Rules

Dungeoneering

In his “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk” in L’avant garde #74 (August 1985), editor Dave writes: “From the Pandemonium Society, we get some new twists on old rules and an armored personnel carrier for your fantasy wargame campaigns!”

Dungeoneering

by Phenster

These are some rules we've been using for a long time, but we haven't bothered to write them down yet. Plus a couple monsters from Basel's campaign.

Seeing in the Dungeon

Hazard doesn't go in for infravision. He says dwarves and elves and most underground dwellers can just see 60 feet in the dark. I like the logic of heat-seeing vision and so does Basel. I think it's just too complicated though. Basel uses it in his campaign, but he usually isn't real strict about it.

Forcing Doors Open

We used to play it where, if you didn't force a door open on the first try, you had to roll again and again to get it open or just give up. That was boring and pointless. Now we play it where, if you fail with less than a 6, it means the door is still between you and whatever is in the room. You can get it open pretty easily (without having to roll again), but you can't see what's on the other side, and anything there, in fact anything within earshot, knows someone's at the door and trying to get through. If you get a 6 (after adjustment for high strength), then the door doesn't budge. It's still stuck and you just can't open it, but somebody stronger than you can try. Or you could use an axe.

Finding Traps

Anyone can search for signs of a trap. We have to be specific about where we're looking. But if there's a trap that isn't concealed somehow, we find it without rolling for it. We have to be careful not to set off the trap while we're looking for it. Some traps, like a poison needle in a lock, we just can't see. A thief can detect traps like that with the same chance as he can remove it.

Magic Items

Magic swords get a bonus to the ATTACK roll AND they do bonus magic DAMAGE, same as the attack bonus, just like other magic weapons. Some (20%) magic swords give off light in a 10-foot radius.

War hammers do d6 damage. You can throw one up to 30' (same ranges as a hand-hurled axe). A Dwarven War Hammer is a +3 magic weapon. Dwarves can throw one twice as far with no penalty for long range, and it will boomerang back to the dwarf if it misses. If it hits, it does an extra dice of damage. If a dwarf hits a giant with a thrown Dwarven War Hammer, it gets two extra dice, 3d6+3 damage.

You can use a battle axe with only one hand and do d6+1 damage. If you use both hands, you get d6+2.

Rings of Armor: These rings (of plate mail, chain mail, and leather) give the wearer an armor class equal to their armor type with a magic bonus. So a ring of plate mail +1 gives AC 2, chain mail +2 gives AC 3. The magic bonus is also added to saving throws. If you're already wearing better armor, your AC isn't improved, but you still get the bonus to saves.

Equipment

Caltrops: You can throw caltrops on the floor of the dungeon to make monsters think twice about following you. One bag of caltrops will cover a 10-foot-square area. When a monster (or anyone really) walks through the caltrops, they have to slow down to half their exploring move rate or half combat speed (in combat). Any faster than that they might step on a caltrop (50% chance): take 1 point of damage and stop running immediately, moving at half speed until the damage is healed. You can toss caltrops up to 10', but the chance of stepping on one goes down to 30%. A bag of caltrops costs 1 g.p.

Salt: Throwing salt on zombies makes them dry up and wither. When we hit with a handful of salt, it does 1-8 damage. One bag of salt with a dozen handfuls costs 1 g.p.

Dungeon Boomtowns

We usually come out of the dungeon with some treasure. Sometimes we don't find anything, and sometimes we get a LOT of treasure! There are other adventurers bringing up treasure too, and all that money goes into the local economy and causes inflation, which means the price of stuff goes up.

The Boomtown rule says that the price of stuff goes up when a lot of treasure comes out of the dungeon and into the town. It's like a gold rush, but this is all kinds of treasure--not just gold--and it pours into base town like a river.

It sounds complicated, but Hazard makes it easy by tying inflation to the level of our PCs, because most of our XP comes from treasure. The price of everything doubles when the highest level PC gets to 4th level. It doubles again at 8th, 12th, etc. Everything means everything: from ale at the tavern to guild fees and hireling rates.

Monsters from KING OF WANDS

Cargolith: Move 60 feet/turn, Hit Dice 8-16, Armor Class 2, Treasure Type A (10%), Alignment Neutral, Attacks 1, Damage 3-36 (stomp). When resting, this creature looks like a small rocky hill, sometimes with a low natural wall surrounding the top. It can rest a long time, so grass or small trees might grow out of cracks. If disturbed, by walking on it, say, or taking a break inside the walls, the cargolith will stand on eight feet and start going in a random direction. There is a 50% chance that a ceiling of porous rock will form over the walls to close in whatever (and whoever) is within the walls.

Cargoliths have animal intelligence and can be trained to carry personnel, equipment and treasure. They can carry 1 man or 2,000 coins weight per HD. Enough air comes through the ceiling rock for breathing creatures.

Cargoliths consume small rocks and prefer river pebbles, so they are difficult to control within 100 yards of a river. They come from the elemental plane of earth. They are too big to go into most dungeons.

Enormous Spider: Move 90 feet/turn, Hit Dice 6+6, Armor Class 2, Treasure Type E, Alignment Lawful Evil, Attacks 1, Damage 4-16 (bite with strong poison, -1 to save vs. poison). These spiders are not web users, but they use sticky spider silk to build elaborate nests that look like fortresses from anything they can carry. Enormous spiders are intelligent. We know of at least one that can cast spells!

Movement, Encumbrance, Carrying Capacities, and Resting

Another curiosity in Holmes is the player character move rates. The Movement Table (9) shows that an “unencumbered, unarmored man” explores the dungeon at 240 feet per ten-minute turn, a fully armored man at 120. This corresponds to OD&D, wherein “Two moves constitute a [ten-minute] turn” and, so, a fully armored character moves 120 feet in a turn (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8).

A discrepancy arises, though, when we consider monster move rates. Man-sized creatures move from 60 feet to 120 feet per turn. An orc, for example, has an armor class of 7 (leather armor) and moves at 90 feet per turn. Inserting a line between unarmored and fully armored characters for “half armor” on Holmes’s table (as does Phenster), a leather-armored character would move at 180 feet per turn or twice as fast as the orc.

As written, the rules leave no room for ambiguity. Each monster entry is explicit: “Move: 90 feet/turn,” to use the orc example.

