BX Wizard Revised

I posted about this before. I've used a version of this class in play and I feel like this iteration is closer to what a B/X wizard should be. So for my B/X games I'll be using the Wizard to replace the ole Magic-User. Why?

More cool options for low level play - which is where most of my gaming takes place.

How is this different from the standard MU?

1. An extra spell at level 1.

2. More versatility in spell levels you can memorize.

3. Ability to use weapons and armor in a sensible way beyond "you can't use that".

4. Putting magical research and potion making front and center so the players will actually USE them.

5. Some immediate weirdness... a minor magical item, reaction roll penalty, etc.

6. Combining MU and Cleric spells because I honestly don't care about Clerics at all. I don't need them.

Note that this Wizard can only memorize a spell once at a time. So they cannot be a healbot with multiple Cure Light Wounds.

I'm open to arguments for why this iteration of the Wizard is broken. I might have a blind spot so I appreciate feedback. This will likely end up in whatever Yria setting book I end up publishing.

Some of this was inspired by Stuart Robertson's old B/X Witch class, which I really adore.

EDIT: A hero in comments pointed out some errors so I fixed 'em. Hopefully better now.

You're a Wizard!

Old school Magic-Users have a tough row to hoe at low levels. The payoff is that when they gain higher levels nobody can fuck with them.

But here's a problem: Most players of D&D (especially classic editions) are playing low level characters almost all of the time. This is especially true for public games where the tendency is to run little dungeon romps for characters in the 1-5 level range.

Wizards in this range are fragile and can't do much. And anyone who argues that you can "still throw a dart" is a fool. Don't listen to them.

Make low level wizards better instead. It's the morally correct thing to do.

To that end, here are some ideas and thoughts I've had about old school MUs over the years on this blog.

In Read That Magic I kind of go off on a rant about using B/X rules as written and how it makes playing a first level wizard kind of lame. I still feel that way. If we assume most games are not going to get into higher levels, then you need to beef up them wizards. Don't be a tool.

In OSE and B/X Spellbooks I talk about three ways you can play B/X rules as written and work it into the fantasy fiction of your campaign. I like these ideas, though I'm prone to just house ruling the shit out of wizards instead.

In Magic-User with Sword I talk about allowing wizards to use weapons other than daggers and to wear armor. Because I detest the notion that they somehow just can't do it. Let your wizard pick up a sword, for crying out loud. They'll suck at using it.

NOTE: One thing I didn't address in that post was just how much emphasis B/X puts on magic swords and just how much benefit that is to the Fighter class. If the wizard can also use a vorpal sword or +3 sword or whatever, then the Fighter's niche is threatened. I get that. And I'm actually OK with the caveat that magic swords want to be used by warriors, not wizards. So a +3 blood drinking sword might simply refuse to function in the hands of a wizard. It's magic, after all.

In B/X Wizard I present a Wizard class for B/X. This was used in my Isles of Rone game and worked quite well, though we only played at level 3. It's actually a little bit more fiddly than I prefer in a B/X class, but perhaps not over the top. It includes the use of other weapons and armor, brewing potions, using both M-U and Cleric spells (I tend not to want Clerics in my games), allows and emphasizes magical research from level 1 forward, and grants the PC one special item.

If I revised this class today I'd do it a little bit differently. I'd open up the Wizard's ability to create magic stuff, including potions, but I'd tie such efforts to time and money more explicitly. It should be no big deal for a Wizard to brew a potion if given a few days to work on it. But of course you don't want the power gamer to convert the 30 days of downtime since the last adventure into 15 potions. But you also don't want overly persnickety potion brewing rules (I still love keeping B/X classes to a single sheet of paper, if I can).

Another idea I'm noodling is to only have 4 house rules for Wizards.

1. You can brew potions, make magic items, and conduct magical research from level 1.

2. You get 2 extra level 1 spell slots from level 1.

3. You can use any weapon but you can't have it ready and also cast a spell and it takes a round to get it out or put it up.

4. You can wear armor, but you have to make a save vs. Spells in order to cast and the armor's AC benefit is a penalty to your save.

Just some thoughts.

Dyson Logos: Centaur Class

Tramp!

