Merging Class Change and Multiclassing Rules

A recent forum discussion on class changes got me thinking about condensing some of the rules around changing classes vs. multiclass characters. As you all know, the Greyhawk supplement introduced the rules for multiclass nonhuman characters which survived in AD&D 1st and 2nd edition and in the various lines of “Basic” D&D (B/X, BECM.) Any nonhuman (except possibly halflings) can progress as two or three classes simultaneously, splitting their experience between all their classes.

This is in contrast to the rules for changing classes, which seem to be limited to human beings in Men & Magic:

While changing class (for other than elves) is not recommended, the following rule should be applied: In order for men to change class they must have a score of 16 or better in the prime requisite (see below) of the class they wish to change to, and this score must be unmodified. A Cleric with a “strength” of 15, for example, could not become a Fighting-Man. In any event Magic-Users cannot become Clerics and vice-versa.

— M&M, p. 10

However, at the time that was written, neither dwarves nor halflings could be any class other than Fighter, and elves were limited to Fighter and Magic-User, with special rules for progression that have been a matter for violent debate for years. Many people wind up using the Greyhawk multiclass rules instead, even when not using anything else from Greyhawk, simply because it seems to be better explained, even thought it leaves open a couple questions: Can a single class elf add a second class later, or is the character locked into just the class(es) they start with? How do you handle hit dice? Do multiclass characters split XP between all their classes even after they can no longer advance in a class? (Greyhawk says “yes”, but do all editions? It seems to be a common question…)

In contrast, the rules for changing a class are pretty simple, and could be even simpler. So why even have separate rules for nonhumans? What does it add to the game?

I propose these rules for training in more than one class:

Characters start with one class, but may add a second
or third class at any time if they have high enough
prime ability scores.

• Starting Level: Last level earned
• Current Class: Last class added
• Hit Dice: Best of previous hit dice or current hit dice
• Hit Points: Roll for increase when hit dice increase, otherwise keep previous hit points
• Current XP: One total value, no splitting across classes
• XP Needed for Next Level: Total XP needed for next level in each class
• Attacks and Saves: Best for each class

Default prime ability score needed to add a class is 16+,
but may be lowered to 13+ at the GM’s option.

Nonhuman races have two designated classes that do not
require minimum scores, and so may be added at any time
(For example, elves may add Fighter or Magic-User ability
even if Strength or Intelligence are 12 or below.) However,
they may have a cap on combat ability, saves, or max spell
level.

You will notice that under these rules, players don’t track separate levels or XP for each class. A Fighter/Magic-User who wants to advance to 2nd level needs 4,500 xp (2,000 xp for 2nd level Fighter + 2,500 xp for 2nd level Magic-User.) This is easier to handle than writing “Level 1/1 Fighter/Magic-User” or keeping track of XP for each class. The benefit is that abilities in all classes continue to advance with each level, but it takes longer to reach the next level. The downside is that characters only earn hit dice from one class, not all classes.

If a 4th Level Fighter decides to become a Magic-User, here’s what happens:

• Starting Level = 4
• Hit Dice is 4, and won’t increase until 8th level
• Current XP is 8,000+
• Character reaches 5th level at 36,000, instead of 16,000 (Fighter) or 20,000 (Magic-User)

Other penalties could be added, but these rules seem pretty severe on their own, without having the fiddly-ness of existing rules.

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Cross-Species Racial Construction

I’ve talked before about creating custom races and half-breed races, for example in this explanatory post and the posts linked to it. But those posts talk about half-breed races – human plus elf, for example – from the viewpoint of OD&D and compatible systems. But here are my thoughts on fantasy half-breeds from a system-neutral and “cosmology-neutral” approach.

A half-breed character has one parent from one race and another parent from a different race. They are not necessarily the biological offspring of those two races, as you would normally understand it. For example, in a fantastic or mythic setting, if a god, demon, or magical being changes shape or possesses the body of a human and then has a child with another human, the child can be considered to have three parents, instead of two. In an even more fantastic setting, a spider or other creature that frightens a pregnant woman could even be considered a parent. In fantasy, science fiction, or superhero genres, an unnatural encounter could reshape a previously normal human, essentially causing them to be reborn, and the encounter itself acting as a new “parent”.

Half-breed characters will have the physical features of their mother. They will also have one minor physical feature of another parent, and may have up to three features as long as they are all minor and all but one are purely cosmetic.

If one of the parents has unnatural abilities, the half-breed character will have weak versions of those abilities.

Cultural (learned) abilities will match the culture they grow up in. They might be taught an additional language by each of their parents from outside the culture, plus one learned ability from outside their culture.

