Archer Class (Hero/Fighter Variant)

Per a conversation on the ODD74 forums, here’s a quick Heroic Class variant: the Archer.

Concept: Warrior specializing in bows, for example Robin Hood (assuming you don’t make Robin a thief.)

Alignment: Any.

XP/HD: As Fighter (Heroic Class.) Primary ability scores are Strength and Dexterity. Use half the lowest score to determine XP bonus.

Saves: As Fighter.

Weapons and Armor: Use any bow or crossbow, dagger, and any armor. Also trained in any weapons purchased when character is created. Shields and weapons can’t be used while using a bow or crossbow, but can be used as a backup after dropping or stowing away the bow.

Abilities: Short range distances for bows and crossbows are doubled. Archers also do bonus damage based on either their Level or half of their best ability score (Strength or Dexterity.) See the table below.

Level		Ability Score		Damage
1-5		3-11		1+1
6		12-13		1+2
7		14-15		1+3
8		16-17		2
9		18		2+1
10				2+2
11				2+3
12				3

Archers can potentially hit creatures that are immune to mundane weapons, even when using mundane bows and arrows, as long as their base archery damage is 2 dice or more. Creatures that can only be struck by +2 magic weapons can be hit if base archery damage is 3 dice.

When not in heavy armor, archers can aim and fire while moving (split move and fire, as an elf.)

Archers can aim and fire into a melee safely. Ordinary bow users have to randomize their targets when firing into a melee, either always or when they miss their attack roll. Archers, however, only randomize their targets on a critical miss (for example, a 1 on 1d20.)

High-level archers can build a stronghold and become a baron, just as fighters do.

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Liber Zero Heroic and Talent Class Reference Sheets (PDF)

It took a while, but I finished two more Liber Zero reference sheet pamphlets. This time, it’s character classes!

The Heroic Class reference sheet covers fighters, your basic combat class. It also includes three variant classes, which are just fighters with an extra non-combat ability: Cavaliers are masters of horse riding, Buccaneers are masters of sailing, and Barbarians are masters of the wilderness. The combat ability for all three variants is the same, so you lose nothing by picking a variant aside from a few bonus XP points. Heroes have a couple changes you won’t see in OD&D: a boost to the number of opponents they can fight when the hit dice are very low (double the usual number) and the option to use twice their Level instead of one of their physical ability scores when attempting heroic feats. Also, the Heroic class does more damage, based on either Strength or Level. In fact, high-level Heroes do more damage than the strongest low-level Heroes.

The Talent Class reference sheet covers a catch-all for non-combat, non-magical classes. The focus is on the one everyone’s familiar with: the Thief, but there are brief descriptions of two variant classes: Miners and Smiths. Unlike variant Heroes, variant Talents do not add abilities to the “main” class, in this case Thieves. Instead, they completely replace Thief abilities with roughly similar mechanics. Also worth noting: in many cases, Talent class abilities work automatically or speed actions up rather than improve a skill rating as they level up.

Since I haven’t completed a reference sheet on resolving combat or “skill checks” yet, there’s a reference that might not make much sense: some abilities are given a “High” chance of success. What this means depends on what kind of dice you roll (it’s a dice neutral system, remember?) Basically, it’s 3+ on 1d6, 6+ on 2d6, or 8+ on 1d20 (or 9+ on 4d6 drop 6s.) At least, if you are rolling target number or above. There will be other options when I get around to working out various possibilities.

If you were to use Delta’s Target 20 system instead, read “High chance” as 1d20+12 and “Low Chance” as 1d20+2.

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Combat Expertise for Fighters

Some people worry about fighters not being interesting enough. One of the many solutions suggested is increasing their damage output.

I use a simple damage table for monsters based on their hit dice: 1d6 for creatures of 1 to 4 hit dice, plus 1 point of damage per hit die thereafter, or a full die of damage per 4 hit dice. I’ve been tempted to apply something like that to fighters, but felt it lacked something. But this looks like a viable solution.

Fighters can use any weapon of any of type: bows, melee, thrown, pole arms, and miscellaneous others. Each fighter has expertise in one of those types and does +1 damage with that weapon at 1st through 5th levels, At higher levels, they do an additional +1 damage every level. Convert every 4 points of bonus damage into a standard +1d6 damage. This translates into the following table.

Level	Damage
1 to 5	1+1
6	1+2
7	2-1
8	2
9	2+1
10	2+2
11	3-1
12	3

It’s possible to add expertise in additional weapon types beyond the first at great expense, or even to add unusual combat skills to weapons fighters already have expertise in. Rather than muck everything up with feats or abilities gained at specific levels, just use the training rules to add as many combat skills and expertise as desired, limited only by time and money.

This is all in addition to the multiple opponent rule:

When facing multiple normal opponents of 1 or 1-1 hit dice, fighters make a single attack against a number of targets equal to their level, doing the same amount of damage to all targets. For weaker creatures (1-2 hit dice or less,) they attack twice as many targets. All targets have to be the same kind of creature, and cannot be magical, supernatural, or have levels in a character class. Armor type must be the same, or optionally the attack is rolled against the target with the best armor type.

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