Magic Item XP: Yea or Nay?

There’s been a discussion elsewhere on which GMs award experience for magic items. I don’t, unless the item is sold, but I may change that. However, let’s go over what is known in OD&D.

The only place in the LBBs where awarding experience points is discussed is in Men & Magic. There, we see this sentence:

As characters meet monsters in mortal combat and defeat them, and when they obtain various forms of treasure (money, gems, jewelry, magical items, etc.), they gain “experience”.

It goes on to explain that characters get 1 experience point for every gold piece of treasure value, adjusted for how risky it was for the characters to gain the treasure. There is no list of XP awards for magic items, so the conclusion I reach is that the XP value of magic items is equal to the monetary value of the item.

The Greyhawk supplement changes the way experience points are awarded for monsters, but makes no changes for treasure or magic items. The Holmes basic booklet uses different phrasing, but agrees with Men & Magic. It’s not until AD&D that we see lists of XP awards for magic items. Because Holmes basic was edited and altered by Gygax himself, I interpret this as a change in procedure for the AD&D branch, not a clarification of some overlooked rule.

When I GM, I interpret experience points as a form of status combined with self-confidence. Villagers see how much money you bring back from an expedition and hear tales of your exploits, and that increases their opinion of you, which boosts your confidence in your own abilities. So, although I haven’t awarded XP for magic items before, I’m thinking that displaying and using enchanted gear ought to boost your reputation as well. But the award should be much less than if an item is sold.

What I’m thinking now is: the XP award for most items, excluding single-use items like potions and scrolls, should be similar to the XP award for monsters. Use the spell level equivalent for magical effects as the hit dice rating. If there’s a magical bonus, as for weapons and armor, add that to the dice rating. If there are two powers, use the highest power to set the dice rating, then add 50%. If there are three or more powers, double the dice rating.

Since the XP award will probably be pretty low, it’s OK to always award this XP, regardless of whether the player keeps the item or not. If they sell the item, they also get XP for the value of the item.

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Invisible Random Targets

In yesterday’s post about attacking invisible creatures, I suggested that I might rule out any attacks against invisible creatures at all unless players thought of some other way to decide where to aim. For example, if the ground is covered with dried leaves and twigs, players could say “Listen for crunching leaves or breaking twigs and aim there!” Or, if they have a bag of flour, they could empty it in the air and watch for swirls in the dust… or strew it on the floor and look for footprints.

But what if players say “I attack in random directions!” or something like that?

Turns out I wouldn’t be so harsh as I suggested. I’d use a variant of the same random target rule I talked about in the ranged attacks post and the post on random spell targets.

Roll 8d6, with one die being a different color. If the unique-colored die is the highest result or ties with the highest result, the attack is in the right direction. If not, the character swings at empty space.

Multiple characters attacking random empty space use the same procedure, which means more chances of scoring a lucky hit. If they are standing back to back, two characters each roll 4 dice + 1 different-colored die, three characters each roll 2 dice + 1 different-colored die, and four characters roll two dice of different colors.

If the creature is hit, then just like Chicagowiz’s example, everyone can make normal attacks without the random target roll until there’s a round where no one successfully hit the invisible opponent. After that round, attacks revert to the original random procedure.

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Ranged Attacks with Bows: Possible House Rules

In a thread about missile ranges on the OD&D forums, I tossed out some ideas I’m considering to replace the bonus for short and medium range. The idea is to give a benefit without having to adjust the attack roll. I’m reproducing the rules here for commentary, and so that I don’t lose them. All of these rules assume an archer makes a single attack roll, but fires 1d6 arrows for that attack.

1. Short Range: Can aim at a single target for double damage. Otherwise, every opponent in the targeted area rolls 1d6. Highest roll is the target hit. If there is a tie, multiple targets are hit. The number of targets hit is the minimum number of arrows used.
2. Medium Range: Archer can target an individual or an area. There is no damage bonus for targeting an individual, but if aimed shots and hit location are being used, these are allowed at medium range. Targeted areas require all targets in the area to roll 1d6 as for short range.
3. Long Range Archer can’t target an individual or make aimed shots at a specific hit location. Effective level is halved. All targets in area must roll 1d6 as above to randomize the targets hit. Only fighters and their subclasses can make long-range shots.