One thing I don't do enough is reflect on the cool art and gaming stuff I've discovered since returning to RPGs in 2012. When I tried to think about something cool I remember from way back, the Centaur character class from Dyson Logos immediately popped into my head.

I like how the class gives the character hoof attack damage that isn't fantastic at first and never becomes overpowered. This means you won't have to make a painful choice between "hoofing it" all the or using that awesome two-handed sword you got your eye on. But with a d6 damage as you level up, you'll be eager to stomp a goblin or two.

If you love BX D&D, this is pure gold right here. If you're running a game set in a forest, woodsy area, or maybe some plains, toss this class into the mix of player choices.

The RPG Folder Filled With Nothing But Love

Continuing this series of "reviews", as it were*.

The Kitten is a character class by Kirt Dankmyer - the dankest Kirt in the world - written for The Black Hack

I wanna play a kitten. Seriously. I only deal 1 lousy point of damage per hit, but I only TAKE 1 damage per hit from supernatural enemies. That's frickin' cool. Werewolf? I gets tossed about, lick myself, walk away.

And I can cast spells? Dawg**. That's cool as shit.

Of course my most important power is cuteness. If I'm being cute, I can do stuff maybe a little easier than otherwise. And that's true of kittens in real life, right? If they want the sandwich they can get the sandwich more easily by putting on a cute air.

Kittens rule.

The Blob is a one page game by Joaquin Ollo. It's a weird little thing and I kinda dig the idea.

You are a blob. Everyone else is an egregore, which I gather is a kind of "hivemind" or thought form. So basically you haven't been assigned a shape and you navigate this weird landscape of other players who kind of try to impose rules on you and the endgame is you have a shape of some kind.

Very strange and lovely. Cool cover art too.

The Purple Worm Graveyard by Tony Dowler is Labyrinth Lord adventure for character levels 1-3 with juicy art by Ed Heil. I love Ed's art so much!

The adventure is about a worm god cult. It includes some "moves" that I believe are based on or inspired by Dungeon World stuff. But I'm no expert on that game so I could be wrong.

One thing I love most about this little adventure is the last sentence of the final encounter area: The large gong summons a purple worm. Now... this is based on old school D&D. And it's a low level adventure. So if the PCs make it this far and actually summon a purple worm... well, you know what that means. TOTAL PARTY KILL.

Nice.

*It occurred to me just now that "as it were" is one of those phrases I sometimes use without knowing a damn thing about its origins. I'll look it up later.

**Why the hell did I say "dawg"?

Beastfriend Class

From the pages of Black Pudding #6, here's a class that I think might actually engender peaceful solutions to conflicts. Certainly if I was playing this class I'd be trying to avoid battles. Now, that's not in any way an argument against fighting in RPGs. I love a good combat. But there are a million ways to game and killing shit is just one of them, right?

Once Again with the Thieves

In a couple of weeks I'll be starting a regular game at a local brewery. I plan to run B/X using B/XE at the table. I want as few house rules as possible. One rule is regarding thief skills... because as written, they really do suck the big one.

This is just a refinement of an idea I've ranted about for years. I believe this is a very simple way to handle thief skills and goes a long way toward correcting the (IMHO) poorly-designed thief skill set without changing the stats or adding too many fiddly bits.

-Thieves roll their skill on percentile dice + an ability check at the same time. If the percentile roll is good, ignore everything else because they have perfectly executed their subtle craft and cannot fail. Otherwise, go with a simple ability check.

-Non-thieves do sneaky stuff on an ability check, usually with Disadvantage. They cannot do super-secret stuff like climbing sheer surfaces or disarming complex traps (unless the player has a terrific plan).

The idea here is to say that thief skills are special. The thief isn't merely trying to be very quiet or trying to find footholds on a wall. They have been trained or have discovered lost secrets or have tapped into natural talents that normal people cannot access. The thief doesn't simply "hide" in shadows, they fucking disappear. If that percentile roll is a good one, the thief cannot be detected. They are as good as invisible, though not in a magical way.

Failing the percentile roll means they have not executed their subtle craft perfectly and they can be detected or they can fall to their doom. At that point, an ability check tells the story. But note that while non-thieves make their sneaky ability checks at Disadvantage most of the time, thieves do not.