Another Charming Solution

In “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority,” concerning the dagger problem, I note:

By far the simplest solution is to ignore Holmes’s varying number of attacks per round by weapon. Thus, every weapon strikes once per round and does d6 damage. Weapon choice then becomes purely aesthetic.

Here again is an opportunity to modify the rules with a light hand. Though it veers away from later editions, by doubling Holmes’s monster move rates, we align Bluebook Basic with OD&D.

In “Movement and Encumbrance” (L’avant garde #63), Phenster gives weight-allowance ranges then admits to estimating encumbrance. I give Movement Rates [H] to align character move rates with those of monsters, which includes estimated encumbrance, and Encumbrance [E] as the more detailed option. Further, I separate extra and super heavy loads into another rule in the [P] Pandemonium category. Phenster adds carrying capacities for haversacks and pouches, which I put in the [E] Extra category.

On resting, Holmes stipulates that “one turn every hour should be spent motionless” (9), as does OD&D (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8), without exacting any penalties should the players ignore the requirement, which we often did. Phenster adds consequences. Resting [E] is informed by Chainmail (11).

Movement Rates [H]

A character’s movement rate is limited by armor worn and treasure carried according to the table below. The movement type depends on the situation, explained after the table. Units are feet per turn unless otherwise shown in the header. The max weight column is given for use with Encumbrance [E].

Note: “Normal” rate refers to the normal move speed in the dungeon (see table).

DungeonOutdoors
CategoryArmorMax Weight (cn)Combat (round)ExploringNormalTown* (yards)Wilderness* (yards)Journey (miles/day)
UnencumberedNone3002012024040024024
Half armorLeather600159018030018018
Full armorChain, plate900106012020012012
Heavy load**180053060100606
* Assumes good lighting; halve the rate in poor lighting.
** Cannot run.

    Dungeon

    Normal: Moving in cramped, dim spaces is hazardous even without the threat of monster attack or unseen pitfalls. Characters may move at normal rate over familiar terrain. Still, they are surprised on a 1 to 3 and may not notice any changes since their last passage. Other move rates are derived from the normal speed.

    Exploring: Wary of lurking monsters and on the lookout for hidden treasure, a character moves at half normal rate while exploring.

    Combat: In a 10-second combat round, a creature can move and normally defend itself while moving 1⁄6 the distance it can explore in one turn.

    Faster Movement

    Phenster shows a running rate of twice normal speed for dungeon environments and adds the option to run during combat outside melee. I add running outdoors up to three times the move rate. I also add forced march for long-distance overland travel.

    At any movement rate, except exploring and journey, creatures can double or treble their speed within limits defined below. In the dungeon, running is twice or thrice normal move rate (not the exploring rate). Moving faster than the given rate, a creature is surprised on a roll of 1 to 4.

    Double time: An unencumbered character can double-time for 3 turns. A half-armored character for 2 turns. Fully-armored 1 turn. A character burdened with a heavy load cannot run.

    Sprint: Sprinting is three times the current rate. Flank attacks on a sprinting character are made as if to the rear (see Flank and Rear Attacks [E]), gaining a +2 bonus on the attack roll. After sprinting one round, fully-armored characters cannot run (sprint or double-time) the next round.

    Forced march: Traveling overland, characters may move half again their journey rate for one day. They must rest the next day or be fatigued (see Resting [E], below).

    Notes on Running

    1. According to my reading, Phenster inflicts no penalty to a double-timing character in combat. Assuming one hustles in such a dire situation, we are aligned with combat move rates in B/X.
    2. A charge is executed at sprint speed (see Charge [E]). Therefore, a charging character is likewise more vulnerable to flank attacks.

    Outdoors

    Wilderness and journey rates are considered the base move, which is further modified by terrain type. We’ll get to that later.

    Town: Characters can move through non-threatening, well-lit, open spaces ten times faster than in dungeons, assuming they are not making a map either. In poor lighting conditions, the rate is halved.

    Wilderness: Exploring a dangerous but open environment, characters move at three times the normal dungeon rate. The wilderness rate is expressed in yards per turn. Again, halve the rate in poor lighting conditions.

    Journey: Overland travel is 11 times faster than the normal move rate in the dungeon. The journey rate can be derived from the normal dungeon move rate divided by 10 in miles per day.

    Heavy Loads [P]

    Phenster’s table breaks heavy loads into three weight ranges. Characters so encumbered cannot run, and those with extra and super heavy loads take penalties in combat and cannot travel long distances. All that adds a certain realism but is over complex for the Holmes spirit, so I separate this rule from Movement Rates [H].

    DungeonOutdoors
    CategoryArmorMax Weight (cn)Combat (round)ExploringNormalTown* (yards)Wilderness* (yards)Journey (miles/day)
    UnencumberedNone3002012024040024024
    Half armorLeather600159018030018018
    Full armorChain, plate900106012020012012
    Heavy load**120053060100606
    Extra-heavy**†1500320406040—
    Super-heavy**‡1800110203020—
    * Assumes good lighting; halve the rate in poor lighting.
    ** Cannot run.
    † −2 penalty on attack rolls, +2 penalty to AC.
    ‡ −4 attack rolls, +4 AC.

    Encumbrance [E]

    Encumbrance is measured by an item’s category according to the following table. Only armor, weapons, and treasure are considered. All other items are counted in the standard allowance, which is 100 coins. Weapons by weight are given in the Damage Dice by Weapon Class Table in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”

    EquipmentEncumbrance
    (in coins)
    Leather armor300
    Chain, plate armor600
    Shield100
    Light weapons20
    Normal weapons50
    Heavy weapons100
    Extra-heavy weapons150
    Coin, gem, scroll, ring1
    Jewelry, potion, scroll w/case10
    Wand, staff, rod30
    Standard allowance100

    Strength adjustment: A character can carry 200 additional coins for every +1 bonus for strength or 100 fewer coins for every −1. (See “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium.”)

    Carrying Capacities [E]

    These are the carrying capacities of common containers.

    ContainerCapacity (in coins)
    Large sack600
    Backpack300
    Small sack300
    Haversack200
    Pouch100/50/25*
    * Large/medium/small

    Resting [E]

    Characters must rest for one turn after exploring for five turns, running, or combat. The number of turns a character can run without resting depends on their encumbrance (above).

