Over the past week I’ve been thinking about Chainmail and OD&D, as well as the late Gary Gygax’s mention (in an old ENWorld thread) that he used an opposed hit dice rolls to resolve grappling. I’m an Old School skeptic but I do love playing with the rules, and it seems to me that you can do cool stuff if you take hit dice and turn them into dice pools. Hm:
Hit Dice: Every character has a certain number of d10s (I started with d6es but the modifiers are too big) but no hit points. Fighters get 1 per level, clerics and thieves get 2 per 3 levels and magic users get 1 per 2 levels.
Battle Points: Every class gets a pool of battle points to modify incoming attacks or their own strikes after the dice are rolled. At 1st level, start with 1d5 (half a d10) battle points modified by your Constitution modifier (minimum 1).
- Fighters get 1d2+Con adjustment per level (min 1). Fighters enjoy the special Con adjustment they get in AD&D.
- Magic users get 1d3+Con adjustment (min 1) for each level where they don’t get bonus hit dice. (I tried to find a d10 only way, but they all sucked. You can always divide d10 rolls by 3 and discard 10s instead).
- Other classes get 1d5+Con adjustment (min 1) for each level where they don’t get bonus hit dice.
Battle points compensate for dead levels and add a bit of resource management to the game. You recover 1d5 + Con modifier (min. 0 — you can fail to recover them) battle points at the end of each combat. Reroll your entire pool after a full night’s rest. You might get a second wind or lousy day to come no matter what you rolled at character creation.
Attribute Modifiers: Strength modifies melee attack rolls by -3 to +3. Dexterity modifies ranged attack rolls by -3 to +3, and opponents’ attack rolls by the same amount. Use boxed set D&D tables for reference. These modifiers apply to each die rolled.
Class Equipment Modifiers: Fighters impose up to +4 to each die when they roll to attack due to weapon load, and penalize attacks by up to -4 from armour. Clerical wargear imposes up to +1 to attack, but -3 against attacks; thieves’ gear applies up to +3/-1. Magic users apply +2/0. Magic gear can add further bonuses.
In this context, equipment is a mixture of gear the character is trained to wear (fighters are comfortable in heavy armour) and the maximum potential a character can get out of a weapon or piece of armour (a magic user with a greatsword isn’t going to get more than a -2 bonus). Really though, this is inspired by Chainmail’s use of troop type to set “to hit” numbers.
Attacking: Apply bonuses and roll your hit dice. Your target number is 10, modified by bonuses and penalties to each die. You may also modify attacks with your battle points — again, adjustments apply to each die.
Every 10+ roll is a Kill — enough to slay a normal human. 20+ inflicts two Kills. Critical hits are there to provide a further inducement to spend battle points.
You may choose to make each Kill equal to a hit die and subtract them when a target suffers Kills, creating a death spiral, or you can track Kills separately. Each character gets 1 Kill per hit die.
Characters die at -1 Kills and defeat monsters when they knock them down to 0 Kills.
Multiple Attacks: You may split your hit dice to attack inferior opponents. You must devote at least as many of your hit dice to attacking an enemy as the enemy has hit dice, to a maximum of your own, current hit dice. That means a 10th level fighter can attack 10 1 hit die goblins, but needs all of his dice against one 12 hit die giant.