There’s also an assumption that there are different levels of training. Fighters and any fighter subclass allowed to use missile weapons are the highest level and use the above rules.

Untrained archers are the lowest level of training and are capped at 1st level. This is a standard level cap for anyone using a weapon they have no training in. They are restricted to short range missile fire (can’t make medium or long range attacks) and always require everyone in the direction of fire, friend and foe, to roll 1d6 to randomize the target. They do not get a double damage bonus for aiming at a single target.

Trained archers are the medium level of training, between untrained and true fighters. Any class can pay for training in archery (or other weapons,) Trained archers have no level cap (use their full attack potential when firing arrows) and do not risk hitting allies except when firing into a melee. They are allowed to aim at a single target for double damage at short range. They are also able to make medium range attacks, but these are treated as long range (can’t target an individual or make aimed shots, effective attack level is halved.)

I also added special rules for firing in a Melee.

• If the archer is actually in melee (standing next to an opponent,) they can’t fire arrows because they are too busy parrying and dodging.
• If an archer can somehow step back from the melee and not be targeted (using invisibility, for example,) the attack is treated as long range (half effective attack level, no aiming at individual targets.) Untrained archers cannot do this.
• If the archer is firing into a melee, all characters in the melee, both friend and foe, must roll to see if they are targeted.

All of this deals specifically with using bow and arrow. I haven’t thought over sling missiles yet. Crossbows, however, are treated like bow and arrow, but a crossbow that’s already cocked and loaded can be fired once, even in a melee. It is still treated as a long range attack, as described above.

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My Top 5 Fixes for OD&D

On the OD&D forums, there’s a thread asking for everyone’s “top five” fixes for OD&D. I answered there, but thought I should preserve the answers here for posterity. Most of my fixes involve more than one change, so I suppose some might consider that “cheating”.

Assuming we’re starting from the original three booklets as the base, I now make these changes before adding any supplemental material (from Greyhawk, for example.)

1. Corrected d6-only hit dice progression. Fighters get 1d6 per level up to 10th. Magic-Users get 1d6 every other level. Clerics are in between (2 dice every 3 levels.) M-Us and Clerics get a “loaner” hit point on levels where they don’t get a hit die. “To Hit” chances are based on hit dice, sort of like a loose interpretation of Target 20.
2. Situation Rolls. All the various probabilities for surprise, listening at doors, opening stuck doors, wandering monster rolls, and so on are regularized to 5+ on 1d6. Anytime I decide something could go wrong with an action or players have a slight chance of escaping a bad situation, I pretty much use that roll.
3. Magic Scrolls. Only magic-users can make magic scrolls of any type, including cleric scrolls. Magic-users can use any scroll type, Clerics can use cleric magic scrolls, and anyone can use protection scrolls or curses. Magic-users can make scrolls at any level, as per Holmes Basic, but only of spells they know or research. Spells above 6th level can’t be memorized, only cast from scrolls.
4. Clerics Without Spells. Clerics don’t memorize spells, but use the Turn Undead roll to pray for miracles. Use the reaction roll table as a replacement, 2d6 + 2 * (cleric level - spell level or undead hit dice). 9+ means spell is cast or undead is turned. The first time a cleric gets a 6-8 result, the spell asked for is cast, but never again for the rest of the adventure. On a 2, the cleric falls from grace and loses all powers. Praying at an appropriate shrine and otherwise fulfilling religious duties erases all penalties and starts over if a 9+ on the reaction roll is rolled. (The link is to the first post of many about using Clerics Without Spells, but these rules represent my current thinking.)
5. Corrected Armor/Shields. Leather armor has no move penalty for fighters, -3 Move for everyone else. All metal armor halves base Move. Magic-Users (and some custom classes) halve Move again and must rest 2 turns out of every 6 when wearing metal armor because of fatigue. (I use this general fatigue rule elsewhere, too.) Shields shall be splintered, but only for fighters.

The hit dice fix was something I talked about back when I was doing the clone project/Liber Zero, but is kind of spread out across several posts. Situation rolls also showed up in that discussion, but long-time readers will recognize that 5+ on 1d6 roll as something I’ve used in many, many posts.

There are certainly other, lesser fixes, some of which are still in the midst of being tweaked. Some things I also add are background professions, special abilities of weapons that take effect when damage is 5+ or when a critical hit is rolled, changes to Read Magic and the way spells are learned.