    Characters who do not rest suffer a −1 penalty on attack and damage rolls and move at the next slower category. Hirelings check morale at −1 on the dice (see Morale [E]). For every five more turns exploring or any running or combat, the penalties increase by 1 and the move rate goes down another step. Unencumbered characters moving slower than their move rate don’t need to rest.

    This is the 30th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    “Bluebook” D&D.
    The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.

    Movement and Encumbrance

    The following article appeared in L’avant garde #63 (May 1984).

    Movement and Encumbrance

    by Phenster

    It's true that our first adventures weren't very sophisticated. It was just Hazard and me and Beowulf back then. Jinx joined us early on. I remember that we carried a ton of equipment and fought a slew of monsters. I don't remember how many times we died. Whenever we all got killed, we erased the treasure we found before that and kept going. There didn't seem to be any point to rolling up a new character.

    We didn't pay much attention to how much gold we had to start either. We just picked stuff from the equipment list. I think I had about everything in my backpack: rations, water skins, 100s of feet of rope, torches, oil, iron spikes, a silver mirror. . . . I even took a holy symbol and wooden stakes w/mallet, garlic, and a few holy waters. Somehow I was sure we would run into a vampire, even if we were only second level. All that went in the backpack, and I strapped a bandoleer of daggers across my chest. With the lantern and a 10' pole in my hands and a scroll with three spells up my sleeve, I was ready for adventure!

    Beowulf wore plate mail armor, a shield, and the whole armory of weapons. We didn't even know what half of them were, but Beowulf wanted one of each. Jinx stuck 10 daggers and a bunch of other equipment on a bandoleer. He could draw a flint-and-steel and a torch as quick as a throwing dagger and still have time to light the torch and throw it at a monster while I threw oil on it. But then we read the rules and figured out there's no way in Pandemonium we could have afforded all that stuff, much less carry it all around with us.

    Encumbrance

    Hazard made up this simple list of the encumbrance for armor, weapons, and treasure. A helmet counts as part of whatever armor you're wearing. For all the other equipment, like rope and spikes and stuff, he gives us the standard allowance, as long as we don't go overboard.


    Equipment    		Encumbrance
    (in coins)
    --------------------
    Leather armor300
    Chain, plate armor600
    Helmet---
    Shield100
    Light weapons20
    Normal weapons50
    Heavy weapons100
    Extra-heavy weapons150
    Coin, gem, scroll, ring1
    Jewelry, potion, scroll w/case10
    Wand, staff, rod30
    Standard allowance100

    Move Rates

    You find your move rate by the kind of armor you're wearing. You can wear armor and carry up to 300 coins without going over into the next slower category, but every 300 coins after that slows you down more and more.

    Exploring speed is half your normal rate. Going at normal rate in the dungeon, you're more likely to walk into a monster nest or not notice a trap or some important clue. Running (double time) is twice the normal rate. Combat speed is 1/12th normal rate, but it's per round. (You can also run while combat is going on but not while fighting in melee.) Outdoors, with good light and no mapping (mostly in towns), you move 5 times faster than normal rate. Half that in bad light. For long-distance travel, we use journey rates. You move at normal speed divided by 10 in mi./day.

    You can't run with a heavy load. Full armor can only run for 1 turn. Half armor can run 2 turns, and unencumbered can run 3 turns. Extra heavy and super heavy loads can't run or move long distances, and you can hardly take a step. Fighting isn't a good idea either, because you take a -2 on attacks and a +2 AC with an extra heavy load, and super heavy takes double the penalties.


    Category    		Armor
    type    		Max
    coins
    Comb.
    Expl.
    Norm.
    Run
    Jour.
    -----------------------------------------
    UnencumberedNONE3002012024048024
    Half armorLeather600159018036018
    Full armorChain,
    plate
    900
    10
    60
    120
    240
    12
    Heavy load12005306006
    Extra heavy15003204000
    Super heavy18001102000

    Every +1 bonus for strength gives you 200 extra coins you can carry without going over to the next category. (-1 for strength gives you 100 less coins.)

    It's kind of hard to keep track of it all, and we usually forget to add up all the treasure we're carrying after a while. Even Cypher says it's too tedious. But basically, your weapons and equipment usually turn out to be within the 300 additional coins you can carry at the start of the adventure. So, just go with your armor category. Then, when you get a good treasure haul, you'll probably go down to the next slower category, unless you've got a high strength.

    Coin Carrying Capacities

    Large sack600
    Backpack300
    Small sack300
    Haversack200
    Pouch100/50/25*
    * Large/medium/small

    A haversack is like a small sack with a strap so you can carry it over a shoulder. It's called a haversack because it's just big enough to put everything in it. I like to say "I either HAVE it ER I don't!" And I can get stuff out of it easy. Even during combat, it only takes one round. I can't be under attack, of course, but when the melee is going on all around me, I can still reach in and grab a potion or a bag of caltrops. If it's in a backpack, you have to take it off and rummage. Rummaging during melee is a good way to get yourself a new character.

    Resting

    Exploring the dungeon is exhausting. We have to rest for 1 turn after 5 turns exploring or after running or after combat. Combat happens so fast that we say we just rest for the rest of that turn. If we don't (or can't) rest, then we take a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls, and we move at the next slower category. Plus, hirelings take a -1 penalty on their morale rolls. If we still don't rest after 5 more turns (or running or another combat), the penalty is -2 and we go down another move category. It goes on like that until we can't move at all. When we rest for 1 turn, we're good as new after. If you're unencumbered and moving at a slower rate, you don't need to rest at all.

    Nowadays I like to travel unencumbered. I carry a haversack with all my gear in it, including scrolls and potions. I wear a girdle around my waist to hold a pouch with 20 g.p. and a dagger to protect my skin. Beowulf wears plate mail, a helmet, and carries his two-handed sword. He has a backpack for gear and a short sword for fighting in tight spots. Because he's so strong, he can still carry a sack full of gold without slowing down. Jinx wears leather armor with a skullcap, a backpack, a sword, only 5 daggers on a bandoleer, and he carries the lantern and the 10' pole.