Constructed Beings can be treated as a special case. A constructed being is made in a laboratory or similar artificial manner and may not have a literal “mother”, so the being’s creator is free to choose whatever physical form is preferred. The physical “parents” of a construct are the mystical essences or biological DNA samples used in the construction, but the creator is the “mental parent” and provides mental abilities to their constructed offspring.

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Orcish Alignment

People sometimes complain that it’s unrealistic to limit orcs to Lawful Evil, because it demonizes them as monsters instead of people. Where did that come from?

I don’t mean “Where did the complaint come from?” I mean “Why are orcs Lawful Evil?”

In Men & Magic, the alignment chart (page 9) has orcs in the Chaos column… and the Neutrality column. This is pretty much the only discussion of their alignment in the three original booklets, although the discussion of hirelings in Underworld & Wilderness Adventures mentions that Chaotic characters might wish to hire orcs – more a commentary on the preferences of Chaotic characters than on the alignment of orcs.

In the AD&D Monster Manual, orcs are now Lawful Evil. Not only have they lost some flexibility, they’ve switched from Chaos to Law.

I could complain about the switch from the threefold to the five- or nine-fold alignment systems, or from alignment as allegiance to alignment as moral philosophy, but I have already done so. I’m more curious here as to why Gygax felt the need to switch, and why the switch had to include orcs becoming Lawful instead of Chaotic. Was it just because there weren’t enough Lawful Evil monsters under the new system?

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Monster Races

I said in my behind the scenes post on custom races that I was thinking of further limiting when a race could have an innate ability. I’ve also been thinking, though, that the spell-like innate abilities should be even more restricted. Not outright forbidden, but I definitely don’t want to imply that players should be allowed to build races just to get special powers.

What I’m thinking is magical powers should be restricted to monster races. And although I don’t like race-as-class and did not design the custom races guidelines previously described for the race-as-class approach, I think monster races should be handled as race-as-class.

A monster race is any existing monster in a setting adapted to be played by a character. Players do not design their own monsters. Instead, if the players encounter a monster and one player is inspired by the monster’s concept, they may ask to play one. If the GM and the other players agree, the player creates a new character and works out an explanation for why this monster is in civilized lands. Some options:

• Having an existing character Polymorphed accidentally or deliberately into a monster form;
• Taking over a monster ally that’s been convinced to join a party;
• Being magical conjured into existence as an “answer” to a prayer for divine aid;
• Being captured by the authorities and negotiating for release;
• Arriving in town in the service of a politically-powerful NPC.

Monster characters follow the XP and advancement guidelines of the fighter or hero class unless they have innate spell-like powers, in which case they follow the advancement rules for spell-casters. They do not get any other class abilities, since their class is “Pixie”, “Minotaur”, or whatever monster they are based on.

If the player is taking over a monster ally or other already-statted monster, figure out the monster’s effective level based on their dice or maximum ability level. Otherwise, start the monster as Level 1 and adjust the powers of the monster down, or arrange the powers in order of strength and link acquisition of powers to specific levels. In either case, max monster race level is 8, as it would be for the primary class of a less monstrous race.

The monster starts with zero XP. If their effective level is higher than 1, the monster must earn enough XP for a fighter or magic-user to reach the next level above their effect. Thus, a monster character may have to adventure for a long time before reaching the next level.

Once a monster reaches Level 8, the character can attempt to find training in another class by convincing an NPC of their worthiness and making a Good or better reaction roll.

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Behind Custom Races

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at custom races and their variants. What was I thinking?

What’s a Race?

Most modern versions of class-and-level exploration fantasy games have moved towards a standard formula: Ability Scores + Race + Class = Character. There may be a few additional steps in some games (Feats, Skills, and Backgrounds.) Every single step is necessary, and every single step makes the final character better in some way.

I reject that approach.

Races aren’t necessary. You could play elves and dwarves without any rules for race at all, but by just saying “I’m an elf” and acting like an elf. The rules come second. Races are built on class combos. In a sense, the race doesn’t exist at all, but is the name we give to that combo. The culture is then built around that concept.

Level Limits

In exchange for having access to two classes more or less simultaneously, the race by default can’t advance as far in either class. I based races on OD&D elves, limited to M-U 8/F 4 in terms of levels. I generalized this to Primary 8/Secondary 4 so that you can swap in other classes to make new races.

Orcs, you will notice, are basically the inverse of elves, with Fighter as the primary class. Since bookish magic-users seemed like a poor fit for the orc concept, I created a custom class, Shaman, as a better match.

Racial Abilities

I split racial abilities into two types, innate and cultural, for two reasons:

1. To shift the focus to cultural abilities, which have fewer limitations;
2. To allow cultural ability swaps for more variety (“raised by dwarves” granting dwarven cultural abilities to non-dwarves.)