Most of the changes to damage, combat, and ability scores from Greyhawk are ignored. Thieves are still being tweaked, but they get the same hit dice as Magic-Users. A lot of custom classes wind up being Thieves or Clerics with replacement abilities. New spells from the supplements might require reworking before I use them, but new monsters and magic items are generally OK.

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Read Magic House Rules

To continue with my investigation of the Read Magic spell, here are my current thoughts on how it works.

It's a shortcut.

Spell research can be used to decipher any magical writing, but that takes time and money. Read Magic lets you read magic right now.

It applies to both spells and words of command.

... And almost all magic items have words of command. Potions and other magical substances don't. Magical enhancements of natural functions (improved protection from magical armor, improved attack ability for magical weapons) don't have command words, either, but other special powers (flaming, for example,) do. All rings, amulets, wands, staves, magic cloaks, etc. have magic words of command.

It doesn't apply to spells you know.

... Unless it's a different version of the spell. Find a scroll of Read Magic? You recognize that's what it is immediately. No need to cast the Read Magic spell to use a Read Magic scroll. This is easier to keep track of than keeping a list of scrolls that have been skimmed with Read Magic.

If you find a new spell and use Read Magic, you now know it.

That's the flipside of the "It's a shortcut" rule that I hadn't considered until now. It's probably my most controversial ruling, but it now makes Read Magic extremely valuable. You can add spells to your repetoire without spending as much money!

It isn't limited to a single scroll.

The spell description is vague, but implies it's not limited to one scroll or inscription. I'd rule that it applies to 1d6 spell levels. Each word of command counts as 1 spell level. Scrolls count as whatever their actual spell level is. Side effect: if I decide to toss in a 7th level spell scroll, it can't be read with Read Magic. The M-U must use spell research.

A Thought About Excess XP

I don't recall anything in the OD&D books that mentions what happens when you gain enough experience to increase two or more levels, instead of just one. I know in AD&D, you only get enough XP to increase one level, plus one point shy of the next level; anything above that is excess XP and is lost. I referred to the AD&D version when I came up with the house rule that level drain does not decrease experience points, and you can regain one lost level by going on an adventure and earning at least one point, which assumes that the "you only gain one level per adventure" rule is in effect.

But now I'm thinking: why not expand that rule? You still only earn one level at most per adventure. But forget the bit about losing excess XP, You earn what you earn, and your XP never decreases. If a 1st level thief somehow earns 5,000 XP, the thief goes up to 2nd level, but after two more adventures worth at least 1 XP, the thief will be 4th level.

Poison Rules

For the record, here are my potential house rules for poisons, based on the previous posts.

1. Simplified Judges Guild approach to poisons (hit dice of poisonous creature = damage per round and number of rounds of effect, delayed for 10 - HD rounds, default effect is sickness.)
2. Save means half damage and no sickness.
3. Collecting or manufacturing poisons for later use requires d6 situation roll to avoid accidental self-poisoning (except for alchemist, witch, or assassin.)
4. Poisons last 1 week and cost at least 100 gp/HD equivalent.
5. If a creature struck by an envenomed weapon makes the first save, the venom has worn off or been wiped off and won't affect anyone else.
6. Social reactions are varied and can't be generalized.

Those are pretty simple rules that won't require much fiddling. Bookkeeping is limited to writing a HD number next to any poisoned weapon and erasing it at the end of an adventure. Rule #4 seems like a good general guideline for lots of things. How long do standard rations last? One week. It means that if you are adventuring every week, you envenom weapons and buy new standard rations. If you don't, you don't have access to either while in the dungeon. Rule #5 eliminates the need to track how many times you can use an envenomed weapon. Rule #6 eliminates situations where NPCs have "poison ESP" or unfair rulings to keep players from using poisons "just because". Rule #3 gives a limited special ability to certain classes, but I wouldn't go any farther than that to tie poisons to class abilities, nor would I specify how many weapons can be envenomed on a per level or per class basis.

I also stripped out the different effects for poisons and just made sickness the default. Maybe large creatures would have half action instead of sickness, and giant creatures would only have half move. Specific poisons might be given unusual effects, but these would be indicated in monster or item descriptions (4 HD paralytic poison, 7 HD coma poison.) One thing I might consider changing is: if a creature has a hit point bonus, add that to the damage bonus, but not to the number of rounds. So, 5 HD poisons take effect after 5 rounds and cause 5 points of damage per round for 5 rounds, but a 5+1 HD poison does 6 points/round for 5 rounds.