    We did eventually encounter a vampire. We were 3rd level. We had just found a good haul of treasure and decided to do one more room before we quit for the day. We thought it was just a giant bat at first, so I threw a web spell on it. It turned into a cloud of gas, and my web fell on the ground. Then it became a vampire! I presented the symbol with verve and threw holy water at it, while Beowulf and Jinx fought it. But we all died anyway.

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    Models for Languages in Make-Believe Worlds

    Languages reveal culture. Their use in an RPG campaign adds verisimilitude. Riffing off Phenster’s examples, we can introduce languages to a simple D&D campaign without much effort. Or we can use the examples as a starting point and, with some effort, develop the ideas further.

    Like hirelings and henchmen, the use of languages in the campaign is more a model or template than a strict rule, so I categorize the following rules, derived from “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI,” in [C] Campaign.

    Learning Extra Languages [C]

    A character can learn languages in addition to languages known at character creation (see “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium”). A teacher must be found, and the fee negotiated. The suggested minimum is 100 g.p. per month.

    The time required to learn a language is 6 + d6 months. Complex languages take 6 + 3d6 months. Reduce the number of months by one month per language already known, not counting Common and the alignment language. Dialects of known languages require half the number of months.

    Learning may be interrupted for up to one month without consequence. An interruption of more than a month adds an additional month to the learning time, i.e. after a month or more without learning, one month of previous study is lost.

    Reducing Monster Languages

    “All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language” (Men & Magic, 12).

    In OD&D, the monster list doubles for the language list. Holmes reproduces the text (9), adding that all languages are selected at character creation. Moldvay suggests human dialects and 19 languages spoken by monsters from the Basic (1981) rulebook. Cook and Marsh give no further guidance concerning which Expert monsters might speak their own language. The AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (1979) lists more than 50 languages (102), including one for each color and metal of dragon plus six giant types.

    If language selection is to be meaningful, the player should have a certain assurance to encounter speakers or script written in the language. Choosing the language of bronze dragons would be a rare gamble. Of course, when a player selects the language, the clever DM finds a way to include the speech of a bronze dragon in the game. Clever DMs aside, a language not chosen by players is of little use in the campaign.

    Instead of a language for every monster, Hazard groups monsters by themes, loosely cultural. For example, gnomes and kobolds speak dialects of dwarvish.1 All fairy creatures speak the same language, as do goblinoids and wargs.

    Hazard also groups mythical creatures, who speak one of an undefined number of unnamed ancient human, or “Mythic,” languages. As a good many monsters from contemporary sources (OD&D, Holmes, AD&D Monster Manual, B/X) are drawn from mythology, this greatly reduces the language list. Furthermore, because the Mythics are from ancient (presumably human) cultures, they are doubly useful.

    Monster Languages by Culture [C]

    These are monster languages according to Hazard’s system. The DM is free to modify and invent. Alternative names are in parentheses. See Phenster’s description of each monster language.

    Monster Languages
    Dwarvish/Gnomish/Kobold+
    Elvish (Fairy)*
    Goblinish
    Orcish+
    Gnoll*
    Ogrish++
    Draconic (Wyrm Utterances, Wyrmspeak)*
    Entish**
    Doppleganger*
    + Dialects of the same language.
    ++ Dialect of Common.
    * Complex language.
    ** Complex language, requires years, not months, to learn.

    Surrogate Languages

    “[Hazard] uses other real languages (usually old ones) for other old languages in the Heptarchy.”

    —from “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI”

    The first I encountered the idea was in Ray Winninger’s Dungeoncraft, where the author applies foreign languages to character names (Dragon #259, 18-20). Hazard goes further. He uses real-world languages as stand-ins for any representation of imaginary languages in the campaign. In “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI,” Phenster notes Hazard’s choice of surrogate language for each human language in parentheses at the end of the description.

    Human Language Categories [C]

    Like the “Common” language, used throughout D&D editions and ubiquitous in D&D campaigns for going on five decades, Hazard’s “Old Common” is not otherwise named. Phenster’s DM doesn’t go out of his way to name the language used throughout the dominant culture of the ancient world, either, calling it “O.E.,” which must stand for Old Empire.

    Though perhaps obvious, I outline these categories and subcategories as a simple way for the DM to consider languages in the campaign setting.

    The Common Languages

    In addition to the Common language currently in use throughout the campaign setting, a number of other languages once served a similar purpose. These, if not still spoken, have extant written samples. Phenster’s examples are old and ancient common and numerous mythic languages.

    Old: This was the common language hundreds of years before the contemporary Common, which may or may not be an offshoot of the older. If English is our real-world Common, Old English or French are examples of Old Common.

    Ancient: At least one step removed from Common, this language was in widespread use a thousand years or more before the present. In the real-world example, the Romans spread Latin throughout the known world.

    Mythic: The many and diverse mythic languages were first used in times long past and places near and far. Greek, Old Norse, Egyptian, Ugarit, and Mayan are a few examples from our world.

    Uncommon Languages

    Phenster mentions Caerlon, an indigenous language. I add the local and foreign categories.

    Indigenous: Spoken by people native to the area, indigenous languages are spoken and may be written, depending on the culture’s technological level.

    Local: In some areas, usually outside the setting’s cultural center, the Common language may be foreign. The locals speak Common as a second language. Player characters from the region would speak the local language as well as Common.

    Foreign: Merchants, immigrants, and invaders bring their languages to the campaign area.

    Linguae Francae

    Phenster tells us O.E. is “the lingua franca of the Church,” as is Ecclesiastical Latin in our world. The historical Lingua Franca is a mix of a few languages, including French, once used in trading ports around the Mediterranean. In D&D worlds, Common is usually considered the mercantile language, but a setting might use another (or others). Other possibilities for linguae francae are a court language, a language used between sages (possibly secret) or a multi-cultural military group, druidic, and the cant of thieves.

    The Rare Languages

    The example is Runic, which is lost, magical, and secret. The Forty-Eight Keys are another possible example, but Phenster doesn’t make it clear whether the language is lost or magical or both. Though I break down the constituent categories, combining at least two of these makes the player’s choice less rare. In any case, player characters usually cannot learn a rare language at the beginning of their careers.

    Lost: A lost language is unknown or heard of only in legends at campaign start. A lost language usually falls into another category or categories, e.g., a lost mythic language.

