House Rules

Cleric: Turning the Undead

• -: Turning is not possible.
• T: The turning succeeds.
• D: The turning succeeds and the monsters are dealt 1d8 damage per level of the Cleric.

Clerics can turn the undead, that is, drive away undead monsters by means of faith alone. The Cleric brandishes their holy symbol and calls upon the power of their divine patron. The player rolls 1d20 and tells the GM the result. Note that the player should always roll, even if the GM knows the character can’t succeed (or can’t fail), as telling the player whether or not to roll may reveal too much.

The GM looks up the Cleric’s level on the Clerics vs. Undead table, and cross-references it with the undead type or Hit Dice. (The Hit Dice row is provided for use with undead monsters not found in the Core Rules; only use the Hit Dice row if the specific type of undead monster is not on the table and no guidance is given in the monster’s description.) If the table indicates “No” for that combination, it is not possible for the Cleric to affect that type of undead monster. If the table gives a number, that is the minimum number needed on 1d20 to Turn that sort of undead. If the table says “T” for that combination, that type of undead is automatically affected (no roll needed). If the result shown is a “D,” then that sort of undead will be Damaged (and possibly destroyed) rather than merely Turned.

If the roll is a success, 2d6 hit dice of undead monsters are affected; surplus hit dice are lost (so if zombies are being Turned and a roll of 7 is made, at most 3 zombies can be Turned), but a minimum of one creature will always be affected if the first roll succeeds.

If a mixed group of undead (say, a wight and a pair of zombies) is to be Turned, the player still rolls just once. The result is checked against the weakest sort first (the zombies), and if they are successfully Turned, the same result is checked against the next higher type of undead. Likewise, the 2d6 hit dice are rolled only once. For example, if the group described above is to be Turned by a 2nd level Cleric, they would first need to have rolled a 15 or higher to Turn the zombies. If this is a success, 2d6 are rolled; assuming the 2d6 roll is a 7, this would Turn both zombies and leave a remainder of 3 hit dice of effect. Wights are, in fact, 3 hit die monsters, so assuming the original 1d20 roll was a 20, the wight is Turned as well. Obviously, were it a group of 3 zombies and a wight, the 2d6 roll would have to be a total of 9 or higher to affect them all.

If a Cleric succeeds at Turning the undead, but not all undead monsters present are affected, they may try again in the next round to affect those which remain. If any roll to Turn the Undead fails, that Cleric may not attempt to Turn Undead again for one full turn. A partial failure (possible against a mixed group) counts as a failure for this purpose.

Undead monsters which are Turned flee from the Cleric and their party at maximum movement. If the party pursue and corner the Turned undead, they may resume attacking the party; but if left alone, the monsters will not return or attempt to attack the Cleric or those near him or her for at least 2d4 turns.

Undead monsters subject to a D (Damaged) result suffer 1d8 damage per level of the Cleric (roll once and apply the same damage to all undead monsters affected); those reduced to zero hit points are utterly destroyed, being blasted into little more than dust. Those surviving this damage are still Turned as above.

Paladin: Turning the Undead

• -: Turning is not possible.
• T: The turning succeeds.
• D: The turning succeeds and the monsters are dealt 1d8 damage per level of the Paladin.

Paladins can Turn the undead, that is, drive away undead monsters by means of faith alone. The Paladin brandishes their holy symbol and calls upon the power of their divine patron. The player rolls 1d20 and tells the GM the result. Note that the player should always roll, even if the GM knows the character can’t succeed (or can’t fail), as telling the player whether or not to roll may reveal too much.

The GM looks up the Paladin’s level on the Paladin vs. Undead table, and cross-references it with the undead type or Hit Dice. (The Hit Dice row is provided for use with undead monsters not found in the Core Rules; only use the Hit Dice row if the specific type of undead monster is not on the table and no guidance is given in the monster’s description.) If the table indicates “No” for that combination, it is not possible for the Paladin to affect that type of undead monster. If the table gives a number, that is the minimum number needed on 1d20 to Turn that sort of undead. If the table says “T” for that combination, that type of undead is automatically affected (no roll needed). If the result shown is a “D,” then that sort of undead will be Damaged (and possibly destroyed) rather than merely Turned.

If the roll is a success, 2d6 hit dice of undead monsters are affected; surplus hit dice are lost (so if zombies are being Turned and a roll of 7 is made, at most 3 zombies can be Turned), but a minimum of one creature will always be affected if the first roll succeeds.