And that's pretty much it. I think this method is intuitive when you describe the thief skills as being esoteric and carefully developed. It has logical consistency and definitely helps mitigate those god awful 10% skill rolls.

The Fat Lady

I've been a little out of sorts lately. It's easy for me to get derailed. My blood father died, I got sick, day job was leeching my mind, and G+ is going to die. Not to mention my mother's continuing health problems. Add it all up, throw in watching Game of Thrones for the first time... I'm lucky to be getting any work finished at all. But I am. I have an active playtest of the Rabbits & Rangers RPG going on for Monday nights. I'll be sharing more about that in the coming weeks. I've been finishing up some commissions, including work for the new Advanced Labyrinth Lord single volume, Gary Con XI GM shirt design, and other bits here and there. Somewhere along the way I've found time/energy to knock out a few new ideas for Black Pudding #6. Here's one of those ideas... the Fat Lady old school character class. She rocks!

This is hand lettered on a large digital canvas. Typically for Black Pudding I've been working on 8.5 x 11 inch canvas. I've decided to go larger so I can get more detailed and tighten up my pages. This means I'll be a bit slower at putting out new issues, but I hope the quality will be kicked up a notch. As per my wont, I won't stick to this 100% across the board. I'll throw in odds and ends and do what I like or else I won't be doing it at all. No compromises. This is my shit.

Download here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WO7Q712FR92XGwGb6rKY6tuV0B3y7v5Q

Class: Elementarian

Here's a new character class for your old school games. Art by Matt Hildebrand!

Goblin Character Class

GOBLIN

Req: None

Prime: None

HD: d6

You are a green-skinned black-heart. You are about 3' or maybe 4' tall and fifty pounds soaking wet. Your people are known for murder, mayhem, and cannibalism. Maybe you are different? Maybe not.

You can use any weapon except those requiring two hands (they're just too much). You can wear any kind of armor that fits you (steal some halfling bits if you need to). Adorning your duds with skulls, bones, and symbols of evil makes you feel tough (+1 to hit and saving throws for 1 turn per day, per level). You make saving throws and attacks like a thief.

As a creature of the darkness, you ain't scared. You gain +1 to save against Fear spells.

You have sneaking skills. You can burglarize non-magical, non-fortified abodes such as houses and cottages.

At first level, you must choose 1 of 3 possible goblin paths: sneak, sniper, or goon.

Sneak: Add your Dexterity score to all your sneaking skills, including burglary.

Sniper: When using any ranged weapon, add +2 to your hit rolls.

Goon: You get +1 to hit and damage in melee.

GOBLIN EXPERIENCE TABLE
Level	Title	XP	HD	Hide	Sneak	Burglary
1	Squirt	0	1d6	25	20	10
2	Pucker	1000	2d6	30	25	20
3	Goob	2000	3d6	35	32	30
4	Mugger	4000	4d6	42	40	40
5	Thugger	8000	5d6	50	48	50
6	Gobbo	16000	6d6	58	56	60
7	Goblin	32000	7d6	66	64	70
8	Goblin Lord	64000	8d6	75	72	80

Black Pudding #2

BLACK PUDDING #2!

CLERICS!

Ye olde cleric suffers from but one underlying problem. It is a class that screams out for religious specificity but it is generic as hell. Are we seriously to believe that priests of Kindheart the Good have the exact same restrictions and spell lists as priests of Cutheart the Wicked? I don't think so.

And sure, the text of some versions of the game will tell you to use your common sense and limit spells that might appear to be evil to those clerics of evil deities. And that's fine and dandy. But what about this ban on edged weapons? Clerics of Slitty the God of Knives can't use knives?

Like the thief, the cleric has has its fair share of debate and house rules over the years. And this is another example, in my opinion, where the Second Edition of the game really seemed to address the problem and kinda got it right. If you haven't read the 2e description of the Priest in a while you should check it out. The whole thing about spheres of influence is a bit fiddly for me and kinda restrains things but it's a valiant effort to make priests more interesting to play (for the record, the “cleric” is the generic priest class of 2e... the good old class we all know and love).