    Magic: Assuming the usual D&D campaign setting where magic-users must cast a spell to read magic, any additional magical language should be, at least, difficult to use or limited, perhaps by rarity. It may also allow the use of a different kind of magic.

    Secret: A secret language is used by a small group, widely dispersed. A missive may be intercepted, but its contents are indecipherable to outsiders without the proper magic.

    Alignment Languages

    A system of only two opposing alignment languages places a greater emphasis on the opposition between them. It suits a campaign that, like Hazard’s Great Halls of Pandemonium, embraces Law and Chaos as opposing sides, wherein scenarios focus on the ongoing battle between them. Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C] can be used whether using three, five, or nine alignments. These house rules assume five.

    Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C]

    Whether good or evil, lawful and chaotic characters know their respective alignment language, either Law or Chaos. Neutral characters know neither.

    Written Alignment Languages [C]

    Alignment languages are usually spoken. Individual words or short phrases (up to three words suggested) may be inscribed on a durable medium, e.g. stone, precious metals.

    Four or Five Alignment Languages

    Another idea is to break the alignment languages into four or five: Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, and maybe Neutral. Creatures speak two, one, or, if only four languages, none, depending on their alignment. Chaotic good characters speaking with like-aligned would use a mix of Chaos and Good, depending on the topic. Lawful good and chaotic good would use Good. Although such a system would create a certain ambiance, it might get a little nuts. I don’t propose it as a house rule.

    1 In Holmes, “Gnomes are similar to dwarves,” and kobolds are “dwarf-like,” though they “behave much like goblins” (28, 29).

    This is the 28th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    “Bluebook” D&D.
    The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.
    Read more about the article MYSTERIORUM LIBRI: Languages in the Great Halls

    MYSTERIORUM LIBRI: Languages in the Great Halls

    In the September 1984 “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk,” Dave introduces Phenster’s contribution:

    “Phenster tells us a story wrapped around ways the Pandemonium Society uses languages, and he throws us a few more crumbs about Hazard’s Heptarchy campaign setting” (L’avant garde #67).

    MYSTERIORUM LIBRI

    by Phenster

    Hexalogy

    We found a book in the dungeon. None of us could read it. It was written in "a strange script with an evil air about it." That's how Hazard described it. We found it in a green dragon's hoard with a lot of treasure from the Old Empire, vases, jewelry and scrolls and stuff.

    Phenster Prime knows O.E., which is what we call the ancient common language of the Old Empire (he also knows Orcish, Elvish, Mythic and the Wyrm Utterances, q.v.), so we decided to go to the Lundgre Towers, a big city ruled by magic-users. There's a huge library there, where we could do some research and find out what the language was and decipher some of the script. I say "we" but it was mostly me and Cypher doing the research. Friar Tombs went off on a quest for the church with the rest of the party except Jinx and Beowulf. Highway Jinx made contact with the city Thieves' Guild, but he hasn't told us what mission he did yet, and Beowulf the Bully got into a brawl at the Pen Alembic on the first night and spent a whole month hanging by a chain from Tower Gaol.

    It took us a while to find anything in the library. It's so big it has its own dungeon! It was an adventure, but eventually, we found the "MYSTERIORUM LIBRI QUINQUE" (The Five Books of Mystery). It's really just one big book, all written in O.E. Hazard uses Latin words for O.E. to make it sound different from English, which is the Common language of course. He uses other real languages (usually old ones) for other old languages in the Heptarchy.

    The Five Books of Mystery tell all about how a special kind of magic works. The first book is a primer on a language called the Forty-Eight Keys. That's the language the book we found is written in. The Keys (for short) are used to communicate with creatures from other planes of existence. We translated the title of the book we found. It's called The Sixth and Sacred Book of Mystery. We still have to translate the whole book, but it's supposed to tell us how we can get to a place called the MYSTICAL HEPTARCHY. We think it's a parallel plane of existence, but we don't know why we'd want to go there.

    We can learn extra languages during the campaign in addition to the ones we know at 1st level from our intelligence. That's how I learned the local Mythic. We have to find a teacher and work out the teaching fee (depends on the teacher but at least 100 g.p. per month), and it takes 6 plus 1d6 months to learn a normal language or 6+3d6 for complex languages, like the Utterances or Doppleganger. Subtract one month per extra language you already know (not counting Common or Alignment). You can usually study a language during off-time and still go on adventures. I wanted to learn the Forty-Eight Keys, but the only teacher I found in Lundgre was this weird, old guy that smelled like sulphur. His name was Enoch the Tower Hermit. He said I'd have to stay in his tower the whole time without ever going out. I didn't want to keep Phenster Prime out of the campaign for so long. I'd rather be adventuring. And that guy was just too weird.

    Here's how Hazard worked out languages in the GREAT HALLS campaign. I use a similar system in games I run, and some other DMs in the Pandemonium Society use it too. Complex languages (q.v.) have an asterisk (*).

    Monster Languages

    Dwarvish/Gnomish/Kobold: Gnomish and Kobold are dialects of Dwarvish. If you know Dwarvish, you can learn Gnomish or Kobold in half the normal time.
    *Elvish/Fairy is the common language in Elfland. Most fairy creatures speak it.
    Goblinish: All the goblin types speak Goblinish: goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and wargs.
    Orcish: There are so many different dialects of Orcish that whenever you talk in Orcish, there's always a chance to misunderstand or be misunderstood. If that happens, there's usually a fight. It's better to speak Common with orcs if they speak Common or not talk at all and evade if possible.
    *Gnoll is difficult to learn and speak because the sounds aren't like what people usually can make.
    Ogrish: Ogres speak a dialect of Common. We can usually communicate with an ogre, if it wants to talk.
    *Wyrm Utterances or Wyrmspeak is a primordial language. The dragons call it "Mother's Tongue" because Tiamat taught it to the first dragons. She learned it by licking the stones on the Shores of Time, which split her tongue. That's why dragons and lizards have split tongues.
    *Entish uses words and chemical signals passed between treekfolk by their roots. It takes years (instead of months) to learn Entish, and even then you talk in a dialect because you don't have roots or the right chemicals.
    *Doppleganger is an alien language. It sounds different than all the other languages because it doesn't really have words like we think about them.