If a mixed group of undead (say, a wight and a pair of zombies) is to be Turned, the player still rolls just once. The result is checked against the weakest sort first (the zombies), and if they are successfully Turned, the same result is checked against the next higher type of undead. Likewise, the 2d6 hit dice are rolled only once. For example, if the group described above is to be Turned by a 2nd level Paladin, they would first need to have rolled a 15 or higher to Turn the zombies. If this is a success, 2d6 are rolled; assuming the 2d6 roll is a 7, this would Turn both zombies and leave a remainder of 3 hit dice of effect. Wights are, in fact, 3 hit die monsters, so assuming the original 1d20 roll was a 20, the wight is Turned as well. Obviously, were it a group of 3 zombies and a wight, the 2d6 roll would have to be a total of 9 or higher to affect them all.

If a Paladin succeeds at Turning the undead, but not all undead monsters present are affected, they may try again in the next round to affect those which remain. If any roll to Turn the Undead fails, that Cleric may not attempt to Turn Undead again for one full turn. A partial failure (possible against a mixed group) counts as a failure for this purpose.

Undead monsters which are Turned flee from the Paladin and their party at maximum movement. If the party pursue and corner the Turned undead, they may resume attacking the party; but if left alone, the monsters will not return or attempt to attack the Paladin or those near them for at least 2d4 turns.

Undead monsters subject to a D (Damaged) result suffer 1d8 damage per level of the Paladin (roll once and apply the same damage to all undead monsters affected); those reduced to zero hit points are utterly destroyed, being blasted into little more than dust. Those surviving this damage are still Turned as above.

Diviner Caster: Minor healing

A divine caster can expend any memorized spell or take one hit die of damage to cast a weaker version of cure light wounds that heals for 1d4 instead of 1d6+1 hit points. If this is interrupted, the spell is still expended or the caster still takes damage. Unlike cure light wounds, this healing does not cure paralysis.

Diviner Caster: Bonus spells for high WIS

Divine casters with WIS of 13+/16+/18+ can learn and cast an additional 1st/2nd/3rd level spell when they gain access to the given spell level.

Arcane Caster: Magic darts

An arcane caster can expend any memorized spell or take one hit die of damage to cast a weaker version of magic missile that deals 1d4 instead of 1d6+1 damage. If this is interrupted, the spell is still expended or the caster still takes damage.

Arcane Caster: Bonus spells for high INT

Arcane casters with INT of 13+/16+/18+ can learn and cast an additional 1st/2nd/3rd level spell when they gain access to the given spell level.

Spellcasting Changes

Newly-created Magic-Users begin with four random Level 1 spells in their spellbooks, in addition to Read Magic.

Detect Magic: All Magic-Users can detect magical resonance at will, provided the caster can concentrate without distraction and physically touch the subject. Only the existence of magic is detected, not its nature or strength. Each attempt requires one turn.

Transcribing spells from a spellbook or scroll to another spellbook requires proper tools, and takes one uninterrupted hour per spell level per spell. There is no chance of failure, unless the transcription process is interrupted, in which case it automatically fails. Further attempts can be made without restriction.

Scrolls of a higher level than the caster’s capability can be cast by any appropriate class of any class level, but they cannot be copied into spellbooks.

Thieves, Acolytes, Acrobats, Assassins, and Mages: D6 Thief Skills

Thieves, Acolytes, Acrobats, Assassins, and Mages use the D6 Thief Skills alternate system from Carcass Crawler Issue #1, modified slightly. No skill using this system can ever increase beyond a 5 in 6 chance.

Thief (and other classes) Skills as Saving Throws

Thief Skill as Saving Throw — Gary Sentus

Simply treat each thief skill score as a sort of saving throw that the thief is entitled to in the event that the initial attempt at a given task fails. If this second roll succeeds, the initial failed roll is ignored.

Example One: Two intrepid adventurers, a fighting man and a thief, are faced with a sheer wall. The DM rules that there is only a 1 in 6 chance to safely complete such a tricky ascent with no special equipment, possibly with a +1 modifier to the roll if the climber boasts extraordinary dexterity. The fighter rolls a four and doesn’t make it. He loses his grip and suffers falling damage. The thief rolls a five and also fails, however his follow-up Climb Walls “saving” roll is a success! He completes the climb safely.

Example Two: A thief and his magic-user companion are attempting to tiptoe past a distracted orc sentry. Neither are heavily encumbered or wearing metal armor, so the DM assigns a base 1-3 in 6 chance of success for each character. A failure by either is sure to be noticed by the orc. The magic-user succeeds with a roll of two. The thief scores a six and fails. His follow-up Move Silently roll is also a failure. Despite his advantage, the thief has blown it this time around. Roll for initiative!

This approach is easy to remember, quick to employ, and doesn’t require changing one word of the thief class description from your rulebooks. It strengthens the thief significantly by allowing for two chances to succeed at any given usage of a “class skill” and doesn't infringe on the ability of other classes to have a reasonable chance of success when attempting "thiefly" actions.

Fighter: Mighty Deeds

When a fighter attacks, they roll a d6 along with the d20. If the d6 roll succeeds (see table), it adds an attack bonus of +1 to the attack roll and +1 to damage. If both the d6 and d20 roll succeed, the fighter may perform an additional action along with their attack.

