Buckler / 7gp / +0 AC
A buckler is too small to be used as an effective shield. However anyone who has Fighting Style Two Weapons may equip a buckler even if they may not normally equip a shield, and gain a +1 AC bonus instead of a +1 to attack throws. Fighting Style Weapon and Shield works as printed, making bucklers effective for them as well.
**Essentially a buckler counts as an off-hand parrying weapon, instead of an offensive weapon.
Showing posts with label ACKS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACKS. Show all posts
Monday, 28 May 2012
A simple custom ACKS class
The Players Companion for Adventurer, Conqueror, King offers the opportunity to create custom classes, and breaks down the published classes, which all follow the same rules.
This isn't the first game to do this. But if anyone remembers, for example, the the old AD&D rules didn't allow you to create the actual original classes -- the "penalty" for trying to build your own.
The following class isn't fully fleshed out -- level names and a couple bits are needed to bring it in line, but the important bits are in place. It also assumes a different technological level than default ACKS, which tends to be late/post-Roman. Here we have a character more fitting to The Borgias or Backswords & Bucklers.
Requirements: None
Hit Dice: 1d6
Max Level: 14
Bravos are urban warriors, from strutting peacocks to shadowy rakes. Although they are a martial class, they learn their skills in duelling schools, and forgo the chaos of the battlefield, being more comfortable in the ballroom, the salon, or the occasional alley.
Some Bravos are brave agents of the crown, officers of regiments which will rarely serve on battlefields. Others are little more than assassins, using cutting words and cunning to manoeuvre their target into a duel they will surely win. All of them understand the value of a dark cloak, a well-scouted rose-trellis, and soft-soled boots.
Bravos are well trained combatants with a narrow range of weapons. At first level they hit an unarmoured opponent with an attack throw of 10+. They advance in attack throws every two levels of experience. They gain a +1 on damage rolls, this increases at 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th level. Because they prefer free movement and flexibility, they cannot wear armour heavier than leather, and do not use shields*. They may use one-handed bladed weapons, any sort of one-handed club, baton, sap, or cudgel. Masters of the urban environment, they do not use ranged weapons. They may wield weapons in both hands.
If wearing leather armour or less, and dark clothes or a dark cloak, they can hide in shadows; if wearing soft shoes or barefoot they can move silently; and if wearing leather armour or less they can climb walls, all as a thief of the same level.
They make all saves as thieves of the same level.
At 9th lvl (Blademaster) a Bravo can open a Fencing School, and 2d6 1st lvl Bravos will come seeking instruction. Food and lodging must be covered, however they do not need to be paid.
Exp/Title/Lvl/Hit Dice/Damage Bonus
0 / Bravo / 1 / 1d6 / +1
1700/ Tough / 2 / 2d6 / +1
3400/ Rake / 3 / 3d6 / +2
6800/ Antagonist / 4 / 4d6 / +2
14000/ Blade / 5 / 5d6 / +2
28000/ Duellist / 6 / 6d6 / +3
55000/Swashbuckler/ 7 / 7d6 / +3
110000/Protagonist/ 8 / 8d6 / +3
230000/Blademaster/ 9 / 9d6 / +4
350000/Blademaster/ 10 / 9d6+2 / +4
470000/Blademaster/ 11 / 9d6+4 / +4
590000/Blademaster/ 12 / 9d6+6 / +5
710000/Blademaster/ 13 / 9d6+8 / +5
830000/ Blademaster/ 14 / 9d6+10 / +5
Proficiencies:
And the breakdown:
2 Customs to choose Thief saves instead of Fighter saves.
1 Custom for Animal Reflexes, 1 for Bladedancing, 1 for Weapon Finesse (Rapiers only)
This isn't the first game to do this. But if anyone remembers, for example, the the old AD&D rules didn't allow you to create the actual original classes -- the "penalty" for trying to build your own.
The following class isn't fully fleshed out -- level names and a couple bits are needed to bring it in line, but the important bits are in place. It also assumes a different technological level than default ACKS, which tends to be late/post-Roman. Here we have a character more fitting to The Borgias or Backswords & Bucklers.
The Bravo
Prime Requisite: DEXRequirements: None
Hit Dice: 1d6
Max Level: 14
Bravos are urban warriors, from strutting peacocks to shadowy rakes. Although they are a martial class, they learn their skills in duelling schools, and forgo the chaos of the battlefield, being more comfortable in the ballroom, the salon, or the occasional alley.
