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Friday, February 10, 2017

White Box: Additional Demi-Human Class Options

Same exercise this afternoon as yesterday, only this time for White Box, rather than for D&D B/X.

Dwarven Cleric
   - Max. level 6, prime req. WIS.
   - Take ½ damage vs. large, keen detection, save bonus, and languages as dwarves.
   - Armor, weapons, turning, spells, hit bonus, and additional save bonus as clerics.
   - XP/HD as per table below.

Elven Thief (spellcasting, similar to elf "variant" fighter)
   - Max. level 8, prime reqs. INT and DEX (XP bonus cannot exceed 15%).
   - Bonus vs. humanoids/intelligent undead, ghoul immune, keen detection, languages, spells
      as "elf variant."
   - Armor, weapons, thievery, backstab, hit bonus, and additional save bonus as thieves.
   - XP/HD as per table below.

Halfling Thief
   - Max. level 7, prime req. DEX.
   - Take ½ damage vs. large, missile bonus, near invisibility, and save bonus as halflings.
   - Armor, weapons, thievery, backstab, hit bonus, and additional save bonus as thieves.
   - XP/HD as per table below.


Some rationale on how I set these up:

EDIT: I actually misread the White Box rules, which (unlike the OD&D Greyhawk supplement) do not allow unlimited advancement for thieves of any race. So the rationale I originally had re: setting a level limit at all is irrelevant, and I've edited it out of this post. However, I've still set my level limit a bit higher for the halfling thief, so that he still does not does not surpass the halfing fighter in toe-to-toe combat ability (attack bonus or hp), but can nonetheless attain an overall higher level than halfling fighters, since it seemed to me they'd likely be a better thief than a fighter due to size and natural stealth.

The elf in my game is inherently magical, so the elven thief here again is a spellcasting hybrid just like the White Box "variant elf" (which I use). I lowered the XP value slightly, though. The spellcasting fighter "variant elf" gets better hp than a magic-user and can use all sorts of magic armor. My spellcasting thief gets the same hp as a magic-user and is limited to leather armor (magical or not). So while the fighter "variant elf" requires XP equal to double the number for a magic-user (which for second level is 500 xp more than the simple sum of fighter XP + magic-user XP), my spellcasting thief requires XP merely equal to thief XP + magic-user XP. I also stipulate that the total of all XP bonuses (for prime req., WIS, CHR) cannot exceed 15%, which is how I run the normal spellcasting fighter "variant elf."

For dwarves, well, I just like the idea of the dwarven cleric. And no dwarven thieves at all. In my world a civilization built on mining and smithing precious metals and gems would beat every last larcenous tendency out of their children with extreme prejudice. Plus it's nice to have a demi-human option that is not a thief. So dwarven thieves are out; dwarven clerics are in. And the dwarven cleric works just fine by simply using normal cleric XP and capping the level at 6 like a by-the-book dwarven fighter.




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