Innate abilities are usually paired with disadvantages, to make them less of a focus. In fact, I’m tempted to increase the limitation, requiring any strong ability to be paired with a disadvantage. Players should not be taking races as part of a build strategy to get bonus abilities.

Exceeding Limits

Fantasy races are restricted to two classes at the start and have level limits, but I stated that these are perceptual limits. No non-human can become a name-level Fighter because humans don’t want to be ruled over by non-humans. No elf can be a 9th level M-U because humans think of themselves as better at everything and impose this lack of confidence in non-human abilities on the non-humans. No dwarf can become a druid because dwarven culture doesn’t have druids. No halfling can become a 5th level fighter because humans don’t think of short people as intimidating.

However, I hinted at a procedure for breaking those restrictions as part of role-playing. Characters can attempt to persuade NPCs to train them in a “forbidden” class. Characters can make the local population feel confident in their ability to excel.

The process is the same for all cases: do something to win over the NPC or the general population and make a reaction roll. In the case of level limits, roll every time the character increases in level, or once a year after hitting the level limit. On Good or better, they break the limit.

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Custom Fantasy Races: Variants

A continuation of my thoughts on custom races. The previous post focused on pure non-human races, but that idea can be expanded.

Human Sub-Races

Because “race” in fantasy RPGs is not really about biological differences, but tweaks to character concepts, we can use races for barbarians or other outsiders to the core human cultures. Define languages and other cultural abilities first, skip innate abilities, and limit the sub-culture to one combat and one magic-using class, with one of those as the primary.

Starting characters must begin as one of these two classes or any non-combat (talent) class. Level limits are the same:

• Primary Class: Level 8
• Secondary Class: Level 4
• Non-Combat Classes: Unlimited

However, class and level limits are not biological, but perceptual. Since sub-cultures are in actuality human, characters from sub-cultures can switch to any class available to the core culture once they have lived in that culture for a while and found training. Level limits can be exceeded once the character is no longer seen as an outsider (a Good or better reaction, checked every time the character while living/adventuring in one area, or once a year after hitting the level limit.)

If there are custom classes unique to a human sub-culture, the same rules apply to characters from the setting’s core cultures trying to switch to that class. Characters must learn the native language of a culture before they can gain the approval and acceptance of a sub-culture, however.

Lineages and Cults

Within the central civilized area of a setting, there may actually be “fringe” groups that operate within the core culture. For example, descendants of a family line may be known for their special skills and talents, or a cult may teach its members a jealously-guarded secret talent.

Because a lineage or cult is part of the main culture, there are no class or level restrictions on characters that start with that background. However, the lineage/cult can still be treated as a fantasy race.

• They may have a secret or private language,
• They may have special training (cultural abilities,)
• There may be an innate ability restricted to their bloodline or cult members,
• There may even be a custom class restricted to their family or to cult members.

Innate abilities should be rare. If the ability is restricted to a bloodline, it cannot be learned, but cannot be lost, either. If it’s restricted to cult members, it will be lost if the character breaks away or is expelled from the cult, but on the other hand, it can also be learned if a character joins a cult and proves their loyalty (Good or better reaction, rolled once per level gained after becoming a cult member.) Custom classes can also be made available to former outsiders after joining a cult or being made a family member through adoption or marriage.

Half-Human Races

The offspring of a human and non-human, or a true race that resembles the hypothetical offspring of a human and non-human, has the same primary class and secondary classes as its non-human “parent” race, but adds tertiary classes, which are any classes otherwise closed to their non-human parent. The level limits are:

• Primary Class: Level 8
• Secondary Class: Level 6
• Tertiary Classes: Level 4
• Non-Combat Classes: Unlimited

If the non-human parent’s secondary class was a Cleric/Priest variant and the pure Cleric/Priest class is normally closed to non-humans in the setting, a half-human race adds Cleric as another secondary class.

Mixtures of two non-human races get more complicated. Basically, all classes open to either parent race are available, but the level limit is based on the average of the level limits for both parents. If both parent races treat a given class as a primary class, the limit is Level 8. If one treat the class as primary and the other treats it as secondary, the limit is Level 6. If only one parent race has access to a class, the limit is Level 4.

Innate abilities for half-races should be half normal strength, at best. Disadvantages are at half strength unless both parent races have the same disadvantage. Cultural abilities will be based on the culture the character was raised in.

I may still have some things to say about custom races in the future.

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Custom Fantasy Races: Thoughts

I’ve been reconsidering my method for creating custom fantasy races to create easy to understand rules for Liber Zero. Here are my thoughts so far on the steps to create a custom race.

