Old School Dice Pool Class Sketches

So, more sketches related to the Old School Dice Pool concept I’ve been playing with. (You need to read those to understand this.) Designing character categories is neat because you break out subsystems, see their common trends and end up bringing them back to the main system. As you can see below magic is evolving a certain way through class descriptions, so if I did another pass I would bring this stuff back into general spellcasting rules, then clean up class descriptions to point at that global system.

You can also tell exactly where my interests and preferences lie. I like simple fighters, especially because core systems handle them so elegantly (I think later versions of the D&D fighter lose that elegance — see my ENWorld thread about making an “Old School” fighter for Pathfinder). I like post-pulp magic because I read a lot of Michael Moorcock. And clerics? Enh. They don’t excite me so much. My stuff reflects that.

Anyway, the following is sketchy, incomplete early draft stuff, but I don’t know if there will even be another draft, so here goes:

Cleric

Hit Dice: 1 at 1^st level, 2 at 2^nd – 3^rd level, 3 at 4^th level, 4 at 5^th – 6^th level, 5 at 7^th level, 6 at 8^th—9^th 9^th level, 7 at 10 level.

Battle Points: Roll 1d6 (+ Con modifier) at 1^st level, + 1d5 (+ Con modifier) at 3^rd level, 5^th level, 7^th level and 10^th level.

Base Maximum Weapon Bonus: +1

Base Maximum Armour Bonus: -3

Shields: Yes

Special Abilities

Clerical Spells: Clerics acquire 1d3 (+Wis modifier) spell points at 1^st level that they may use to cast clerical spells, and 1d2 (+Wis modifier) spell points per each additional level. Reroll every time the character enjoys 6 hours of sleep or other rest.

Clerics may cast any clerical spells they know, but are limited to a maximum spell complexity rank equal to half their level.

Iron Will: A cleric may spend spell points to penalize rolls from spells and supernatural abilities that would affect her mind.

Holy Symbol: A cleric using a holy symbol gains a bonus to spellcasting and Turn Bane rolls equal to the quality of the symbol.  Every cleric begins adventuring with a symbol that provides a +1 bonus when boldly brandished as part of his action. A cleric only gains a bonus from one tool at a time.

Divine Command: A cleric may channel the power of his deity (or perhaps a philosophy) to drive away a supernatural enemy of his religion, or compel a supernatural ally of his faith in his line of sight. These are specific types of creatures, determined by the GM based on his campaign and the cleric’s religion.

Roll 1d10 per level, modified by holy symbol per die. The cleric may split these dice however she wishes between multiple supernatural enemies. The cleric may also spend clerical spell points to boost the roll (again, per each die). Each die is also penalized by the enemy’s Wisdom bonus, if any. Like rolls to hit, dice “explode” – roll 1d10 and add it to each unmodified 10 on the die. Similarly, divide results by 10 to get a number of “Kills.” The cleric may channel them into the following results:

• Against supernatural enemy monsters, the cleric may inflict damage, or she scores as many “Kills” as half of one monster’s hit dice, force it to flee at its best speed for 2d10 rounds.
• Against supernatural ally monsters, the cleric may issue non-suicidal commands if she scores as many “Kills” as half of one monster’s hit dice. If she scores as many “Kills” as all of the Monsters’ hit dice, she may issue virtually any command and expect to have it obeyed. Commands last for 2d10 rounds of combat, or 1d6 hours of general service. After that, monster allies will rarely retaliate unless asked to violate a tenet of the cleric’s religion.

In both cases, a successfully affected creature gains a cumulative -2 per die bonus against being affected again until the cleric’s player rerolls her spell points.

Fighter

Hit Dice: 1 per level

Battle Points: Roll 1d6 (+ Con modifier) at 1^st level, + 1d2 (+ Con modifier) per additional level every time the character enjoys 6 hours of sleep or equivalent rest.

Base Maximum Weapon Bonus: +4

Base Maximum Armour Bonus: -4

Shields: Yes

Special Abilities

Iron Toughness: A fighter may spend Battle Points to modify rolls against threats that would cause him physical harm outside of combat.

Weapon Specialization: Pick a specific weapon type at levels 3, 5 and 7. The fighter gains a bonus hit die with that weapon. You may pick the same weapon multiple times for a cumulative bonus.

Sorceror

Hit Dice: 1 per 2 levels.

Battle Points: 1d6 (+ Con modifier) at 1^st level, +1d3 (+ Con modifier) per each even numbered level

Base Maximum Weapon Bonus: +2

Base Maximum Armour Bonus: -0

Shields: No

Special Abilities

Sorcerous Spells: Sorcerors  acquire 1d6 (+Int modifier) spell points at 1^st level that they may use to cast clerical spells, and 1d3 (+Int modifier) spell points per each additional level. Reroll every time the character enjoys 6 hours of sleep or other rest.

Sorcerors must learn the spells they cast. Committing a spell to memory requires one month per complexity rank per spell. Sorcerors begin the game knowing 3 rank 1 spells, but may cast spells of any rank at any level.

To cast a spell, roll 1d10 per level, with each die adjusted by the target’s attribute modifier (if any) the sorceror’s Intelligence modifier, and the sorceror’s tools (see below). The sorceror must spend 1 spell point per complexity rank, and may spend additional points to boost the roll per each die. These dice explode like hit dice. Divide the results by 10; if the result is equal to the spell’s complexity rank, the sorceror casts it on that round. If the result is 0, the points are wasted and the spell is lost. If the total falls short, the sorceror has these options:

• Extend Casting: The sorceror may continue casting into the next round and roll again, spending 1 additional spell point.
• Blood Sacrifice: The sorceror may inflict a number of Kills on herself (automatically) or on other creatures (putting the spell on “hold” to strike a blow) to make up the shortfall with raw life force.

Sorcerous Tools: A sorceror using sorcerous tools gains a bonus to spellcasting and summoning rolls equal to the quality of the symbol.  Every cleric begins adventuring with a tool (a staff, rod, ritual blade, etc.) that provides a +1 bonus when boldly brandished as part of his action. A sorceror only gains a bonus from one tool at a time.

Detect Sorcery: A sorceror can sense the presence of a sorcerous aura (that is, one caused by an application of sorcery) in a place or object. Spend a spell point to invoke this power. Additionally, the GM may provide vague “hints” when something nearby possesses a sorcerous aura or has recently had sorcery used upon it. This power is ineffective on living beings.

Iron Aura: A sorceror may spend spell points to penalize rolls from spells (though not certain innate supernatural abilities) that would cause an unwanted effect.

Summoning: At 1^st level a sorceror chooses a college of summoning. This allows him to summon a class of entities to a summoning circle. Pick one of the summoning colleges below:

He must summon them to a circle that takes about an hour to prepare per summoned creature. If the sorceror also creates a protective diagram that prevents the entity from taking direct action against those within, add one hour per protected inhabitant. The sorceror must spend 1 spell point per summoned hit die, and may summon a creature no more powerful than twice his level in hit dice.

Once summoned, beings act according to their nature, but are usually uncooperative or enraged in response to being pulled to another plane against their will. They are not bound to obey the sorceror, but must obey the letter of any conditions they agree to in return for their release. As long as the sorceror pays the spell point cost of summoning them every 6 hours he may continue to hold them in the circle (and even rest in between maintenance periods) so long as nothing disturbs it.

A sorceror may by running simultaneous “contracts” with beings possessing a maximum number of collective hit dice equal to twice his level.