Saturday 27 January 2018

Back to BX, revising house rules



























Writing up my basic rules again, hopefully simpler and more streamlined.
Want to provide 4 example characters of each class and race - exemplars or reskins
Idea is to show basic builds with the system and will do splatbooks with more later on just like real companies did. Should help new players get a character going fast which was a problem of my over the top skill lists.

these used these charts I will update- good for about 5 years of play
https://www.flickr.com/photos/konsumterra/15201407721/in/album-72157631656547261/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/konsumterra/15201409581/in/album-72157631656547261/
started shaving off unused parts of the rules

Some ideas to play with stats and uses for them too

DEX for MOV in Inches? or perhaps 1/2 DEX and STR & CON bonus?
STR adds damage to everything and DEX adds to hit for everything period
INT adds extra proficiency slots and can buy stuff outside your class or race
WIS gives you points you can reroll stuff with - thieves get a extra point per LV
CHA gives you comand radius, Morale Bonus and bonus flunkies, friends, lovers or pets
STR became the dump stat from doing all this in game


So Here Are Ideas for BX clases with sub types and reskins Im thinking of
I stupidly do everything in fours for some brain damaged reason
I can do spreads with one page class description
then one page with 4 sample characters for quick ideas
Mysteriously planet Psychon accommodated by this version...


Fighter (combat skill experts)
-knight, noble cavalrymen of high status
-yeoman, land owning rich farmer longbowmen
-gladiator, former slave or pit fighter has won freedom
-mercenary, soldier for hire belonging to a companyPossibly do marines, vikings, charioteers, scouts, etc

Cleric (divine magic worshippers)
-Inquisitor, hunts werewolves, witches, demons and unlawful spell casters
-Templar, warrior monk order guards pilgrims and holy places
-Hospitalar, military medics, healers and hospital defenders
-Friar, independant wandering rural poor preachers who maintain country shrines
Possibly do seperate cults and religions or evil, good and neutral priests

Theif (commerce skill experts)
-Assassin, specialize in murdering enemies and subterfuge
-Sailor, travellers on the sea who work ships and skills of the sea
-Charlatan, grifters, grubby merchants, schemers
-Bandit, sneaky outdoor scouts who live off the land
Possibly do beggars, bounty hunters, spy, jailer, jester, acrobat, merchant, etc

Wizard (arcane magic scholars)
-Necromancer, call on the powers of life, death and the underworld
-Elementalist, call creatures and powers of the elemental inner planes
-Summoner, call creatures and powers of the outer planar powers
-Enchanter, mostly make magic items and mind control to make money

Possibly do seperate elements and plane specialists etc

So the Secondary Classes I use
im less set on these

Monk (skill specialist artisans)
-Duelist, professional fighter or champion for hire
-Master, expert in a exotic fighting school style
-Executioner, profesional killer for society and state
-Sentinel, specialist guardians and security experts

Druid (Druidic Magic Worshipers)
-Green Robes, specialize if forestry and vegetation
-Brown Robes, specialize in animals and beastmen
-Black Robes, call on powers of death and make monsters to war on man
-Red Robes, specialize in bloody sacrifice and murder to cull man

Bard (Magical Diplomat Performers)
-Skald, barbarian poets and lore keepers
-Harlot (Rake), courtesans specialize in carnal arts
-Troubadour, idealistic mystic poets out to preach new heracies
-Mesmerist, master of confidence scams and mind control tricks for money

Possibly do other schools, sheppard, philosophers, rune masters etc

Sorcerer (Arcane Hedonist Cultists)
-Dracologist, carry taint of the draconic races
-Occultist, hidden worshipers of alien entities, outre gods or the old ones cults
-Somnambulist, dream travelling masters of illusion
-Demonologist, use demon patron granted power

Possibly do diabolists, chaos cults, angel sects, etc

Non Human Classes
Dwarf (greedy, squat, fighting folk)
-Morlock, dark dwarves, evil cannibalistic dwarves
-Mountain Dwarf, warrior dwarf culture
-Forest Dwarf, tree dwelling forest dwarves