I'm not breaking new ground here. But this is how I handle clerics and how I'll be handling them moving forward. The stuff I'm rattling on about below is not always clearly defined. This is because each campaign may have a totally different set of gods or a different way of interacting with divinity, if at all. If the thief is a specialist who is self-determined, the cleric is a specialist who is utterly constrained in their choices once they make the choice to follow a path of worship and service to a higher power. Those constraints should be tailored to suit the campaign if you want the reveal a fuller range of the cleric's great potential as a character class.

Anyhow... this is what I do...

PRAYER ROLL: Clerics have to pray for spells. I allow them to choose any spell from their list without preparing them ahead of time. Instead, they pray in the heat of the moment for miracles! This is a huge benefit. It turns your spell list into a Swiss Army knife, though you still have the same number of spell slots.

The catch is you have to pray for the power in order to cast it. So the player rolls a d6 and on a result of 1 the gods are deaf, ambivalent, or downright snobbish and refuse to grant the power. The spell does not work.

I fooled around with fiddly rules that would account for falling out of favor, changing the die type up or down. But in the end I think that sort of thing works best if left entirely up to DM fiat. If the cleric is acting obviously out of alignment with their god, then the DM could change the failure range to 1-2 on a d6 until the cleric atones and corrects their behavior.

In the first campaign I ran using this rule I had a situation or two in which the cleric was in very good favor and I either waived the prayer roll for one or two spells or I had the player roll a d8 instead. But those rules are not codified and I don't think they should be.

SPECIFICITY: If I'm running a one-shot at a con or something like that I'll just use the cleric as-written (with the prayer roll). But when I'm doing a campaign or I have more time for prep I want deity-specific clerics. What makes the priestess of Jeff the God of Chairs functionally different from the priest of Bonan the God of Beheading? If there's no functional difference then the religions become all color... kind of meaningless in game terms.

So I'll usually do one or two or all of the things below in order to define a cleric of god X vs. a cleric of god Y.

1. Change the turn undead power to something else. Maybe it doesn't make as much sense for a priest of the god of machines to turn undead. Instead, maybe they control golems and automatons using the same rules. In my home campaign, the clerics of Frimm the War God can summon the spirits of slain warriors to fight with them instead of turning undead.
2. Change the banned weapons. It makes sense to limit weapons and armor if it seems like the god in question would care about those things. So play with that idea. I have one cleric sub-class who worship an evil deity that only allows them to tote specially cursed ritual daggers. Another sub-class worshiping a god of tricks and thievery may only pack small weapons that are easily hidden.
3. Limit the spell list. This one seems simple but can lead to more work than you expect. Depending on how vast your cleric spell list is, you might find it hard to come up with appropriate spells in the right numbers. You might have to... invent new spells! I heartily encourage you to do so. After all, doesn't it make sense that Jibber the God of Babbling has a handful of spells related to talking? And why would a priestess of Rikki the God of Mongooses have any interest in turning sticks into snakes?
4. Set requirements for the cleric that aren't related to spells or combat. A cleric is not a priest of the temple required to be in attendance day in and day out but they ARE a representative of the god abroad. So they MUST show people what their god is all about. That might require proselytizing, preaching, and cajoling for new converts. Or they might belong to a secret order and might actually hide the fact that they are a cleric at all. They might merely be required to spend x turns per day making a sacrifice or reading a sacred text. If you feel like you've given the cleric a few too many bennies in other areas you can hit them hard with daily requirements and restrictions on behavior. See the classic paladin class or maybe even the cavalier for examples of that. Of course it CAN get silly if you go too far... a cleric of Jeff the God of Chairs should not be required to sit in every chair they find... right? Hmmm....

I guess the trick is to play an intuitive balancing game with the cleric if you're going to make each one god-specific. Personally, I TRY to keep the standard cleric XP table intact no matter what I do. So all clerics advance at the same rate and have the same number of spells. Then I just try to make sure each one's special strengths are balanced against the others. You don't have to do it that way, but that's what I choose.

And ain't that the great thing about screwing around with this game?

Character Class: Grizzard

Here's another class from my Deep Valley campaign. This one is also being currently played, rather like a Jim Henson character from The Dark Crystal. Since the in game PC is a bit of a collector/trader I added a little random items in pocket table.

PDF here.