Some Bravos are brave agents of the crown, officers of regiments which will rarely serve on battlefields. Others are little more than assassins, using cutting words and cunning to manoeuvre their target into a duel they will surely win. All of them understand the value of a dark cloak, a well-scouted rose-trellis, and soft-soled boots.
Bravos are well trained combatants with a narrow range of weapons. At first level they hit an unarmoured opponent with an attack throw of 10+. They advance in attack throws every two levels of experience. They gain a +1 on damage rolls, this increases at 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th level. Because they prefer free movement and flexibility, they cannot wear armour heavier than leather, and do not use shields*. They may use one-handed bladed weapons, any sort of one-handed club, baton, sap, or cudgel. Masters of the urban environment, they do not use ranged weapons. They may wield weapons in both hands.
Bravos have Cat-like Reflexes, they gain +1 on Surprise and Initiative rolls. The Dance of Life and Death gives them a
+1 bonus to Armor Class if wearing leather armour or less and able
to move freely. At level 7, the AC bonus increases to +2, and at
level 13 the AC bonus increases to +3. Finally, as Masters of the Blade they can instantly draw their rapier (a specialized short sword) and add their DEX bonus to their attack throws ), this counts as Weapon Finesse and does not stack with it.
If wearing leather armour or less, and dark clothes or a dark cloak, they can hide in shadows; if wearing soft shoes or barefoot they can move silently; and if wearing leather armour or less they can climb walls, all as a thief of the same level.
They make all saves as thieves of the same level.
At 9th lvl (Blademaster) a Bravo can open a Fencing School, and 2d6 1st lvl Bravos will come seeking instruction. Food and lodging must be covered, however they do not need to be paid.
Exp/Title/Lvl/Hit Dice/Damage Bonus
0 / Bravo / 1 / 1d6 / +1
1700/ Tough / 2 / 2d6 / +1
3400/ Rake / 3 / 3d6 / +2
6800/ Antagonist / 4 / 4d6 / +2
14000/ Blade / 5 / 5d6 / +2
28000/ Duellist / 6 / 6d6 / +3
55000/Swashbuckler/ 7 / 7d6 / +3
110000/Protagonist/ 8 / 8d6 / +3
230000/Blademaster/ 9 / 9d6 / +4
350000/Blademaster/ 10 / 9d6+2 / +4
470000/Blademaster/ 11 / 9d6+4 / +4
590000/Blademaster/ 12 / 9d6+6 / +5
710000/Blademaster/ 13 / 9d6+8 / +5
830000/ Blademaster/ 14 / 9d6+10 / +5
Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Alertness,
Ambushing, Arcane Dabbling, Blind Fighting, Bribery, Cat Burglary,
Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (Force Back, Disarm, Incapacitate,
Trip), Command, Diplomacy, Eavesdropping, Fighting Style, Gambling,
Intimidation, Leadership, Lip Reading, Riding, Running, Sea-faring,
Seduction, Skirmishing, Skulking, Swashbuckling, Weapon Focus
And the breakdown:
Hit Point Value 1
Fighter Value 2, Reduced Armour to Narrow, Reduced Weapons to Narrow, Reduced Styles to 2.
Thief Value 1
Arcane & Divine Value 0.
2 Customs to choose Thief saves instead of Fighter saves.
1 Custom for Animal Reflexes, 1 for Bladedancing, 1 for Weapon Finesse (Rapiers only)
Sunday, 27 May 2012
The Weis-Hickman Event
Years ago Grognardia discussed Dragonlance, and its effects. I'm not going to go over the same ground. I am going to call it an Event. The W-H Event.
One of the players in my group, K, is a player who loves nothing more than to really get into character, and while in character explore exactly what being that character means. K has great role-playing chops, and like a lot of us has been at it for over twenty years. Having K in a game that has is going to focus on role-playing is a boon, and K loves a good story.
There is no coincidence that K began gaming after the Event.
The Event eventually spelled the death of a lot of the OSR style of play. But was that a bad thing?
Somewhere between the Caves of Chaos and the Tomb of Horrors something went wrong. The Caves of Chaos could be dangerous, we all have stories of the 1st lvl characters we lost there. My friends and I remember far too many DMs who viewed Tomb of Horrors as a tutorial. They made dungeons that killed parties dead.