Morale House Rules

Another thing I said in a forum thread that I should probably remember (although I think I wrote about it here before as well:

1. Roll an extra Loyalty score (3d6) modified by employer's Charisma for hirelings/henchmen, as indicated in M&M. This determines any bonus or penalty to morale rolls.
2. Roll 2d6 reaction for enemy forces encountered, to see their starting morale.
3. In combat, use the damage roll as a morale test:
   • when an opponent or hireling is injured (individual test;)
   • the first time one side takes damage (test for all troops;)
   • when one side has been reduced to half, and again when reduced to one third;
   • when that damage roll results in the leader's death or incapacity.
4. Also make a 1d6 roll when one side witnesses overwhelming power on the opposition's side, such as high level magic;
5. For monsters, add the creature's hit die adjustment to their opponent's roll (goblins with 1-1 HD get a -1 to morale test;)
6. For individuals, phobias add to the roll (morale more likely to break) and obsessions or passions subtract from the roll (more likely to keep fighting;)
7. 5+ means morale breaks (usual result is retreat.) Adjusted roll of 7+ means they panic (flee without defending.)

In some circumstances, a roll of 1 may mean improved morale. For large groups, roll four extra dice to test morale. Each die represents 20% of the forces.

Shield House Rules

This post is mainly so I don't lose something I wrote in a thread before I put it in a house rules document.

• Any shield improves armor by 1 point; skip your attack to get an additional point of defense.
• A small shield provides minimum protection equivalent to leather.
• A large shield provides minimum protection equivalent to plate.
• Anything bigger than a buckler can be used to block missile fire from one direction (minimum protection equivalent to plate.
• A shield bash is treated as an ordinary attack (d6 damage;) on damage 5+, target is knocked back.
• Shields Shall Be Splintered is in effect.

Combat Maneuvers and Defender's Choice

Someone (Lord Gwydion, I think) pointed to this post on super-simple combat maneuvers. Not a long post, but I'll summarize: roll attack as normal without modifiers, effect happens on a critical hit, defender gets to choose either damage or the maneuver effect on an ordinary hit. It fits well with my own philosophy; I almost never use modifiers for special maneuvers. I don't use crits, though; instead, I use the damage roll as a situation roll (5+ means the effect happens.)  That makes special effects much more likely. I think I'll add the bit about the defender's option to take the special maneuver's effect instead of damage on 4 or less to my own house rules, though.

I wonder if there should also be an option to take a special result on an ordinary attack, though. I have already suggested injuries to specific body parts instead of general damage -- basically, "Limbs Shall Be Splintered!" Why not add knockback or trip results as an option? The limitation, though, is that the player must call the special effect before the damage roll; on a 5+, the player's character takes both the 5+ damage and the knockback or other bad effect.

Overlevel Abilities

The tail end of yesterday's post, where I started rambling about handicapping characters with abilities that are too powerful or too numerous, got a little bit confusing, even in the comments when I tried to explain it better. So let me start that section over.

The core of what I'm getting at relates to Articles 2, 4 and 5 of the FLAILSNAILS conventions. GMs can decide how to import or convert characters from a game that is "roughly the same genre and system" as whatever they are running; they can also decide what the level limit is for a given session and how to handicap or modify characters, spells, powers, or magic items that are "overlevel".

Certain classes seem inherently overlevel to me, because they add additional unnatural powers beyond what other characters of a similar level have. I'm not talking about abilities that are mechanical implementations of what an OD&D player would assume any character could try, like a sweeping blow. I'm talking about a 1st level character who is equivalent to a 1st level fighter in all ways, but has a couple extra pseudo-magical abilities, like Darkness 15-Foot Radius or Shapeshift. I wouldn't be comfortable allowing one player to play a character way above what the other players in my campaign have available to them.

What I'm thinking is that the best way to handicap these is to interpret them as if they had changed classes. A Darkness power is basically equivalent to a 2nd level spell, which means that fighter could be explained as a 3rd level Magic-User who switched to Fighter. That's worth at least one handicap. "Low-level" characters with lots of high-level powers would have more handicaps, or one or two severe handicaps. Since we're talking FLAILSNAILS, here, the handicaps go away as soon as the player takes the character to another GM's game.