Character Class: Djinn-Volgate

One of the classes I invented for my Deep Valley campaign is a kind of fallen djinn, and one of the players chose this class to play. So far, we're having a good time with it.

Here it is written up for Labyrinth Lord.

PDF here.

Character Class: Jack

I started a B/X campaign a month ago that I'm calling Deep Valley. The idea was to start fresh and design some things based on images only. So I spent a few days picking art that I love - such as paintings and drawings by Rodney Matthews, Hannes Bok, and Eyevind Earle to name a few - and writing short things inspired by them. I wrote a bunch of character classes and asked my players to choose from them instead of anything standard.

This class emerged from that idea. It's my riff on the sly Jack from Jack Tales stories. This class sort of stands in the place of the Thief in the Deep Valley setting, which has a strong faerie tale falvor (I hope).

Here's a PDF of the Jack class and screen shots below. This is formatted to digest size.

B/X Bode: The Lizz Character Class

©I'm firing up a new B/X D&D campaign and I decided all the classes needed to be unique. No standard races or classes allowed. One of the classes the dripped out of my brain late last night was this. If you know da Bode, then this will make sense.

PDF is here.

LIZZ

You are a righteous one. You da boss.

RESTRICTIONS

Your Prime Requisite is spunk, but that don’t matter. You got all the juice. You fight like a Thief. You can use little bitty weapons like daggers, short swords, and little bows. You can wear armor what was made or modified to fit ya, but you ain’t no good at it and when you gets hit with a 20 or you rolls a 1 it falls off. You gots a 3 in 6 shot at makin’ any magic doohickie do its thing but if ya rolls a 6 something real bad gonna go down.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Lizard Luck: Sometimes da crazy universe has a heart an’ smiles luck down on ya like sweet rain. If things go south, you can petition the big ole ‘verse howevers ya like and if ya makes yer savin’ throw vs. spells somethin’ real good gonna go down. ‘Course… if ya was ta fail dat save real bad… well, you might get tossed about like a piece of cabbage.

Honey Magnet: You is not only da boss o’ adventure, you is da boss o’ the ladies. When you see a dew eyed sweetmeat of a mountain cantelope (a female, or whatever), you gotta save vs. spells or be compelled ta woo her wit witty words and witticism stuff. Roll a d20. If you happen ta gets a 20 she’s all into ya like a charm person done happened. Otherwise, who knows?

Naturally, this is a fan-fic post and the art and original characters are (c) copyright Bode.

B/X Bode: The Lizz Character Class

©I'm firing up a new B/X D&D campaign and I decided all the classes needed to be unique. No standard races or classes allowed. One of the classes the dripped out of my brain late last night was this. If you know da Bode, then this will make sense.

PDF is here.

LIZZ

You are a righteous one. You da boss.

RESTRICTIONS

Your Prime Requisite is spunk, but that don’t matter. You got all the juice. You fight like a Thief. You can use little bitty weapons like daggers, short swords, and little bows. You can wear armor what was made or modified to fit ya, but you ain’t no good at it and when you gets hit with a 20 or you rolls a 1 it falls off. You gots a 3 in 6 shot at makin’ any magic doohickie do its thing but if ya rolls a 6 something real bad gonna go down.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Lizard Luck: Sometimes da crazy universe has a heart an’ smiles luck down on ya like sweet rain. If things go south, you can petition the big ole ‘verse howevers ya like and if ya makes yer savin’ throw vs. spells somethin’ real good gonna go down. ‘Course… if ya was ta fail dat save real bad… well, you might get tossed about like a piece of cabbage.

Honey Magnet: You is not only da boss o’ adventure, you is da boss o’ the ladies. When you see a dew eyed sweetmeat of a mountain cantelope (a female, or whatever), you gotta save vs. spells or be compelled ta woo her wit witty words and witticism stuff. Roll a d20. If you happen ta gets a 20 she’s all into ya like a charm person done happened. Otherwise, who knows?

Naturally, this is a fan-fic post and the art and original characters are (c) copyright Bode.

Atlas Articularum

Check out Cyd Clark-Praxis' blog Atlas Articularum for some cool classes and OSR goodness. Got knights, satyrs, risen, paragons...oh my!