Maybe it's a bad stat based on small sample size. Or maybe not. And it certainly is anecdotal. But it sure is my experience.
One thing the W-H Event did? It trained a generation of DMs that the point wasn't to kill the characters. Maybe it was to tell a story. Maybe not. And people could die in the story, or not. But the dying wasn't the goal of the game.
As I re-explore the new games built from the old games, like ACKS and DCC RPG, part of that process is not actually seeking a return to those roots. That lethality can remain, character mortality can exist, but it should never have become the point.
One of the players in my group, K, is a player who loves nothing more than to really get into character, and while in character explore exactly what being that character means. K has great role-playing chops, and like a lot of us has been at it for over twenty years. Having K in a game that has is going to focus on role-playing is a boon, and K loves a good story.
There is no coincidence that K began gaming after the Event.
The Event eventually spelled the death of a lot of the OSR style of play. But was that a bad thing?
Somewhere between the Caves of Chaos and the Tomb of Horrors something went wrong. The Caves of Chaos could be dangerous, we all have stories of the 1st lvl characters we lost there. My friends and I remember far too many DMs who viewed Tomb of Horrors as a tutorial. They made dungeons that killed parties dead.
Maybe it's a bad stat based on small sample size. Or maybe not. And it certainly is anecdotal. But it sure is my experience.
One thing the W-H Event did? It trained a generation of DMs that the point wasn't to kill the characters. Maybe it was to tell a story. Maybe not. And people could die in the story, or not. But the dying wasn't the goal of the game.
As I re-explore the new games built from the old games, like ACKS and DCC RPG, part of that process is not actually seeking a return to those roots. That lethality can remain, character mortality can exist, but it should never have become the point.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
9th Lvl Farmers
Back in the old D&D days Adventurers stood out in the crowd. "Normal" people, content to live their lives without ever worrying about how many torches, 50 foot sections of rope, and iron rations they should include in their equipment, were all happily 0-Lvl. Famous pianists, aging farmers, and mercenaries all fit there.
Of course, things were different in skill-systems. In Traveller, for instance, skills were always a function of age (and number of terms of service). In Rolemaster the common city guard was a 3rd level Fighter -- strange that they'd hire that band of 1st level "kids" to go explore the ruined tower.
With the advent of skill systems in D&D we end up with "NPC Classes." That famous pianist? A 5th lvl Expert. The farmer? A 9th level Commoner. The mercenary? A 3rd level warrior. That pianist has two attacks per round!
I'm not opposed to NPC classes. Far from it. The Adept class is great for making non-adventuring priests or wizards, the Aristocrat class makes socially able nobles who still are no challenge for the PCs in power. And unlike PC classes, the NPC classes get no bells and whistles as they increase levels. In a game like Pathfinder, where almost ever PC level has a tangible benefit, there is a world of difference between an 8th lvl Fighter (PC) and an 8th lvl Warrior (NPC) even if they had matching stats and gear.
The Adventurer, Conqueror, King System uses Proficiencies as a mixture of skill and feat. So there are Proficiencies like "Combat Reflexes" which give a mechanical benefit, however there are also "skill-based" profs like Perform, Labor, or Craft. When taken multiple times these profs increase the chance of success.
0 Lvl characters get four (plus additional profs for high Int) , but they can't stack just yet. The older the NPC is, the more profs they get. Thus our aging farmer may have Proficiencies like this:
Animal Husbandry x2
Carpentry
Farmer x3
Survival
Although bent and grey from decades of hard work, this NPC's Proficiencies reflect a highly skilled farmer. The requirement for a 9th lvl Farmer with two-dozen hit points and multiple attacks is neatly avoided.
Of course, things were different in skill-systems. In Traveller, for instance, skills were always a function of age (and number of terms of service). In Rolemaster the common city guard was a 3rd level Fighter -- strange that they'd hire that band of 1st level "kids" to go explore the ruined tower.
With the advent of skill systems in D&D we end up with "NPC Classes." That famous pianist? A 5th lvl Expert. The farmer? A 9th level Commoner. The mercenary? A 3rd level warrior. That pianist has two attacks per round!