    Other Languages Spoken by Humans

    Old Common: Not many books are written in Old Common, but a lot of graffiti in the Great Halls is written in it. It's an earlier form of Common that's still used by folks in remote areas of the Heptarchy. Some monsters out there speak it, too, instead of Common. (Old English)
    O.E.: Lots of books are written in the language of the Old Empire. A lot of books from earlier times were translated to O.E. too, so sages usually know it. It's also the linga franca of the Church. Cleric scrolls are written in O.E. or Common. All clerics have to know O.E. by 3rd level or they have trouble advancing in the Church hierarchy. (Latin)
    Caerlon: Several native tribes inhabit wilderness areas in the Heptarchy. They are called the "First Peoples," and they speak Caerlon, which has a musical sing-song cadence. Caerlon has many dialects, but they're all similar, so different tribes mostly understand each other. They also write on scrolls and pottery and carve on stones and cave walls. (Celtic)
    The Mythics*: There were lots of other empires and civilizations way before the Old Empire. The Mythic languages were common tongues back then. Some of them are still spoken by people in the Faraway Lands (which is everywhere outside the Heptarchy) and mythical creatures, like medusas, minotaurs, centaurs, cyclopes and giants and such. That was before they had books, and any scrolls written in the Mythics turned to dust long ago, but some copies have been made, and there might be clay tablets. Or so Hazard says, we haven't found any yet. (Norse [for our local Mythic], Greek [far to the south], Egyptian)
    Runic is a lost magical language. It used symbols (or runes) to convey meaning and store magic power. We find the runes sometimes on small, flat stones and dungeon walls. Some powerful wizards and a few sages know the names of the runes. We can pay a sage to tell us a rune's name, but they won't teach Runic to anybody. (Futhark)

    Alignment Languages

    Alignment languages are a whole other thing. They aren't like normal languages, but they aren't magic either. Hazard says they are "integral" to the world, like if you change alignments you just don't know the old alignment language anymore and you do know the new one, just like that.

    The Basic rulebook has 5 alignments. AD&D has 9 and every one has its own alignment language. I agree with Hazard when he says that's way too many. In the GREAT HALLS campaign, we have the 5 alignments, but there are only 2 alignment languages: the Words of Law and the Dark Speech of Chaos. They are spoken languages with gestures, usually not written. But sometimes we find words or short phrases engraved in stone or jewelry. They are often magicked in some way.

    Lawful characters can speak Law Words. It's impossible to tell a lie with Words of Law. Chaotics know the Dark Speech. There are a million ways to tell lies and half truths in Dark Speech. Chaotic good characters usually don't use the Dark Speech, even though they can understand it. Lawful evil characters use Words of Law for their malevolent designs. Neutrals don't know either one of these languages.

    More Mysteriorum

    Tombs & co. were successful in their quest. They retrieved a religious relic, the Stormgod's Chalice, from an evil temple. That gives Tombs some clout with the Lundgre Matriarch. He wants to get his own bishopric.

    While we were staying at the Pen Alembic, some shady characters started hanging around. They always sat at the table next to us, wearing hooded cloaks, and they seemed to be listening to what we said. Beowulf wanted to fight them, but we talked him out of it. We didn't want to wait around while he spent another month hanging from Tower Gaol. Jinx's contacts in the Thieves' Guild informed him that someone was asking around about us, where we were from and what we were doing in the city. When we finally left the Lundgre Towers, somebody was following us. We asked Jinx if all that could have something to do with his mission. He didn't give us a straight answer.

    This is the 27th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    “Bluebook” D&D.
    The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.

    1984: The Year of L’avant garde

    “On behalf of all Association members, I thank Steve Ruskin for his dedicated service to this publication over the last three years. During his tenure, Steve collected our articles into a record 25 high-quality issues with a friendly and professional attitude that encouraged many of our readers to become contributors, including yours truly” (“Letter from the Editor,” L’avant garde #58).

    In November 1983, a new editor took the post at the East Middleton Wargamers Association’s newsletter. He keeps his first Letter from the Editor brief, thanking his predecessor, referring readers to the table of contents, and signing “Dave” with a flourish over the typed initials “C. D. R.”

    That would be the last generically titled “Letter from the Editor” in L’avant garde. In the next issue, January 1984, the heading is “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk.” The subheading is “The Year of L’avant garde.” Therein, Dave writes:

    “For as long as I can remember, we have talked about putting out an issue every month as if it were a chimera or the Holy Grail. The two usual problems are (1) the editor’s lack of time and (2) having enough articles to put into an issue while keeping to the 20-page minimum (that makes it worth the overhead). For the first problem, I am determined to put in the time required. For the second one, over the last month I have talked to almost all the more-or-less regular contributors and asked a few more of you for articles in 1984. The response has been very enthusiastic. With a little work, I believe we will have enough articles to make this a 12-issue year” (L’avant garde #59).

    With a penchant for parenthetical asides, Dave goes on to preview articles in the January issue and alludes to upcoming contributions. Among them is our favorite contributor:

    “We all (except the most grognard among us) enjoy hearing what the young D&Ders in the Pandemonium Society are up to, and Phenster promises more this year. He starts this month with a good argument for reconsidering ability score adjustments (for those of you who remember when we used to do that). Later, we’ll see an article about languages (which I already have), an enigmatic piece Phenster calls ‘Dweomercraeft’ (which I am anxious to get), and more fun things the Neighborhood D&D Players are up to.”

    Dave battled the chimera and won the Grail: one issue per month, all above the 20-page minimum. The September issue, at 56 pages, is the largest issue of L’avant garde in the Postlethwaite Collection.

    By the end of the year, Phenster contributes articles to nine issues. Two of these we’ve seen already. Those I link in the following list of articles by number and month. I also add links to subsequent articles as they are published here. Where the title is ambiguous, I include a descriptive phrase in brackets.

    Phenster’s 1984 Contributions to L’avant garde:

    This series covers topics in the order as they appear in the Holmes Basic D&D rulebook (TSR 1977). In addition to these, I foresee only a few more topics to complete Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules.

    Grail obtained, a 12-issue year was not again attempted. Dave would go on to edit six issues the next year and only two the year after. In the March 1986 “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk” (#77) Dave informs readers that he has been accepted to the University of Pennsylvania and calls for a successor, as he will step down in the coming summer. In his last “Dispatch,” Dave repeats the call. Issue #78 is the final number of L’avant garde in the Postlethwaite Collection. Steve Ruskin’s 25-issue record remains.