Situational Factors

Brendan and I have been discussing bonuses to climbing, which has reminded me of something I said once about how I handle modifiers to rolls to avoid too much bonus inflation. It might be worth it to cover this as its own topic.

Let's take an attack roll as an example, instead of climbing. You sneak up behind a guard and try to wrestle  him to the ground so you can tie him up. The guard isn't asleep or helpless, so presumably there's an attack roll. You toss a pebble in a different direction to distract him right as you strike. What kind of bonus do you get on the attack roll?

I think most GMs would figure it out this way: There's a +2 or +4 bonus to attacks from behind, plus your Strength bonus (wrestling,) plus your Int bonus (or maybe a Wis bonus) for the pebble trick, minus the guard's Strength and Int bonuses.

The way I do it is: the guard is alert, but isn't all that remarkable. Let's say you are stronger than the guard, but not as clever. Those two factors cancel each other out, plus you have the advantage of striking from behind and tossing the pebble; total bonus is +1. If you had been stronger and smarter, that's significantly more advantages in your favor, so it would be +2. I only look at who has the overall advantage and give a +1 to that side, +2 if there are several more advantages.

Here's another situation: you're trying to cross a narrow bridge without falling. The bridge is slippery and rickety, but you have high Dex. That's a -1; if there were also bees attacking you and you had an injured leg, it might be a -2.

So: having lots of factors in your favor doesn't improve your chance of success much, but it does improve your chances of getting a +1 or +2. This seems natural and easy to me; I could just eyeball the situational factors and think "oh, sounds like the PC has the advantage here." I don't discuss it much because I think it doesn't feel natural to most other people; they would rather have explicit additions and subtractions, and want some situations to be much more beneficial than others, such as rear attacks being easier than flank attacks, which are in turn easier than normal attacks.

There's only a few things that I count separately from situational factors, or that give bonuses higher than +2. Armor, for example, comes in various grades, and the number of hit dice a creature has adds directly to the attack roll. It's possible to treat these as just another situational factor, especially if you are modifying a 1d6 roll and don't want to give too high a bonus. For example, instead of giving a 9th level thief a +5 when trying to pick a pocket, you could give a +1 when trying to pick the pocket of a 4th level Fighter, or a +2 when picking the pocket of a 2nd level fighter; the thief could get a +1 when trying to pick a complicate lock while drunk with improvised picks. For 1d6 situation rolls, I sort of do this, in that any level bonus of +2 means no roll is necessary, anyways. But I still allow open-ended level bonuses on general principal. Those who would rather cap the bonus are welcome to do so, however, and the situational factor method might be one way to do so.

Support and Upkeep II

I've talked about the 1% tax on xp before, but James Maliszewski brought the topic up again, so I thought I'd expand on some of the ideas in my previous post, although this time we're going more into "how I think I'd do it" territory rather than "what I think it's supposed to mean."

First, let's make it clear: the flat support and upkeep fee is meant to cover all sorts of little details it wouldn't be fun to track, like how many candles you have to buy every month to make sure your house has lighting. At the very least, it covers a place to sleep and enough food to get by on a day to day basis. A lot of this stuff can be bought on an individual basis, and must be bought that way when provisioning an expedition or when the character has less than 50 xp.

I'd even rule that characters moving to a new location must pay for stuff item by item until they've earned some experience in the new location. In other words, experience is tied to reputation.

Priestly Ceremonies

This isn't a clone-related post, but just some potential house rules. I was thinking about the day-to-day functions of a non-adventuring priest: blessings tied to different stages in life (birth, adolescence, last rites,) induction into a group (baptism, confirmation, conversion, initiation, priestly investment,) minor blessings of short-term events, and major blessings (marriage, funeral.) All religions have 'em, and most religions have loads of 'em. But the cleric rules, despite some of the level titles, aren't really designed around the duties of a priest.