Step 1: Pick Classes Available

Each fantasy race is defined by one combat class and one magic-using class, one of these being the primary class. Starting characters must choose one of these two classes or any non-combat class based around talents (for example, Thief or Apothecary.) They cannot choose any other class, and if they are magic resistant, they cannot choose any magic-using class.

Standard maximum levels for each class are:

• Primary Class: Level 8
• Secondary Class: Level 4
• Non-Combat Class: Unlimited

Exception 1A: Shorter Than Human

Combat classes for races that are shorter proportional to human height modify the level limit:

Proportional Height		Primary Class	Secondary Class
3/4ths Human		Level 6	Level 3
1/2 Human		Level 4	Level 2
1/4th Human or less		Level 2	Level 1

Exception 1B: Clerics or Priests

Some settings define Clerics or Priests as part of the hierarchy for human religions. If so, pure non-human races may be forbidden from starting or becoming Clerics/Priests. Variant classes like Shaman or Diabolist might still be open, however.

Step 2: Add Innate Abilities

Each race may have one strong or two weak innate abilities, such as:

Ability	Weak Version	Strong Version
Winged Flight	full Move	Move x 2
Swimming	half Move	full Move
Burrowing	Move/6	Move/3
Climb or Other	Move/3	Move/2
Boosted Sense	Torch Range/2	Torch Range
Resist Heat, etc	-1 damage/die	half damage

A second strong innate ability, or an ability that duplicates a 1st to 3rd level spell effect, requires a disadvantage, such as:

• Physical Vulnerability (double damage from heat, cold, poison)
• Attack/Defense Penalty (in bright light, dry conditions, etc.)
• Slowed Movement (in daylight, on land, etc.)
• Reaction Penalty (shift reaction one category worse for one major group)
• Shorter Than Human (reduce combat class maximums, as per Exception 1A above)
• Inherently Unmagical (unable to begin as a magic-using class)

All forms of Magic Resistance are usually paired with Inherently Unmagical.

• Save as Level + 4
• Immune to One Spell
• -1 Damage/die from Any Magic

The exception would be using an innate magical ability as countermagic to resist an opposed form of magic.

Optional Step 3: Cultural Abilities

All non-human races are allowed to take their native language for free. Depending on setting, other languages that are related to or corruptions of their native language may be included.

Non-human cultures may also have iconic talents. These may be:

• Mundane professions, like hunter or sailor,
• bonuses to attack/defense in specific situations
• talents that resemble Thief abilities or other talent-based classes

There is no limit on how many professions may be tied to a given culture, other than reasonableness. Bonuses or talents are bundled together and limited to what would be appropriate for a 1st or 2nd level non-magical character class.

Characters who are raised by a foreign culture (elves adopted by human parents, for example,) will not have the cultural abilities of their race, but may have any cultural abilities of their adopted culture. They will not learn their native language as a “free” language, but can learn it as an additional language if their intelligence is high enough.

Special Cases

Human subraces, “half” races, monster races, and other variations on fantasy races will have to wait for a follow-up post, but will all be close to the guidelines above. Above all else, custom fantasy races should follow the basic principle of changing the feel of a character, rather than being a way to optimize or supercharge a character. They should always limit character options in some way while providing only a small benefit.

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Half-Races: What Are They Good For?

I posted the orc and half-orc races because of some thread necromancy on a forum. I had added them as a comment to the thread ages ago, but more recent additions to the thread raised a side issue: Which races have “half-race” versions, and what does that even mean? What is a half-race even good for?

I think the first interpretation most people jump to is that a half-race is the offspring of one human parent and one non-human parent. Tolkien introduced half-elf and half-orc concepts that were based on crossbreeding, which makes sense in his world where fantastic beings are given more naturalistic explanations. Elves, orcs, and presumably dwarves mate and have children, just like humans, although there are very few female members and no children for any of those races described in the books. There are hobbit children, however, and more hobbit women than human women mentioned.

Roll back a bit to Arthurian romance. It’s not entirely clear whether the fay are a biological race or more like a blessing or curse that happens within some human bloodlines, but Arthur’s half-sister Morgan La Fay is in theory at least partly non-human, and her nephew (and Arthur’s nephew) Gawain seems to have some supernatural gifts as well. Whatever the explanation of what a “fay” really is, it would be represented as a race in OD&D, and some characters like Gawain might be considered half-fay, which would mean “less fay” and not necessarily “a fay half-breed”.

Similarly, changelings in fairy lore are not the offspring of human and a fairy, but are fairy replacements for human children. In at least one fairy story I’ve read, a human child who doesn’t quite fit in with his community turns out to be a changeling, which raises the possibility of using half-elves to represent elves who pass as human and are possibly raised by human parents.

