I'll assume that all a magic user's spells fit in one spell book that weighs 10 lbs.
Casters do not need to track standard material components except for those required to be of minimum worth. Components for these spells must be limited to 1,000 g.p. total value at the start of the game and tracked. For example, Identify requires a pearl of at least 100 g.p. value; a mage wishing to cast this spell must include these pearls in his or her inventory.
Verbal components must be spoken aloud, clearly and with purpose. The arcane forces do not easily manifest for whispers and mumbles. If a caster wishes to quietly invoke a spell with a verbal component by speaking softly or whispering, he must make a successful check on a d20 vs. intelligence for magic-user spells and vs. wisdom for cleric spells, or the spell will fail.
A silent version of a spell—i.e., one with no verbal component—may be memorized as a spell one level higher than the spell's usual level. For example, a magic user could use a 2nd level spell slot to memorize Silent Magic Missile, which would require only a somatic component. Mouthing the normal verbal component becomes part of the movements needed to cast the spell.
Encumbrance and Movement
A character's movement rate is the lower of (1) his racial movement rate, (2) the maximum movement rate allowed by the armor type, and the (3) movement rate determined by encumbrance. Encumbrance is determined as per OSRIC.
For example, a dwarf (9" max movement) wearing non-magical plate mail (6" max movement rate) and carrying 75 lbs of gear (very heavy load, 6" max move rate) will have a movement rate of 6". If the dwarf sheds 6 lbs of gear so that he is only carrying heavy gear (9" max move rate), his movement rate will still be 6" because of the plate mail.
Magic armor is unencumbering and allows movement at 3" greater than the rate for non-magical armor. Thus, magical scale, splint, and plate mail armors allow movement at 9", while magical chain, banded, ring, and studded leather armors allow movement at 12" max.
Money—Values and Weights
100 cp = 10 sp = 1 gp = 1/10 pp
Encumbrance: Gold and platinum coins are 10/lb. Silver coins are 50/lb., and copper coins are 200/lb.
Critical Hits and Misses
On a natural 20, the attack does maximum damage. If a natural 20 and max damage are rolled, the attack does double damage (before bonuses).
On a natural 1, something bad happens. Usually, this will be a dropped weapon. The character can switch to another weapon without losing an attack, or the character can spend the next round picking up the weapon, losing the attack for that round.
Spell Notes
Know Alignment: This spell does not exist in this game.
Detect Evil: Most sentient creatures will be seriously offended if they notice that this spell has been cast on them without their consent. The spell has somatic and verbal components and takes 1 round to cast; anyone around the caster will therefore notice that a spell is being cast, although they may not know the nature of the spell. NB: The paladin's ability to detect evil is an ability, not a spell, and thus not as easily recognized as is the spell; observers would still notice the paladin concentrating, however. A paladin should consider the implications of surreptitiously taking an action that good people would find offensive if they knew about it.
Furthermore, the note as to "Detection of Evil and/or Good" on p. 60 of the DMG will be followed. In general, Detect Evil or Detect Good will only reveal alignment traits of a character in which the evil or good is strong.
Color Spray: This spell affects up to six creatures of the caster's level or below, with a limit of one HD per caster level; or, if no such creatures are in the spell's area of effect, a single creature with more HD than the caster's level. Thus, a 6th-level caster could affect six 1-HD orcs, three 2-HD troglodytes, or one 6-HD winter wolf. He could also affect a single frost giant, which would get a save. If the frost giant is surrounded by orcs, the spell would affect the orcs instead of the giant.
Glyph of Warding: A glyph may have any of several effects depending on the level of the spell caster. Any caster capable of casting the Glyph can make it do fire, electrical, or cold damage for 2 points per level of the caster. Other effects are available if the caster is of high enough level to cast a spell with that effect. Thus, 5th-level casters could, for example, create glyphs that briefly paralyze or blind the target (as a hold person or blindness spell).
No more than one glyph may be inscribed on the same surface (door, 10x10 section of wall, floor, or ceiling, etc.).
Players are responsible for remembering the names of glyphs and for using them to avoid setting off the glyphs. The DM will keep track of those passwords and the glyph locations but not mark them on maps. It is up to the players to remember the location of glyphs and to use the passwords before doing anything that might trigger one.
Identifying Scrolls
The contents of a scroll are not necessarily evident to anyone who did not inscribe it. The following rules apply:
- An arcane caster will recognize any spell that he or she already knows but will need to use read magic or some other form of identification (e.g., an identify spell) to reveal spells with which the caster is not already familiar.
- Clerics and druids immediately recognize the spells on cleric spell scrolls and druid spell scrolls, respectively.
- Protection scrolls can only be identified by read magic, an identify spell, or the like. The protection scroll can be used by anyone, but until the scroll has been identified the nature of its protection will be unknown.