    This is the 26th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    “Bluebook” D&D.
    The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.
    Read more about the article Hirelings and Henchmen, Morale and Loyalty

    Hirelings and Henchmen, Morale and Loyalty

    This is the 25th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    The following rules are taken from Phenster’s article “Regular Entourage” (L’avant garde #65, July 1984) and my addendum “Available Hires, Number and Level.” I present the rules as examples of how DMs might handle hirelings and henchmen in their own games. As they are more a model than an extension to Holmes, I put the ensemble in the [C] Campaign category.

    The Pandemonium Society differentiates hirelings and henchmen in a way that, while not unusual, may require definition for the uninitiated:

    • A hireling is an NPC of any adventuring class or a 0-level human employed to accompany an adventurer on an expedition. The employer pays an upfront fee, provides all weapons, armor, and equipment, and pays room and board. A hireling receives a half share of treasure and earns half XP.
    • A henchman is a loyal follower, often a former hireling. A henchman pays his or her own expenses and receives a full share of treasure. Like hirelings, henchmen earn half XP.

    Hirelings

    In this section, we determine the number of NPCs seeking employment, their class and level, and a standard fee structure. We also outline the negotiation process. For more explanation on number and level of hirelings, see “Available Hires, Number and Level.”

    Hireling Frequency by Class [C]

    The DM determines the frequency (common, uncommon, or rare) of each class of hireling. In a basic example, fighters are common; clerics, magic-users, thieves, and all halflings are uncommon; dwarves and elves rare; men-at-arms are twice as common as fighters. Frequency may be adjusted according to current conditions in the campaign that impact local demographics, such as a war, monstrous incursion, or recent large hauls of treasure coming out of the dungeon.

    Number of Hirelings Available [C]

    Divide the result of a d12 by 2 for common types, 4 for uncommon, and 11 for rare, dropping the fraction. Roll twice for men-at-arms as common. You may use other divisors as desired, consulting the d12 table of results in “Available Hires, Number and Level.”

    Number of Hirelings Available by Class Frequency
    d12Common (÷ 2)Uncommon (÷ 4)Rare (÷ 11)
    1000
    2100
    3100
    4210
    5210
    6310
    7310
    8420
    9420
    10520
    11521
    12631
    Common: fighters, men-at-arms (roll twice)
    Uncommon: clerics, magic-users, thieves, halflings
    Rare: dwarves, elves
    A Basic Example of Numbers of Hirelings Available by Class Frequency.
    The DM chooses the frequency of each class and the divisor of each frequency.

    Hireling Level [C]

    Adventurers may employ hirelings of their own level or lower. We assume 2nd- and higher-level NPCs seeking employment are less frequent. Roll a dice in size equal to or greater than the employer’s level and divide by the results of a d3. Round up. If the final result is above the PC’s level, re-roll the first dice only.

    Example: Hirelings by Class, Number, and Level

    On a typical evening at the Nine of Pentacles, one or more 7th-level PCs desire to employ NPCs for an upcoming adventure. If the PCs are looking for a particular class, the DM need only roll for that class. Otherwise, roll a d12 for each class and divide by the number corresponding to the class’s frequency, dropping fractions. Tonight, the following numbers of hirelings by class are present:

    Classd12 ResultFrequency DivisorNumber Present
    Fighters723
    Clerics240
    Magic-Users1142
    Thieves441
    Halflings641
    Dwarves3110
    Elves9110

    To determine the experience levels of classed NPCs, the DM rolls a d8 (7th-level PCs) for each NPC and divides the result by a d3, rounding up.

    NumberClassd8 Resultsd3 ResutsNPC Level
    3Fighters2, 8* 4, 63, 1, 31, 8* 4, 2
    2Magic-Users5, 23, 22, 1
    1Theif623
    1Halfling824
    * The 8th-level result is invalid; the d8 re-rolled is 4. The d3 result is retained.

    Whether an observer is able to discern the experience level of adventurer types is up to the DM to decide for the campaign setting. A couple instances in the Postlethwaite Collection indicate that player characters in the Great Halls campaign had this capability. Hazard was not secretive about a monster’s hit dice, either.

    Standard Hireling Fees [C]

    The standard fee for a 0-level man-at-arms is 50 g.p. For 1st-level humans and halflings of all classes, the standard fee is 100 g.p., dwarves and elves 200 g.p.

    The standard fee to retain human and halfling classes of 2nd and higher levels is equal to 10% of the experience points necessary for the hireling’s level in g.p. Double the fee for dwarves and elves. (For XP requirements, see “Level Advancement.”)

    The hireling fee is paid upon employment. In addition, the employer pays for all weapons, armor, and adventuring equipment, plus food and lodging. In addition, hirelings receive a half-share of treasure.

    Nomenclature of Fees by Armor Type [C]

    Phenster describes the following terms to identify hireling fees by armor types (“Regular Entourage”). These are, in Pandemonium Society games, used by players as well as characters in-game, an example of the game group’s culture seeping into the setting culture.

    Chain: standard fee (for example, as given in Standard Hireling Fees [C]).
    Plate: double standard fee, +1 bonus to negotiation rolls.
    Double plate: four times standard fee, +2 bonus to negotiation rolls.
    Leather: half standard fee, −1 penalty to negotiation rolls.
    Jack: less than half standard fee, −2 penalty to negotiation rolls.
    Shield: a 20% (or more) bonus in addition to the offered fee, garners an additional bonus on the first negotiation roll or prompts further negotiation rolls.
    Wooden shield: any bonus less than 20% of offered fee.
    Straw shield: any future remuneration offered, −1 penalty to negotiation rolls.

    Negotiation [C]

    Once an offer is made, the DM rolls 2d6 on the following table, adding bonuses or penalties for exceptional offers and the employer’s Charisma and reputation.

    Negotiation Table
    2Offended (−1 further checks)
    3-5Refuses
    6-8Haggles
    9-11Accepts
    12Pleased (+1 loyalty)

    On a haggle result (6-8), the recruiting PC can end the negotiation, excusing the candidate, or increase the offer, thereby earning another roll on the table. The negotiation continues until the candidate accepts or refuses the offer or the employer abandons the negotiation. If the candidate is offended (a 2 result), the PC suffers a −1 penalty on negotiation rolls in the town for one month. If the candidate is pleased (12), add a +1 bonus to the hireling’s initial loyalty score.

