Alternate Rules
This document contains some supplementary material and
information. If you like the alternate NWP or magic system,
let me know. Your character can use them if you like.
Contents
Appendix A. The mechanics of Playing.
Appendix B. An alternate non-weapon proficiency system.
Appendix C. An alternate magic system.
Appendix A. The Mechanics of Playing
Someone asked how it's possible to role play by e-mail. "It
would take weeks just to get through one combat!" Role
Playing by e-mail is more like writing a story with several
authors. The task of dice-rolling normally associated with
face-to-face role playing is eliminated for you. I will
take care of that necessity. All you need do is use your
imagination. Pretend you are there and tell me what you want
to do. I will tell you the results.
When you are sending messages to the group or the DM,
pretend you are writing a book but someone else will finish
the actions. Don't assume that what you want the character
to do will actually take place as you planed. There are
always variables.
Example:
"As the three orcs approach, Merlin reaches into his
pocket and pulls out a handful of sand. Screaming his
spell he casts the sand at the orcs. Sleep!' he cries.
(If they all fall, Merlin kills them with his dagger.)"
Notice that it wasn't written:
"Merlin puts the orcs to sleep with his sleep spell,
then kills them with his dagger."
The second version assumes that the orcs will fall. Even
though it should be a sure thing that the orcs will succumb
to the sleep spell, don't ever assume that it will happen.
Make sure we know who is talking; You or your character.
Here are some acronyms for use in your posts to the game:
OOC: Out of character. This means that the PLAYER is
speaking, not the CHARACTER.
IC: The opposite of OOC: The CHARACTER is now speaking, not
the PLAYER.
Example:
IC: After the orcs fall, Merlin quickly goes about the
chore of killing them. He searches their bodies for
any treasure.
OOC: Do they have any treasure? What are they dressed
in? I could use some skins in this winter weather. By
the way, which direction did they come from? They just
seemed to appear out of no where.
IC: Merlin drags the bodies off the road so not to
attract attention.
Appendix B. An alternate non-weapon proficiency system.
NOTE: THIS IS JUST AN "EXTRA" SYSTEM THAT YOU CAN USE.
YOU CAN STICK WITH THE REGULAR SYSTEM IF YOU WANT. THE
ONLY ADVANTAGE TO THIS SYSTEM, IS YOU CAN GET A LOT MORE
SKILLS, BUT AT A LOWER RATING.
From: robert_nichols@vnet.ibm.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Alternate Proficiency System
Date: 23 Oct 1995 18:53:30 GMT
I have seen numerous, er, comments, on the Skills & Powers
proficiency system. Now, I looked at it and thought it was
a step in the right direction. However, it was not quite
there -- or at least, how I wanted to do it. Here is my
version of a proficiency system. Comments, suggests, and
improvements are welcome.
The New System of Non-Weapon Proficiencies
Under the new system, if characters spend a slot on a
non-weapon proficiency, they get it at a skill level of 5.
Each additional slot spent on that skill adds +2 to the
skill level, up to either 15 or the skill's base statistic,
whichever is higher. Once this ceiling is reached, each
slot spent on a skill gives +1.
The modified table that I use in my campaign can be found in
Table 1.
Table . New Proficiency System
class #weapons weapons #non-weapons non-weapons
started with gained started with gained
----------------------------------------------------------------
mage 1 1/6 LVL 5 5/LVL
priest 2 1/4 4 4/LVL
psionicist 2 1/5 3 4/LVL
rogue 2 1/4 4 3/LVL
warrior 4 1/3 4 4/LVL
The number of weapon and non-weapon proficiencies a
character starts with is modified by his intelligence. On
Table 4, "Intelligence", of the Advanced Dungeon's & Dragons
2nd Edition Player's Handbook (p.16), there is a column
labeled "# of Languages." This number is for extra
proficiency slots. When the character is initially created,
and only when it is initially created, these slots can be
distributed between weapon and non-weapon proficiencies.
Afterwards, these proficiencies can only be used to add to
non-weapon proficiency slots.
For example, a priest with a wisdom of 16 buys RELIGION. He
spends 1 slot. He now has RELIGION at a 5. If he spends
another slot on RELIGION, the skill jumps to 7. After
spending a total of 6 slots, he has RELIGION at a 15
(5+2+2+2+2+2). If he spends one more slot, the priest will
have a RELIGION of 16 (because 16 is equal to the priest's
wisdom, the skill's base attribute). After this, each slot
spent on RELIGION will only increase the proficiency by +1.
When a skill has a modifier, such as SPELLCRAFT (INT-2), the
modifier is added to the base skill level when first bought.
So, a mage with a 12 intelligence who took SPELLCRAFT would
have it at a 3 on a d20.
Note: Proficiencies that require two slots under the old
system, require two slots in the new system to get the
proficiency to base level of 5.
Skills that do not depend on characteristics, such as
BLIND-FIGHTING and MOUNTAINEERING, are skills that are
picked up naturally with the proper number of
non-proficiency slots. For instance, a fighter spends 2
slots on BLIND-FIGHTING. He now gains all the skills listed
under the BLIND-FIGHTING proficiency.
If a character has a high characteristic, such as
Intelligence, and then spends proficiency slots on a skill
that depends on this same high characteristic, then there
are high characteristic modifiers added to the character's
abilities. These high characteristic modifiers can be found
in Table 2.