Farther back in myth and legend, we have a number of half-human, half-animal races, like centaurs, satyrs, and the Minotaur, which are not necessarily human/animal hybrids (although they could be, like the Minotaur,) but may be descendants of a cursed ancestor, or spontaneously generated in some way. There are some old legends of pregnant women being startled or attacked by an animal and later giving birth to a child bearing some features of that animal. This could be considered an alternative fantastic origin of half-beast characters, if you would rather not have cross-breeding between humans and animals.

Another example would be a monster that is transformed into a human or near-human, retaining some of their monstrous characteristics. For example, Norse sagas mention a hero, Starkad, who is technically a Jotun who passes as a human. He lives three times as long as a human, either because of his Jotun nature or because of a gift from Odin, depending on the version of the story. The ants transformed into human warriors (Myrmidons) would be another example.

What these all share is the feature of being halfway between a human and a beast, monster, or nonhuman race. Any of these examples could be incorporated into D&D as half-races.

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Orc and Half-Orc Player Characters

Another thing I made and forgot to post here: write-ups for the orc and half-orc races.

Orc

Orc characters can begin as either a Fighter (max level 8) or Shaman (max level 4.) If thieves or other skilled professional classes are available, orcs can begin as one of those classes instead, with no maximum level. If nonhuman multiclassing is allowed (as in Supplement II: Greyhawk,) orcs can multiclass as any of these classes.

Because of their brutish nature, orcs receive stronger negative reactions from humans, elves, dwarves and halflings: shift reaction down one category (Very Good becomes Good, Good become Neutral, Neutral becomes Bad, and Bad becomes Very Bad.) Reactions from other orcs or from underworld races are unaffected.

In direct sunlight, orcs are at -1 on all actions and saves. The orcish sense of smell is sharper than a human’s, allowing them to detect enemies even in total darkness, same range as a lantern.

Orcs speak the languages of elves, hobgoblins, and gnolls, in addition to their own language and the common language.

Half-Orcs

Half-Orc characters can begin as either a Fighter (max level 8,) Cleric or Shaman (max level 6 for either,) or Magic-User (max level 4.) They are unlimited in level in the professional classes like Thief.

Because they are able to partially pass as human, half-orcs do not get negative reactions that are as strong as those towards full orcs. Humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings never have a better reaction than Good, but do not otherwise shift reactions down a category.

Half-orcs have no penalty in bright sunlight. They can detect enemies by smell as would an orc, but at half the range.

Half-orcs speak the same languages as the parent who raised them.

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Thoughts on Fantasy Races II

Continuing with my thoughts on fantasy races… Previously, I talked about what different editions did with races functionally, what races do mechanically, which we can summarize as:

• OD&D gives races minor additional benefits and serious limitations.
• B/X drops the limitations and treats races as specialty classes.
• AD&D turn races into ways to optimize ability scores, which becomes the dominant post-AD&D paradigm.

But what are races actually for, from a player’s perspective? Why do players choose to play a fantasy race, instead of a human?

For OD&D, where the benefits are slight, players mostly choose fantasy races for fun. They want to be an elf because one of their favorite characters is an elf, or they have an idea of how to play an elf that seems fun. Or it’s not a specific race, but specific abilities they like: they want to fly and breathe fire, so they get GM approval to play a balrog. Or they just want some variety, because they’ve been playing a narrow range of characters and want something different. In some cases, players might ask play fantasy races that have no special features at all, such as goblins.

The same can be true for other versions of D&D, but since B/X and other “race as class” versions start to focus a little more on abilities, you start seeing more people choosing races for the benefits they get. This trend gets stronger in the AD&D line and the WotC versions of D&D or their descendants. Many players in this branch of D&D pick races that provide the best benefit for the class they want to play, or to help balance the party, for example to guarantee the party has someone who can see in the dark (in contrast to OD&D, which doesn’t allow PCs or their companions to have infravision as an innate ability.)

Now, different people like different things, so this isn’t a judgment of which path is “right”. However, as I brought up in a comment when I discussed my feelings about “race as class”, I have specific needs and desires for what I want out of a race. I see fantasy races from the “play something different for a change” perspective that I associate with OD&D. I do not want to promote fantasy races as an optimization technique. I’ve probably ranted enough about system vs. fiction that this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. I don’t want players to think about the rules first and then imagine a situation that fits the rules. I want it to be the other way around… so I definitely don’t want players to pick the best race for their class, or the best race to fill a niche in the party’s abilities.

I want players to play the races they think would be fun. I want them to have variety.

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Thoughts on Fantasy Races I

What is a fantasy race, anyways? What’s it for?

The shallow answer is that fantasy races are sentient non-humans. But what I’m actually asking is “Why even have a game system feature called ‘race’ in the first place? What does it do that the broad upper-level feature ‘class’ and the narrower low-level feature ‘skills’ does not?”

