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Monday, November 1, 2010

Clone Project: Cleric Hit Dice

I'm back after a short trip and ready to work more on the clone. I've mentioned that I have settled on what I think is a good approach to experience: just use the Fighter progression (2000 xp for 2nd level, double for each additional level) up through 7th level, with the following modifications:
  • Magic-Users have a -25% earned experience penalty;
  • Clerics have a +25% earned experience bonus;
  • All classes need 100,000 xp to reach 8th level, plus 100,000 xp per level thereafter.
I won't do the chart here, but it will be in the player cheat sheet. This will also include columns for the hit dice, which will be equal to level for Fighters (with a bonus at certain levels,) or equal to half level (round up) for Magic-Users, through 10th level for both.

But for Clerics, I've decided it might be best to introduce a little distinctiveness, to avoid copying the non-OGL progression too closely. Setting Cleric hit dice to 2/3rds level, round up, through 10th level not only makes it distinctive, it means that I can now set the Target 20 attack bonus equal to hit dice in all cases. Also, at 11th level, the Cleric HD progression can switch to 4 + level/3, allowing it to sync up with the by-the-book progression.

As a side note, I'm going to make the default procedure "reroll all hit dice when reaching a new level to determine new hit points", but I will include a note on how to use the method in common use. The way bonus hit points work in the LBBs make it clear that the current common usage wasn't the intended usage; the change came after the switch to different hit die types for each class.

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