I will NPC characters during combat. I will attempt to play characters consistently with how they've been played, following any "standard actions" posted with the character's sheet. In critical situations, I may ask other players to declare an inactive player's actions. There is, of course, no guarantee that characters won't die while being NPC'ed.
If a player does not post for two weeks without having notified me of his or her absence, I will send a pm asking if the player still wants to play. If the absent player does not respond within a week of the pm, I will post in the recruitment thread for people interested in taking over the character. If no one is interested in taking over the character, it will probably meet with a dire fate.
The Paladin's Protection from Evil Aura
The paladin's protection from evil 10' aura keeps all conjured, summoned, or extraplanar creatures at bay. This "hedging effect" is subject to the following limitations:
- If the paladin attacks a creature that would otherwise be held at bay by the aura, the hedging effect drops for everyone.
- If a character other than the paladin attacks a creature that would be held at bay by the aura, the effect drops for that character only.
- The hedging effect only works when opponents have somewhere else to go. If the paladin moves so that a monster would be trapped between the protection aura and some obstacle, the hedging effect drops for that monster.
Wielding a weapon with which a character is not proficient incurs one less point of to-hit penalty if the weapon is of the same type as a weapon in which the character is proficient. Weapon types are: sword, axe, bow, crossbow, mace, lance, flail, etc. Thus, for example, a fighter proficient in the long sword but not the short sword could wield the latter at a -1 penalty to hit instead of the usual -2. A cleric proficient in the footman's mace could wield a horseman's mace at -2 instead of -3.
Level Drain Effect on Current HP
When a character is level drained by a combat hit, the damage from the hit is applied before the reduction in maximum HP from the level drain. Reduction in maximum HP only lowers current HP if the new current HP would be more than the max.
Example: Ferd the 5th-level fighter has 29/30 HP when he's hit by a wraith for 6 damage, draining a level. The 4th-level Ferd's new HP is 23/24. He takes the 6 points damage (reducing him to 23 current HP), then his max HP are reduced (to 24). Because his current HP are still under his max HP, his current hit points are not further reduced by the level drain.
Fleeing vs. Retreating
I use the OSRIC rules for retreat. There are two ways a combatant can try to disengage from combat or change position: by mounting a fighting retreat, or by fleeing.
- In a fighting retreat, a character retreats backward while maintaining his defense. The attacker can follow if not otherwise engaged. The retreating character may parry but cannot attack. This move can be used to switch places with another party member, with one character engaging while the other mounts a fighting retreat. A fighting retreat does not give the character's opponent a free attack.
- Fleeing from combat means turning and running away at top speed. If a character who is in melee flees, his opponent gets a free attack at +4 to hit (in addition to any other bonuses, of course).
- A cleric may make only one turn attempt per encounter unless multiple types of undead are encountered, in which case the cleric may make one attempt per undead type as long as each attempt is successful. An unsuccessful turn attempt prevents any more turning attempts for that encounter.
- Turning is the cleric's only action for that round, but the cleric can take other actions in subsequent rounds (i.e., the cleric doesn't need to "hold" the turn to keep it effective).
- When an undead monster that has been turned is attacked, that monster may defend itself by striking back at its attacker(s). It may continue to do so until its attackers clearly disengage from attacking it.
- Because turned undead will be fleeing unless cornered, attacks against turned undead will usually receive the usual bonus for attacking from behind.
- When the duration of the turning expires, the undead are free to return, but their return is not guaranteed. Whether they return will depend on the intelligence of the monsters and whether they were encountered in their lairs.
- When undead that have been turned come back, the cleric who successfully turned them may try to do so again. This can be repeated as long as turning attempts are successful. Each turn attempt requires a new roll for the number of undead affected.
There's a difference between "negation" of a light spell and temporary cancellation of the spell's effect. For a spell to be truly negated, the opposing spell must be cast on the same location or object as the original spell. If two light spells merely overlap, they temporarily cancel each other out, leaving only whatever ambient and natural light is in the area.
Example: Mac the Magnificent casts Continual Light on the end of a stick to make a "wand" of light. If Dirk the Dire casts Continual Darkness on the end of that stick, it negates the Continual Light spell and Mac the Magnificant's "wand of light" is once again just a stick. But if Dirk casts Darkness on Mac's hand instead of the wand, the wand's light is extinguished for as long as it remains within 40' of Mac's hand or until the Darkness spell expires or is dispelled. The darkness is likewise suppressed by the light from Mac's wand. What's left is whatever light is in the area. If Mac and Dirk are outside in sunlight, Mac can see. If Mac and Dirk are deep in a dungeon with no other light sources, it is dark. And if Mac's friend Minnie has a torch, her torchlight illuminates the area covered by the two competing spells.
The following table shows which spells negate the others:
Code: Select all
Spell Countered By
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Light Darkness, Darkness 15', or Continual Darkness
Darkness Light or Continual Light
Continual Light Continual Darkness
Continual Darkness Continual Light
Darkness, 15' Radius Light or Continual Light