The B/X and BECMI strains of D&D asked those questions and answered “Nothing, really.” So fantasy races just became other classes, classes with minimum ability scores and tweaked abilities compared to the human class closest in concept. AD&D answered the question another way, making races the source of ability score modifiers, which in turn affect both class abilities and skills. This becomes the main use of race in 3e, making certain race and class combos optimal and discouraging other combos as sub-optimal.

But in OD&D, each race has class and level restrictions paired with a handful of extra abilities. Elves get to combine fighting and magic-use, are better at finding secret doors, and get a couple combat bonuses. Dwarves get magic resistance and familiarity with the underground. Halflings get magic resistance and better missile attacks. Elves and Dwarves also get extra languages (… or do they?)

So OD&D fantasy races are modifiers to class, but not to ability scores. Or to skills, which didn’t exist yet. I prefer to keep that concept and drift further in that direction, rather than either the B/X “race as class” direction or the AD&D “race modifies ability scores” direction.

There should be two components to any race: the physical side and the cultural side. Language is clearly part of the cultural side, but so are the restrictions. Elves can’t be Clerics and can’t go above 4th level as a Fighter because Cleric and Fighter are defined in terms of human culture, but they get the benefit of freely practicing magic and combat side by side, or firing arrows while moving on foot, because these are things that fit elven culture. Their heightened senses, however, are physical differences. This matters mostly because elves raised by humans or vice versa should have the physical benefits of their race, but the cultural benefits of their adopted race. Notice that Thieves, which are more like a profession than an aspect of human culture, have no race or level restrictions. It’s something I think should be maintained for new professions, like the Apothecary and Leech classes I created.

Languages would also be based on culture as well. Elves raised by elves speak Elvish as their native tongue and Common as their second tongue. Elves raised by humans would not speak Elvish, in many cases. As a side note, I personally interpret the additional languages not as actual languages, but mutually intelligible dialects. Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls speak languages related to Elvish, while Gnomes, Kobolds, and Goblins speak languages related to Dwarvish. Halflings originally got no bonus languages because their native language is supposed to be unique or possibly related to Common.

All these things are points for me to keep in mind as I decide how to develop races for Liber Zero.

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B/X Is Bad, Mmmkay? Part I

In a comment on a blog link post, Norman J. Harman, Jr. expressed his opinion about Gygax’s writing and quality of rules. Which is fine, everyone can have opinions. But the comment ends with “B/X is a better game than AD&D.” And that had me do a double-take, because I think of both as being about equally bad, and certainly B/X had a couple distinct rules differences I’d consider worse than AD&D. And I’m not talking about minor quibbling differences that people always seem to focus on. I’m talking about the differences everyone seems to ignore that are basically the deal-breakers for me.

One difference is race as class. I’m not completely opposed to the idea, but I do think it’s a terrible design choice. People generally want to add fantasy races so that they can have more variety… so making all elves the same, all dwarves the same, and so on seems counterproductive. OD&D started with fighter-dwarf, fighter-halfling, and elves that could be either fighter, magic-user, or both, then expanded the options for those three races with thieves… and then B/X came along and got rid of the options. AD&D expands the options, and though I don’t think it did so in the correct way, at least it’s not B/X.

Continuing that line of reasoning: minimum ability scores is also a bad idea. B/X shares this with AD&D, though, and at least B/X doesn’t have minimum scores for the core classes, just the races, so that’s one thing in its favor. But having minimum scores at all, for anything other than rare classes like paladins, is a bad decision, again because it limits variety. You can’t play the weak but brave dwarf in B/X (or the weak but brave fighter or cleric or thief, in AD&D,) because hey, why have more variety in your game? Plus, it has the added effect of making ability scores more important and dominating the game, but that’s a whole other line of argument.

You may have noticed, in the Liber Zero class pamphlets, that none of the variant classes like Beast Master, Witch, or Apothecary have minimum scores. I decided to shift the opposite direction, away from B/X and AD&D, towards more freedom and variety instead of less.

Because dammit, even if I agreed B/X is a better game than AD&D, it’s not better than OD&D.

Elven Hit Dice

An old topic came up again elsewhere: how do you figure out the hit points of elf characters in OD&D?

In Vol. I: Men & Magic, the description of player-character elves is pretty short:

Elves: Elves can begin as either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users and freely switch class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure, but not during the course of a single game. Thus, they gain the benefits of both classes and may use both weaponry and spells. They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users. However, they may not progress beyond 4th level Fighting-Man (Hero) nor 8th level Magic-User (Warlock). Elves are more able to note secret and hidden doors. They also gain the advantages noted in the CHAINMAIL rules when fighting certain fantastic creatures. Finally, Elves are able to speak the languages of Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls in addition to their own (Elvish) and the other usual tongues.