It seems to me that the general intent of these ceremonies is to protect against malign influence. Not like Protection from Evil, but more like a Turn Undead against very minor spirits that attempt to lead the faithful astray at critical moments. Each ceremony protects the individuals involved for a short period of time, no more than a week and often shorter, based on the specific activity being protected: opening prayers at a worship service protect against disruption of that service for its duration, for example. Most of the time, you don't need to worry about mechanics, but if necessary, here are the effects:

• blessed social interactions (like marriages): add double priest's level to reaction roll to indicate general initial mood of interaction.
• blessed endeavors (prayer at the beginning of a trip, dedication of a building): if there is an "X in 6" chance of an accident, reduce the chance of the first accident by 1 for every level of the priest (or subtract 1 from the first Situation roll.)
• protection from spirits/undead: treat as a one-time delayed Turn Undead; last rites and funerals specifically prevent the deceased from being transformed into an undead.

You do not need to make NPC priests into actual clerics to make this work; just assume they are 1st level, unless they are invested with a higher rank by the church. These "non-cleric clerics" can't cast spells except maybe on holy ground, however. The faithful who are not priests can even turn spirits (but not perform blessings) as if they were 0-level priests (reaction roll - double hit dice of spirit or undead; 9 or better turns the spirit.)

Ranges

No major post today, but I've been thinking about ranges, especially since I'm going to need to figure this out before I get around to working on production rules for spell lists. I want ranges that are less numerical, more approximate. Something more like:

• Close: actually touching or grappling a target.
• In Reach: adjacent, able to strike with a fist or slap.
• Nearby: able to reach after taking a couple steps.
• Room: able to cross in about a minute; also, the area illuminated by a single torch.
• Field: able to cross in about ten minutes; also, basically the maximum range for missile weapons.

I'm leaning towards "Field" for that last range, although "Building" or "Level" might be appropriate, too, for different reasons. The idea is to judge things like "who can hear this noise" or "how far away can this be seen" in rough terms instead of counting squares/hexes; in other words, dispensing with the grid entirely. If you talk in a normal voice, anyone in the room can understand what you're saying (assuming they speak the language) and anyone outside the room but near a door can hear the sound of talking. If you shout, everyone on the same level (field) can hear some kind of sound, unless behind a closed door.

Level Caps

These are some quick thoughts about level caps for non-human races. A lot of people hate them because they feel they are arbitrary; on the other hand, dwarves, elves and halflings start out better than humans at first level, so Gygax felt a need to balance them by not letting them progress as far.

The arbitrary feeling goes away a bit if you also cap humans to a maximum level. Non-human races can be capped relative to humans:

• dwarves save as four levels higher than actual, so level cap is Human - 4.
• elves are both fighters and magic-users, so max fighter level + max MU level should equal max Human level.
• halflings are basically Dwarves (save as four levels higher) but with a bonus ability of disappearing in plain sight. Since Invisibility is a 2nd level spell, cap Halflings at Dwarf - 2.
• variant halflings are other little people with an innate magical ability other than Invisibility. Pixies can fly; sure, they have wings, but treat that as having an innate Fly spell (3rd level,) so they are capped at Dwarf - 3. Likewise, Nixies have Waterbreathing and are also capped at Dwarf - 3. If I wanted to define Spriggans as "little people who can magically grow to giant size," basically a variant of Animal Growth that only affects themselves, but allows more than double size, so make it a 4th level ability and cap Spriggans at Dwarf - 4.
• gnomes are variant halflings, but with no special ability, unless you want to count "speak with burrowing creatures" as a limited version of Speak with Animals (normally 2nd level.) They do have a link to illusions, however, which can either be handled as split Fighter/Illusionist the same way elves are handled, or give them innate improved Phantasmal Force (3rd level instead of 2nd.) x
  

The actual caps are close to the assumption that humans are capped at level 12, so I'd just adjust other level caps to fit with a human level cap of 12:

• Dwarves can reach a maximum of 8th level.
• Elves can reach a maximum of 4th level as fighter and 8th level as magic-user.
• Halflings can reach a maximum of 6th level.
• Pixies, Nixies can reach a maximum of 5th level.
• Spriggans can reach a maximum of 4th level and grow to the size of an ogre or giant of (4 + spriggan's HD.)
• Gnomes can either be innate illusionists (maximum 4th level) or a maximum of 3rd level as a fighter and 4th level as an illusionist.
  

Raising human level caps should raise level caps for other races. Alternatively, drop level caps, but make non-humans earn extra experience equal to the level differences above (a 1st level halfling has to earn enough experience equivalent to 8th level in order to advance to 2nd.) If you're a nice GM, you can spread the extra experience required over a range of levels.

