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Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts

Monday, February 14, 2011

This was some ideas I was having for an AD&D environment, the player character options. All humans were of Monster Manual Men entry stock (bandit, berserker, etc...)

Apparently demi-humans cannot be single-classed and humans can multi-class. The score after the class is EXP required to level. Thieves only show up as a multi-class option. Clerics are not to be found, their spells likely split between druids and magic users.

DWARF CLASSES
Fighter/Thief 3250
Fighter/Assassin 3500

ELF, HALF ELF CLASSES
Fighter/Thief 3250
Fighter/Assassin 3500
Magic User/Thief 3750
Druid/Fighter 4000 (half elf only)
Fighter/Magic User 4500

GNOME CLASSES
Fighter/Thief 3250
Fighter/Assassin 3500
Illusionist/Thief 3500
Illusionist/Assassin 3750
Fighter/Illusionist 4250

HUMAN CLASSES
Assassin 1500
Druid 2000
Fighter 2000
Ranger 2250
Magic User 2500
Fighter/Thief 3250
Druid/Thief 3250
Fighter/Assassin 3500
Magic User/Thief 3750
Illusionist/Assassin 3750
Druid/Fighter 4000
Druid/Illusionist 4250
Druid/Magic User 4500

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

AD&D Druids

I don't like the idea that druids have 'patron deities' in the same way as clerics. No thanks - that's cleric stuff (and not much to my liking for them anyway). This was one of my beefs with the Greyhawk setting - though there's plenty of other things I do like about the setting.

No, druids retain the old ways - which is to say a belief system (and source of power) more cthonic, deistic... to them, the forces of the universe are not anthropomorphic - I like to consider them to be perhaps more Nietzschean (in the "beyond good and evil" sense), not seeking a balance between good/evil, law/chaos - just disregarding them as meaningful constructs whatsoever. Where druids interact with society, I like to play them as chroniclers and overseers of oaths and pacts - where they are rulers they apply reason evenly, but rarely are rulers.

In my effort to not be quite so consumed by the internet and to read physical books more regularly again, I lit upon a book called "The Druids" by Peter Berresford Ellis which was a good read, an attempt to examine the role(s) druids played in their time, while admitting the representation historically skewed by Roman conquerers and Christian converters... I thought it was an interesting read. In general it portrayed druids as taking on a number of important social roles, moreso than overtly religious duties (though reliable details of druidic cosmology/philosophy/etc are few and far between).

(I could not find much critical assessment of this book on the web, but here's a page that someone put up - a review which I find myself largely in agreement with.)

The AD&D druid has always been one of my favorite classes to play, but one I've always wanted to find a better fit for when thinking about settings and campaigns and such. Still working on it.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

AD&D Soothsayer

The Soothsayer

Soothsayers are a sub-class of magic user, though they have some qualities of illusionists and clerics also. To be a soothsayer, a character must have a minimum intelligence of 12, wisdom of 9, dexterity of 11, and a charisma of 9 or more. Soothsayers do not gain bonuses to earned experience by dint of high ability scores. Soothsayers can be of any alignment, and may or may not be affiliated with a religious organization, cult, or church, but should not be considered as necessarily representative of this organization as the cleric generally is.

Soothsayers gain levels and follow the spell schedule of the illusionist. Hit dice are d6. Soothsayers can wear no armor heavier than leather and cannot use a shield. They may arm themselves as per illusionists, and choose one other weapon to be allowed to use. Soothsayers attack and save as clerics.

They may use magic items available to magic users, illusionists, and clerics (though some deities/religious organizations might disallow the functions of clerical items for a particular Soothsayer whose alignment, outlook or purpose is antithetical).

Soothsayers are more inclined toward information gathering and influence than acts of grandiose magic. They are more likely found as fortune tellers, hermetic seers, advisors, adventurers, iconoclasts and zealots or charlatans and mountebancs than leaders of a flock, crusaders or academic thaumaturges. Some cultivate an aura of mystery about themselves, others use their abilities in the service of others.

The particular methods of soothsayers allow them to cast Read Magic 1 time a day for each level they have attained. Additionally, soothsayers may cast the reversed form of any spell currently memorized, where such reversed forms exist.
Spells available to soothsayers
--Level OneLevel TwoLevel ThreeLevel Four
1Change SelfAuguryBlinkCharm Monster
2Charm PersonDetect CharmClairaudienceConfusion
3CommandESPClairvoyanceCure Serious Wounds
4Comprehend LanguagesFind TrapsIllusionary ScriptDetect Lie
5Cure Light WoundsForgetSpectral ForceDivination
6Detect EvilHold PersonNon-detectionEmotion
7Detect IllusionHypnotic PatternRemove CurseExorcise
8Detect MagicSpeak with AnimalsSlowPhantasmal Killer
9HypnotismImp. Phantasmal ForceSpeak with DeadPolymorph Self
10IdentifyKnow AlignmentSuggestionWizard Eye
11Phantasmal ForceLocate ObjectTonguesPlane Shift
12Audible GlammerMisdirectionDispel MagicContact Other Plane


--Level FiveLevel SixLevel Seven
1AtonementFind the PathAstral Spell
2ChaosVisionAntipathy/Sympathy
3CommuneInvisible StalkerCacodemon
4Speak with MonstersLegend LoreInstant Summons
5FeeblemindMass SuggestionMind Blank
6Magic JarReinacarnationTrap the Soul
7MazeRepulsionMass Charm
8Polymorph OtherSpiritwrackHeal
9QuestVeilImprisonment
10True SeeingWord of RecallAlter Reality