That’s actually not that complicated. They start out as one of two classes, can switch to the other class between adventures (in other words, in town,) and can use equipment and abilities of either of their classes, in exchange for level limits. People make this a bit more complicated than it needs to be.

“But what about hit points?” is the objection people raise. “How do you know which hit dice to roll for hit points?”

Think about non-elves who switch classes for a moment. A 3rd level human fighter with a 16 Intelligence decides to become a magic-user. How would you figure out that character’s hit points, without overthinking the process? At 3rd level, a fighter has 3 hit dice, so their hit points range from 3 to 18 (average 10.5) using the old M&M hit dice progression. Then the fighter becomes a 1st level magic-user, which only has 1 hit die. They wouldn’t lose their existing hit points, but they wouldn’t gain any, either. Three hit dice is more that 1 hit die, so just keep what hit points they have until they hit 6th level, when a magic-user gets 3+1 hit dice, which is more than the 3 hit dice of a fighter. Not complicated.

An elf would work the same way. The only difference is that an elf can switch back and forth, but each time, they keep their current hit points, and only add hit points when they earn more hit dice than what they started with.

The other option, one I think Gygax mentioned in an early Strategic Review or Dragon article, is to roll for both classes and average them together. That’s a little too complicated, but if you are using the Greyhawk supplement, it becomes easy: fighters get d8 for hit dice, magic-users get d4 for hit dice, and the average of a d8 and d4 is a d6. Just give them as many d6s as their highest class level. This is what the race-as-class elves in later editions of the Basic D&D line does. For OD&D, with its separate tracking of levels for each class, this helps compensate for the elf’s advantages; elves take much longer to increase their hit points than would a human of any class.

Making Dwarves Squirm

Ages ago, I gave elves some more distinctive features in my worlds: skin is some exotic color, hair/eyes are another shade of the same color, eyes have no pupil or whites, only unaging while in their enchanted homeland.

I’ve wanted to do something similar with dwarves, but couldn’t think of anything offhand that didn’t feel like it had been done before. More than one person has done the “carve their own children from stone” thing, for example.

But then I remembered that in Norse myth, dwarves are created from maggots or worms. And that reminded me about my backstory for my game world involving a wormpocalypse.

Dwarves are somehow descended from purple worms, or a worm race (like the Wyrmanoids I wrote up.)

Done.

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Non-Materialistic Elves

As I develop this magic system based on materialistic spell points, I’m liking it more and more and want to use it… but there’s a problem I’m beginning to notice. When I first suggested it, I was thinking I would keep “normal” magic as-is, but use the alternate system for elven magic, to help make elves more distinctive. But as I thought about it more, especially after writing about the physical nature of the power source for magic, I began to feel like the relationship should be reversed.

Even though I was using “materialistic” in the literal sense of having a material form, it’s feeling more like a very materialistic system in the philosophical sense: rejecting metaphysical or spiritual matters, focusing on the practical and physical, even tending to be oriented towards commerce. That doesn’t sound like elves to me at all. I’ve always seen elves as being good at magic because they are inherently magical. They ultimately can’t be as powerful as might human wizards, but magic comes easier to them because they are born with a sense of the magical forces in the world.

So maybe I should swap the two magic systems.

Human spellcasters are sharply divided into the spiritual clerics, who draw power from divine forces and have a more limited range in what they can do, and materialistic magicians, who study how to distill mana into a physical form and use it to power a wide range of spells.

Elves, on the other hand, are in between. They have a “materialistic spiritualism” view of the world and can prepare (memorize) spells to cast when needed, without the need for arcane fuel. But they don’t have the freedom of human magicians, who can cast any spell they know as long as they have mana balls as fuel. They must prepare specific spells beforehand.

I’m thinking, though, that elves learn spells from spellbooks, but don’t need to use spellbooks to memorize spells for casting. If they study their spellbooks, they automatically memorize the spells they select, but if they just meditate for a number of hours equal to their highest spell level, they can memorize the spells on a successful 3d6 vs. Int roll (half effective Int in stressful or suboptimal circumstances.) On a failed result, their retention is poor and a spell check must be made every time they cast a spell, to see if it was successfully memorized.

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Teen Elf, Action Dwarf

A forum thread asking “Why do people like elves and dwarves?” got me thinking about something, and I had a major insight.

Elves are vampires, dwarves are werewolves.

I don’t mean literally (although that might be a fun twist.) But the elven archetype hits a lot of the same notes as the vampire archetype, or at least the vampire in stories from a vampire’s POV. And dwarves as a contrast to elves hit some of the same notes as werewolves in stories told from a werewolf’s point of view.