Table . Proficiency High Characteristic Modifiers.
Score Modifier Score Modifier
3 -5 13 +0
4 -4 14 +1
5 -3 15 +2
6 -2 16 +3
7 -1 17 +4
8-12 -0 18 +5
Suppose we redo the previous example of the priest learning
RELIGION. He spends 1 slot. He now has RELIGION at a 8
(5+3 for a wisdom of 16). If he spends another slot on
RELIGION, the skill jumps to 10. Now, after spending a
total of 6 slots, he has RELIGION at a 17 (8+2+2+2+2+1).
In another example, a mage with an intelligence of 18 picks
up the proficiency SPELLCRAFT, spending one slot on it. The
mage now has SPELLCRAFT at a 8 skill level (5 - 2 + 5 = base
skill (5) + skill modifier (-2) + the bonus for an 18
intelligence (+5)).
Additionally, all adventurers pick up a smattering of many
skills as they adventure. This is reflected by giving all
characters a base skill level of 1 for non-weapon
proficiencies that they have not bought.
Exceptions to these Rules
There are two exceptions to these rules. Both take place
only at the time of character creation.
The first exception is a character can learn a modern
language (with the Dungeon Master's permission, of course)
at INTELLIGENCE-1 for only one slot. This assumes that the
language learned is common and spoken by people where the
character grew up. Thus, elvish and dwarvish would be
acceptable, but giant eagle or ki-rin might not be.
Additionally, the character will automatically know their
racial tongue (such as dwarvish, elvish, or perhaps, the
language spoken in their country) and Common at the start.
The second exception (optional): The character can pick up
a profession type skill at the base score. For instance,
the background of the character being created is that he
used to be a cook for a inn. At 1st-level, the character
can pick up COOKING at his INTELLIGENCE (because COOKING is
based on INTELLIGENCE) for the cost of one slot. Or, if the
character grew up in a monastery, he could have RELIGION at
his WISDOM-1 for one slot.
Multi-class Characters
A multi-class character starts with a number of
proficiencies equal to the most favorable class the
character is. However, as the character gains levels, he
gains the number of non- weapon proficiencies of the least
favorable class. Thus a fighter/mage would start with 5
non-weapon slots (possibly modified by intelligence). As he
adventures, and gains a level in mage, he gains no new
non-weapon slots. When the character gains a level in
fighter he gains 4 new non-weapon slots. This reflects the
more difficult training a multi-class character must go
through when learning the skills of two or more classes.
With regard to weapon proficiencies, a multi-class character
starts with a number of weapons slots equal to the most
advantageous class he has. However, as he gains a level,
the character gains new weapon proficiency slots as the
least advantageous class. Thus, the aforementioned
fighter/mage would start with 4 weapon slots, and would gain
the next new weapon slot at 6th-level. This is because the
amount of time that it takes to learn weapon skills is great
and a multi-class character cannot concentrate on learning
just those fighting skills.
Dual Classed Characters
Dual-class characters get their normal proficiencies
according to what class and level they are. For instance,
take a mage who used to be a fighter. The character starts
off as a fighter. He gets 4 weapon slots and 4 non-weapon
slots. He achieves 3rd-level before dropping class. He now
has a total of 5 weapon slots and 12 non-weapon slots. As
he starts over as a mage, he does not get the 1 weapon slot
with which a mage starts, but he does gain the 5 new non-
weapon slots. He now gains proficiency slots as a mage; a
weapon slot every 6 levels and 5 non- weapon slots every
level. This way a dual-class character is not penalized for
a former career.
Advantages and Disadvantages
With these rules, players in my campaign found that they
developed there characters in a more logical way. Every
time they went up a level, they were able to increase their
abilities at skills that they had. The players were
developing their characters as if they were actually
learning new skills and getting better at them. This added
another layer of realism to the characters in that campaign.
The new system of non-weapon proficiencies also caused more
book work. Now, generating a NPC was more a matter of what
has this NPC been doing? Where did she pick up these
skills? How does she know how to do these things so well?
Also, character creation took a little longer, especially if
the new character was higher than 1st-level.However, I
believe the pros outweighed the cons, so I implemented the
system in all my campaigns. The system made the PCS and the
NPCs more three dimensional and more fun to play. Since
this system was introduced three years ago, several other
campaigns in my area have started to use this system.
Players in all campaigns have commented that they like this
new system. And as a game master, I find that it makes
characters develop and grow more "realistically" and more
like characters in books and short stories.
Appendix C. An alternate Magic Systems
For the spell casters in the group:
I would like to experiment with a couple of different
systems of spell casting. If you don't like it, you can use
the regular system.
For Clerics/Druids:
You don't have to memorize any spells. You simply pray for
the spell effect at the time of casting. This way you don't
have to restrict your self to a list of memorized spells.
You can still only cast the number and level of spells per
day, as listed in the players handbook, plus wisdom bonus,
if any. If the situation calls for 4 silence 10'r spells,
you have them ready. Or, if you need 4 cure light wounds
instead, you have them.
For Mages/Bards:
It takes 15 minutes per spell level to rememorize a spell.
No sleep or rest is required, unless you are exhausted
This lets the Mages restock their spells quickly after
using them, if they choose. "During the hour long ride back
into town, Llewelan leafs through his spell book and
rememorizes the 4 first level spells he used earlier in the
day."
(
geocities.com/timessquare)