Item Saves

There's been discussion on Dragonsfoot about whether magic-users who fall into rivers or swamps risk having their spellbooks destroyed. My own experience with cheap, modern paperbacks is that they can get wet without being instantly destroyed, but if not properly dried out, they risk getting moldy. In fact, my own experience is that humidity, without actual immersion, runs a risk of destroying books with mold. This is why I no longer have a good copy of the PHB.

Would I roll a saving throw for a spellbook that's been dunked in a swamp? Probably not, although I might give a 1 in 6 chance of being infested with mold if the MU didn't take appropriate steps afterward. But it does raise the issue of item saves. I hate tons of die rolling, so I think I'd just use a single opposed d6 roll and adjust the player's result for individual items based on their intrinsic qualities. If I felt like it, I might let a player roll dice equal to their character's HD; they can assign each die result to one item, with the last die being a catch-all for all remaining items, comparing each result to my d6 roll. That way, some items will make their save and some will fail, but it's fairly quick to adjudicate.

High-Level Spells

I'm not a big fan of 7th through 9th level spells. I like the old spell levels of 1 to 6. It keeps magic somewhat under control.

This doesn't mean I'm against ever using those high-level spells. Let magic-users learn 7th level spells and higher, but without the ability to prepare or memorize them. They have to spend time and money to inscribe a scroll and cast it, with a chance of spell failure or fumble, exactly as if they were casting a spell too high for them to cast. Add the MU's HD or half their level to their d6 roll. Likewise, I wouldn't let clerics cast 6th or 7th level spells on an adventure; these are miracles that must be prayed for at a shrine or temple, and they directly contact the deity for assistance.

Both options give high-level spells more of a ritualistic and risky feel.

Wandering Dice

In the one-page dungeon maps I've posted for the MegaLex project, I've used this procedure for wandering monsters: roll 2d6, lowest die is the monster, highest die is the base number encountered, doubles are read from a subtable instead. This set-up is pretty quick and simple, but there's a couple quirks to this. The lowest die result, if doubles aren't rolled, will be in the range of 1 to 5 (6 is only possible for doubles.) The lower numbers will be more likely than the higher numbers. I knew this, and planned accordingly, placing the monsters I wanted to appear more frequently in the 1 or 2 slot.

But I forgot that the converse is also true: the base number appearing can't be 1, and higher numbers are more likely than lower numbers. Monster number 5 on the table will always have a base number appearing of 6. Not really what I want.

A better approach would be to use the approach I've mentioned elsewhere: read the two dice from left to right, with the first die as base number appearing and the second as which monster appears. This adds one more slot to the wandering monster table and makes a couple other tricks possible:

• If I want a monster to appear less frequently, I can pair it with another infrequent monster and using the base number appearing roll to select which of the two I want. This increases the potential variety of monsters.
• If the dice line up, I have the option of reading each die two ways, which means two different monsters wander by. This also gives the potential for different readings of the result: are the monsters allies, enemies, master and slave?

From now on, I'll use this technique in the region maps.

D6-Only Weapons: Size and Mass

It would seem at first that the mere mass of a weapon would be a great reason to vary damage by weapon type. After all, if bigger weapons don't do more damage, why would anyone buy them? They weigh more than light weapons and are thus more encumbering. But thing again about the foundations of D&D combat: an ordinary man-at-arms has 1d6 hit points, and a short sword does 1d6 damage. An ordinary short sword has a chance to kill an ordinary man. Should a heftier sword kill an ordinary man even more? Or should it have a better chance of scoring that potentially deadly hit?

This is the rationale behind giving more massive weapons a bonus to hit instead of a bonus to damage. We can treat mass as an intrinsic quality that provides a bonus where appropriate: figure that basic one-handed weapons like the short sword as the default weapon mass, give a +1 advantage to two-handed weapons and another +1 if the weapon is too heavy for a person of normal strength to wield effectively, but the fighter has high Strength. Also give the advantage to the side with the more massive weapon or shield, if parrying or blocking.

You can, of course, allow users of two-handed weapons to roll two dice and pick the highest. That's a common LBB houserule. I'm reluctant to do so only because I plan on letting everyone roll two dice and picking one for speed and the other for damage, but perhaps I'll work around that.