I instinctively recognized there was something to the elf:vampire analogy a while ago, but now I think I can put it into words. Someone once said, about the popularity of the Twilight series, that teen fans love the Twilight vampires because they get to be teen agers forever. Twilight vampires are angsty, self-absorbed, manipulators. Nothing about them is straightforward: they have all these secrets and desires churning inside them. And the Twilight werewolves, although they do have a general secret, are an obvious contrast to vampires: they’re much more direct, say what they mean, wear their hearts on their sleeve, and even share thoughts with their pack members. Quick contrast table:

Vampires	Werewolves
Introverts	Extroverts
Self-Absorbed	Pack-Oriented
Secret Desires	Obvious Emotions
Self-Restrained (maybe)	Impulsive
Schemers	Bullies
Individualist	Community-driven

Of course, some of those traits only apply to specific instances. Only the “good” vampires are self-restrained, with others callously pursuing their secret desires, and only the “bad” werewolves give into their impulsive response to violent emotions and beat their girlfriends. Still, when I watch the movies, the contrast was strong enough that I thought: Really? You’re telling teenage girls that all men are either manipulative sociopaths or pushy bastards, and the best they can hope for is to pick one who promises not to lie too much or beat you too much?

But back on track… what I’m seeing is that vampires are more detached from society and concerned with careful planning to get what they want, while werewolves are more gregarious and prefer direct action. And many depictions of elves and dwarves that I've seen, including in a game, make that same contrast. The elves are the ones who worry about the consequences of their actions and try to find a rational solution to their problems; the dwarves are the ones who rush in, axeblades a swingin’, because they don’t want to wait around while the elves debate the proper course of action.

Elves and vampires are the wine-sipping masterminds who think in shades of grey. Dwarves and werewolves are the beer-swilling action heroes who get stuff done.

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Warforged

Yesterday in the Kender post, I wondered why no one is bitching about the warforged coming back, but taichara responded that "people who play warforged haven't been handed a mandate to drive the rest of the table into an insane asylum with their pwecious twee kleptomaniac". Well, no, they haven't. The mandate they have been handed gives them the right to sullen fighty types with few, if any, social connections. If the kender is custom made for That Guy, the warforged is custom made for The Turtle.

Also, it's made for the guy who says "I'm tired of being told my character has human limitations like a need to eat, drink and breathe, and I'm terrified that the GM will tell me I have to take my armor off to rest. So I want a race that that has no disadvantages other than 'refuses to act like a human being'."

By the way, Timrod, did you know that the kender are coming back?

Kender

So, now there's another wave of outrage sweeping the forums: the kender will be in the next playtest packet for DnDNext. OH MY GRAWD! THE KENDER! They are so... so... well, actually, I don't know much about 'em, because they've never been in any game I ran or played in, and when I skimmed the description in the 1e rules for Dragonlance, I thought "That's stupid" and never bothered with them.

What I don't get is why there's a huge outrage against the kender showing up (As a core race? Dunno, don't care) and no similar outrage over the warforged being in the same upcoming packet. Because what annoys me about the kender is the same thing that annoys me about the warforged: it's way too setting specific and should be in supplemental materials. But then, that's what annoys me about the tieflings and the dragonborn and many, many other elements. They should be on the fringes, for those who have need of such things, but should not be core.

Troll Questions: Level Limits

Another post on the top ten troll questions.

(4). Demi-human level limits?

I'm in favor of them. A flat Level 8 limit for any non-human of any class except Thief and its variants. Short races reduce max level as a Fighter proportional to height. Honestly, why do people object to this? If unlimited level advancement is important to you, don't pick a demi-human class that has a level limit. If being an elf or dwarf is more important to you, do that instead, and deal with the level limits.

But... Just because dwarves are normally limited to 6th level as a Fighter doesn't mean that a player can't find a way to push beyond that limit. Instead of bitching about the rules, make that your character's quest: "I want to be a respected dwarven lord and start a barony, exactly like a human lord." OK, find a way.

Troll Questions: Demi-Human Souls

Another post on the top ten troll questions.

(2). Do demi-humans have souls?

I don't even have demi-humans. As I said before, I hate that term. They are just "other races" or maybe "humanoids" to me.

This is mostly inspired by later editions, which explicitly stated that Raise Dead could not be cast on an elf, for example, because they do not have souls. The funny thing about this is: in OD&D, it wasn't elves or dwarves who couldn't be raised, it was halflings. And honestly, I figure that was just an omission, or perhaps it was done out of spite, not because of any deep cosmological principal.

I pretty much think of anything with a personality as having a soul. Not that it matters much, because aside from a small repertoire of spells, "souls" are not really part of the system. It doesn't matter if elves have souls or not. So why worry about it?