the progress of the entire round to simplify the whole process. Rather than testing attack skill versus defensive skill, and then testing to see whether any damage penetrates armor, D&D checks first whether any damage is scored, and then interprets the damage roll to indicate the relative skill of attack and defensive routines in the process.

Incapacitation

When reduced to 0 hp, the PC is not automatically slain. He collapses unconscious and must roll a d6 to determine his status. On a 1 or 2, he is revived after combat ends, but suffers a hampering injury for 2d6 days. On a 4-6, his wounds are more serious and may prove fatal. A roll of 3 is treated as a 1-2 result if he was wearing a helmet, in which case the helm is ruined but his life is surely saved. Without the helm, a roll of 3 is treated as a 4-6 result.

In the case of serious wounds, the PC will not revive after combat ends. The following turn, if he is not revived by magic, he may roll a d6 again. On a 1, he recovers on his own. On a 6, he succumbs to his wounds and dies. On a 2-5, her remains unconscious and must roll again the following turn. In any case, when and if he recovers from this state, he suffers a hampering injury for 2d6 weeks.

If a PC is already injured and receives the same injury again, the effect is extended. If the existing injury has less than two weeks remaining to heal, a repeat of short-term injury is upgraded to long-term. If the existing injury is long-term, compounding the injury makes it permanent. Adding a long-term injury onto a short term injury is a special case: roll a Save with a Con modifier. On a failure, the injury is permanent. On a save, the injury's duration is extended to 3d6 weeks.

Hampering Injuries

Roll	Injury	Effect
1	Arm rendered useless*	Cannot put the afflicted arm to use.
2	Eye damaged*	-2 Ranged, or blinded if both eyes have become injured
3	Leg impaired*	Reduce speed by one level
4	Hideous scars	-1 to Reaction rolls, Command, and Leadership
5	Enfeebled (broken ribs or similar)	-2 AP, AC, & Carrying capacity, and run at x2 rather than x3
6	Skull-cracked	Must roll Int or Wis to cast spells and becomes Berserker**

*In the case of arm, eye, and leg injuries, roll even/odds to determine left/right.
**Berserker characters become irrationally violent during combat. Must roll Wisdom to resist plunging into melee when combat begins, and must similarly roll Wisdom to withdraw or retreat from melee. While in melee, the character gets +2 AP and -2 AC.

I like my players to have some investment in their characters, rather than treating PCs as pawns to play with and discard during the game. At the same time, I want to give players a strong incentive to play smart and retreat from a fight that is going badly. So far I find this injury system serves both goals well.

Artifacts with Will

Edit: I'm refining this material a little. When I do, I'll probably delete this entry and post a new one entirely. 

For the most part, a magical artifact is a tool or object with supernatural powers, and is detectable as arcana. Very rarely, an artifact may possess a will of its own. Most are subtle, with psyches that can't really be called minds, and intelligences that aren't quite human; any direction or communication will seem like intuition. A few have such clear personalities that they can carry on extended conversations with their bearers. All artifacts with will use the same system.

Such an artifact is rated with an Intelligence score, a Psyche score, and a Will score. Will is Int + Psych, modified by the artifact's magical powers. A bearer's Will score is Cha + Wis, modified by Str. The difference between these Wills is called the Control Factor, or CF. A positive CF indicates that the bearer is normally in control, but this control may be tested from time to time - particularly when the bearer has been injured or weakened. A negative CF means the bearer is normally allowed free reign, but the artifact can and will seize control whenever it desires.

 Control is tested when the bearer first picks up or attempts to use the artifact. It will be tested again when the artifact has an opportunity to pass to another, more desirable bearer, or when the bearer attempts to discard or replace the artifact. If the artifact has a special purpose or motive, it will test control whenever it has chance to pursue its ends. It will also test control when the bearer first falls below maximum HP, and again when the bearer falls below 50% maximum.

When a test of wills is indicated, dice will be rolled: 1d6 if the bearer is at less than maximum hp, or 2d6 if the bearer is at less than half maximum. If the bearer is the wrong alignment, roll an additional 1d6+1. Thus, if the bearer is of the proper alignment and unharmed, then as long as the CF is positive, the artifact is unable to exert any control. If the CF is negative, the bearer will automatically fail any test of wills.

Any artifact with will has an optimal alignment. This alignment may or may not reflect the artifact's own purpose; it is simply the alignment best suited to maintaining control over the artifact. Sometimes there is a true arcane compatibility at issue, but in other cases it's simply the fact that a mind that works a certain way can best curtail a given artifact's attempts at dominance. Wrestling with the artifact's will can be exhausting; a would-be bearer of the wrong alignment will lose 1d6 or 2d6 HP to exhaustion, depending on how much his alignment differs from the optimum. (This loss of HP will affect the test of wills, making it very difficult to successfully master a hostile artifact.)