Potential actions that could be taken include:

• Kick sand in an enemy’s face (save vs breath attacks or be blinded)
• Disarm an opponent (enemy saves vs paralysis or drops weapon)
• Push an enemy off a cliff (enemy saves vs paralysis or moves back 10’)
• Precision shot, called shot
• Rally your retainers
• Swing from a chandelier (or perform similar stunts)

Mighty Deeds must follow naturally from what players are doing in the game. You can’t kick sand into an enemy’s face if there is no sand on the ground, or swing from a nonexistent chandelier.

Fighter: Deathblow

When a fighter kills an enemy with a melee weapon, they can attack an adjacent enemy.

Death

When any creature is brought to 0 hit points (or as low as -9 hit points if from the same blow which brought the total to 0), it is unconscious. In each of the next succeeding rounds 1 additional (negative) point will be lost until -10 is reached and the creature dies. HP loss ceases immediately on any round a friendly creature administers aid to the unconscious one. Aid consists of binding wounds, starting respiration, administering a draught (healing potion, etc.) or otherwise doing whatever is necessary to restore life.

If someone has a positive HP total and is reduced by a single attack to -10 hp or lower (e.g. someone with 2 hp is struck for 12 points of damage), they are dead.

Slow Weapons

Weapons do not have the Slow quality where the PC would act last in each combat round.

Shields and Damage Absorbion

Shields Shall Be Splintered: Whenever you take damage, you can opt to have the damage absorbed by your shield. The shield is splintered and destroyed, but you don’t take any damage from the blow.

Magic Shields: You can do the same with a magic shields. There will be a DC 15 chance that the shield will lose +1 of its enchantment. If the + enchantments drop to 0, the next damage absorbion destroys the shield.

Magic Shields vs. Spells: In addition, you can automatically sacrifice +1 from a magic shield in order to make a successful save vs. any spell, breath weapon, gaze, or similar effect. If the + enchantments drop to 0, the next damage absorbion destroys the shield.

Humans Are Versatile

Human characters can add +1 to any ability score during character creation at the cost of –1 to a different random ability score.

All Classes Can Use All Weapons?

Religions or similar may limit what weapons the character can use.

Helmet

A Helmet does not provide a bonus to AC. It can absorb the damage from a single critical hit, but then is rendered useless. It also imposes a -1 penalty to Surprise.

Alternative Energy Drain

• Wights, wraiths and other lesser undead drain 1d6 Constitution per hit
• Spectres, vampires and other greater undead drain 2d4 Constitution per hit
• Shadows drain 1d6 Strength per hit
• Scores recover at a rate of 1 per day
• A character drained to 0 in a score is lost, and becomes an undead of the given type

Hit Point Recovery Immediately After Combat

Immediately after a combat has ended, player character can rest for a turn (10 min) and bind wounds provided they have a healer’s kit. A healer’s kit costs 25 gp and has 10 uses. Binding wounds recovers 1d4+1 hit points and reduces the uses of the kit by 1. This kind of binding can only happen once per combat/character.

Resting and Healing

When a player character rests interrupted for 8 hours, they can recover 1HD + Con modifer worth of hit points (minimum 1).

Difficulty Class

Use the following as guidelines for difficulty classes when ability check is needed:

Easy, DC 8. Leaping a narrow chasm, sneaking up on an inattentive guard.

Normal, DC 11. Kicking open a stuck door, picking a poor lock.

Hard, DC 14. Swimming against a strong current, giving first aid to stop a character from dying.

Extreme, DC 17. Climbing a slippery cliff one-handed, restraining a frenzied lion.

Feats of Exploration

Feats of Exploration — linked resource

Feats of Exploration — calculator

Improve ability scores with level

Characters can add +1 to an ability of their choice when they reach the following levels: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18. An ability can be increased this way only once.

Spellcasting services cost

When a PC requests spellcasting services from an NPC, the cost is 100 gp per spell level.

Dual wielding weapons

When a character is dual wielding weapons and makes a successful attack (a single attack roll for both weapons), they roll the damage dice for both weapons and keep the higher roll.

Aimed shot

A character can perform an aimed shot with their ranged weapon.

• Cannot move on the round when performing an aimed shot.
• Gain +2 to the attack roll.
• Gain -2 to AC until the characters next turn.

Cost of identifying a magic item by paying an NPC

A character can identify a magic item by paying an NPC the appropriate cost listed below.

Individual Surprise

When a surprise check is required, each player rolls 1d10 and adds their character's Dexterity initiative modifier.

• Modified result of 4 or less: The character is surprised.
• Modified result of 5 or more: The character is not surprised.
• Characters already aware of the threat do not roll.
• Surprised characters cannot move or act during the first round of the encounter.
• Monsters use the same rules.