-Tunnel Troll, short fighting trolls
Possibly do some other dwarves like the god Bes or Pygmies

Elf (magical kin to the gods) 
-Celestial or high elf mostly use priest magic, star travellers
-Sylvan or wood elf mostly use druid magic, forest wardens
-Magi or grey elves mostly use wizardry, obsessed occultists
-Eldren or planar elves mostly us Mentalism, dreamy hedonists
Possibly do bone elves, cave elves, arkane trolls, tieflings, etc

Halfling (small surprising explorers)
-Shireman, pleasure loving villager, all set for nice adventures
-Scout, sneaky forest patrolmen who protect their sedentary kin
-goblin, slimy repulsive goblins can be built reskining halflings
-Hedge Troll, short mostly harmless sneaky trolls

Possibly do tiny beast folk or mushroom folk

Gnome  (small magical nature folk)
-Black Cap, nasty selfish greedy gnomes, use evil priest spells
-Green Cap, like animals and nature and keep pets and druidry
-Grey Cap, like technology, steam automatons, guns and mechanisms
-Red Cap, nasty bandits who steal and dip hats in bloodPossibly do kobolds, hill trolls, blue caps, etc

My secondary Races

i could just do less here or do all the secondary classes and races later...
Or extra abhumans and changelings and only one giant and octopi type

Abhumans (Magical Human Hybrids)
-goatman, wild forest and mountain dwelling warriors
-mushroomman, fungus fleshed peaceful humanoids
-barbarian, huge primitive humans of the wilds
-great orc, huge orc human ogre hybrids

Possibly do icemen, magmamen, other animals, etc

Changelings (Magical Spirit Folk) 
-diabolic, devilkin shapeshifter
-angelic, angelkin shapeshifter
-cat spirit, animal spirit
-tree spirit, nature spirit 

Possibly do other nature, planar, elemental and animal spirits etc

Giant (gigantic humanoid monsters)
-chaos spawn, mutated monster freaks
-cyclops savage, cave dwelling shepherds
-ogre, brutish bandit monsters
-great troll, huge war beasts

Tako (cowardly magical octopus fairies)
-squid, sneaky skullduggery experts
-ammonite, wise scholarly elders
-nautilus, armoured dueling masters
-octopi, cowardly wizard creatures

One Day Maybe

-Paladin, Ranger, Shaman, Mystic
-Alchemist, Witch, Berserker, Warlock 

- long wanted to do a alchemist class who make living things

My SF Addons would be

-Psionic, Robot, Cyborg, Mutant
-Might be good in Planet Psychon with Robot Spell lists and mutations

4 comments:

  1. I have recently put, in my own house rules cheat page; Str as x10 for how many kg can be carries; dex as meters per round; Con as # of hit that can be taken from 1/4 CR foes. Int as x10 for IQ; Wis as # of profiency / languages etc total with spells parallel; Cha for followers, stealth, and tbe usuals like roll for Intimidate.
    Got to thinking; Con as Damage Reduction until it runs out? what do you think? would be pretty simple, maybe only for bludgeon? Or, Str for Bludgeon, Dex for slash, con for pierce?
    Cha as stealth doesn't seem much explored; but, think of it as Chi, like oriental chi, or ki, whatever, lifeforce...paladins, bards get noticed, rogues and other such slipperies can slide by maybe? If your hot and magnetic, folks notice; if you're nondescript and blah folks are like meh...
    Just some ideas that came to me last night, then I saw your post; you always have cool ideas :)
    Are these any good?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh... I really want to see those robot spell lists!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the first half was up somewhere...
      http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/robot-spell-list-and-character-class.html

      Delete
  3. Using DEX for all +hit does seem crazy but it's less crazy in an OSR type game where it's more likely that stats are straight Xd6, encumbrance is real, damage bonuses are hard to come by. Using STR for tactical speed is a good idea too.

    I was using DEX for melee to-hit bonus, and a player complained right up until a good STR roll on his cleric saved half the party...

    In any case DEX is already seen as a god stat, and I think there is value in getting away from FIGHTER=STR, THIEF=DEX, CLERIC=WIS stuff.

    ReplyDelete

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