I'm not opposed to NPC classes. Far from it. The Adept class is great for making non-adventuring priests or wizards, the Aristocrat class makes socially able nobles who still are no challenge for the PCs in power. And unlike PC classes, the NPC classes get no bells and whistles as they increase levels. In a game like Pathfinder, where almost ever PC level has a tangible benefit, there is a world of difference between an 8th lvl Fighter (PC) and an 8th lvl Warrior (NPC) even if they had matching stats and gear.
The Adventurer, Conqueror, King System uses Proficiencies as a mixture of skill and feat. So there are Proficiencies like "Combat Reflexes" which give a mechanical benefit, however there are also "skill-based" profs like Perform, Labor, or Craft. When taken multiple times these profs increase the chance of success.
0 Lvl characters get four (plus additional profs for high Int) , but they can't stack just yet. The older the NPC is, the more profs they get. Thus our aging farmer may have Proficiencies like this:
Animal Husbandry x2
Carpentry
Farmer x3
Survival
Although bent and grey from decades of hard work, this NPC's Proficiencies reflect a highly skilled farmer. The requirement for a 9th lvl Farmer with two-dozen hit points and multiple attacks is neatly avoided.
Monday, 14 May 2012
After years of Coffee, why Kool-Aid?
I left the original D&D and AD&D behind years ago, before either was actually discontinued. The reasons were many. So -- why return?
One of the things I am enjoying about Adventurer, Conqueror, King is that it is not just a retro-clone, it's a game that starts as a clone but adds a simple proficiency system, and a complete domain system, becoming much more than a reprint of BD&D+.
This sums it up a lot of it. As games built on successful commercial models give us more and more, it's interesting to turn back the clock to a time when the hobby was a hobby. But instead of a purely nostalgic experience I have thirty years of gaming experience to bring to my re-examination.To me the Old School Renaissance is not about playing a particular set of rules in a particular way, the dungeon crawl. It is about going back to the roots of our hobby and seeing what we could do differently. - Author, Bat in the Attic
One of the things I am enjoying about Adventurer, Conqueror, King is that it is not just a retro-clone, it's a game that starts as a clone but adds a simple proficiency system, and a complete domain system, becoming much more than a reprint of BD&D+.
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Drinking the OSR Kool-Aid
I started the Kingmaker Adventure Path with our Pathfinder game in January. And it was my re-introduction to a hex-exploration game that has really increased my interest in Old School Renaissance gaming.
For years I would have described myself as a "story" gamer. Not as hardcore as some, to be sure, I have always preferred games that gave you a framework to do your thing in over games that were about a very narrowly focused (often very well designed) thing. I've read lots of the latter, and played a few, and enjoyed them.
Illusionism, where the GM takes the players' choices and flows with them, all the while telling his own story? I've done it.
Recently I've spent a lot of time reading about and discussing Player Agency, defined as:
Now? Now I think that the first decade of gaming has a lot more to offer than we gave it credit for. I spent two and a half decades running away from those days, to find myself back there again. Of course it isn't as simple as just uncrating my old red box and being happy. There are a lot of thing about those old days that I'm not too fond of.
There are a number of retro-clones and OSR games out there right now, but my current favourite is the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System, or ACKS. Starting with the old Basic edition it adds a lot, most notably trade and domain rules. I'll talk more about ACKS soon.
For years I would have described myself as a "story" gamer. Not as hardcore as some, to be sure, I have always preferred games that gave you a framework to do your thing in over games that were about a very narrowly focused (often very well designed) thing. I've read lots of the latter, and played a few, and enjoyed them.
Illusionism, where the GM takes the players' choices and flows with them, all the while telling his own story? I've done it.
Recently I've spent a lot of time reading about and discussing Player Agency, defined as:
"...the feeling of empowerment that comes from being able to take actions in the [virtual] world whose effects relate to the player’s intention...” - Michael Mateas...and how it impacts RPGs. Although it is a topic that many of the new game authors discuss and incorporate, I was finding that many of the places where I wanted to increase player agency married up nicely with gaming in the late 70's and early 80's.
Now? Now I think that the first decade of gaming has a lot more to offer than we gave it credit for. I spent two and a half decades running away from those days, to find myself back there again. Of course it isn't as simple as just uncrating my old red box and being happy. There are a lot of thing about those old days that I'm not too fond of.
There are a number of retro-clones and OSR games out there right now, but my current favourite is the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System, or ACKS. Starting with the old Basic edition it adds a lot, most notably trade and domain rules. I'll talk more about ACKS soon.
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