    Morale

    “Hazard mostly just decides for the monsters and NPCs when their going gets tough. But when he isn’t sure, he uses the Hostile/Friendly table from the rulebook to see if the monsters will cut their losses and run.”—Phenster, “Advanced Combat,” L’avant garde #51 (December 1982)

    Morale is an NPCs confidence in leadership and team mates and his or her enthusiasm for the endeavor. Morale is measured on a 2 (stalwart) to 12 (coward) scale and checked by a 2d6 roll: equal to or greater than the morale score succeeds.

    In “Advanced Combat,” Phenster specifies hireling morale as 7. (See Morale [E].) The Pandemonium Society seems not to have made any adjustments to a hireling’s morale score. When to check morale is left to the DM’s discretion. The only guidance Phenster gives on the topic is, concerning monsters, “whenever the monsters could have a second thought about going on with the fight,” (“Advanced Combat”) and for hirelings, “when things are looking grim” (“Regular Entourage”). I see no need, in the Holmes context, for a more specific rule.

    Loyalty

    While morale concerns the hireling’s relation to the party and its goals, loyalty measures one’s devotion to the employer. A loyalty check succeeds on a d20 roll equal to or less than the loyalty score.

    Initial Loyalty Score [C]

    Initial hireling loyalty is determined by a 3d6 roll, adding any bonuses from the employer’s Charisma score and the results of the negotiation. Hireling loyalty scores are not shared with players.

    Loyalty Check [C]

    Check hireling loyalty after each adventure and whenever the hireling faces extraordinary danger or a moral dilemma concerning the employer. To succeed, roll the hireling’s loyalty score or less on a d20, applying the following bonuses and penalties.

    ConditionAdjustment
    No treasure gained+1
    Good treatment−1
    Bad treatment+1
    Same alignment−1
    Opposite alignment+1

    Phenster neglects the case in which a henchman faces an extraordinary situation (see below). I add that a roll of 20 on the loyalty check always fails; a 1 always succeeds.

    Also note, Phenster seems to apply modifiers to the hireling’s loyalty score. I turn the modifiers around (pluses become minuses and vice-versa) and apply them to the dice roll.

    On a failed check, the hireling’s loyalty score decreases by 1 point. A successful check means the loyalty score increases by 1.

    Broken Loyalty [C]

    When the score drops below 11, the hireling’s loyalty is “broken” and the hireling quits the PC.

    As Phenster notes, it is possible, in the case of a low initial loyalty, for a hireling to quit service after a single adventure.

    Henchmen

    “A henchman is a trusted lieutenant to the PC. His loyalty is no longer in question, and he doesn’t have to check morale anymore.”—Phenster, “Regular Entourage”

    Henchmen [C]

    When loyalty reaches 20, the hireling becomes a henchman. Henchmen do not check loyalty, unless the PC makes an extreme demand, nor do henchmen have to check morale. The player controls a henchman like a second PC. Henchmen get a full share of treasure, and they pay their own expenses. Henchmen, however, receive only half XP.

    Experience Point Distribution

    Lossless Half Experience [C]

    Hirelings and henchmen earn half experience points. Divide the total XP by two times the number of PCs plus one for each hireling and henchman. PCs each receive two parts; hirelings and henchmen one.

    Available Hires, Number and Level

    The player party visits their local Sword & Board to recruit NPCs for the next adventure. How many potential hirelings are present? What class? What level?

    DM’s Summary

    In this article, I get into lots of details and tables. Here’s the short version.

    Number of Hirelings: First decide the frequency of each character class. Fighters might be common, dwarves and elves rare, and all others uncommon. Roll a d12. Divide the result by 2 for common types, 4 for uncommon, and 11 for rare. Drop the fraction.

    Level of Hirelings: Roll a dice in size (number of sides) equal to or greater than the PC’s level and a d3. Divide the result of the first dice by the result of the d3, rounding up. In case of a result higher than the PC’s level, re-roll the first dice.

    For explanations, examples, and variations, see below.

    Number of Hirelings

    “Then Hazard tells us how many [hirelings] there are and how much they cost according to his system…”—Phenster, “Regular Entourage: Hirelings and Henchmen”

    Phenster doesn’t make much of it, but limiting the number of potential hirelings represents a cost of failure in Hazard’s system. In an inn full of unlimited potential hires, a candidate’s refusal has no significant consequences, and hirelings are a boring commodity.

    We could use a two-step method, first determining if any hires of a particular class are available, then how many. I prefer to put the steps together in one dice roll, and I have the idea that greater numbers should be less frequent.

    Playing with dice, I hit on this method to determine the number of hirelings available of a given class. The basic mechanic is to divide a dice result by a number and drop the fraction. The higher the divisor, the fewer potential hires.

    This method is similar to using a larger dice as a smaller dice. To generate a number from 1 to 3, for example, we roll a d6, divide the result by 2, and round up. The only difference is, here, we drop the fraction instead of rounding. The practical effect, evident in the table below, is that we split the chance for the highest number, giving the remainder to zero. The chance for any other result is still the divisor over the dice size.

    Comparison: d3 and d2, Rounding up (Standard) and Dropping the Fraction
    d6Divided by 2 (d3)Divided by 3 (d2)
    Round UpDrop FractionRound UpDrop Fraction
    11010
    21110
    32111
    42221
    53221
    63322
    d6 Results Dividing by 2 and 3, Rounding up and Dropping the Fraction.
    • Dividing by 2 and dropping the fraction, there’s still a one-third chance for a 1 or 2, but the chance for a 3 is reduced to one-sixth, and there’s a one-sixth chance for a zero.
    • Dividing by 3, we split the chance for the highest result, a 2, into three parts, sharing between the 2 (one part or one-sixth) and the zero (two parts).

    We’ll see below, the effect is the same with larger dice and greater divisors, but we share the chance between the highest result and zero in more parts. A d12 divided by 6, gives us a 1⁄12 chance for a 2 and 5⁄12 for a zero.

    Simple Example

    The DM decides that fighters for hire are common at the Green Dragon Inn. Thieves, magic-users, and all halflings are uncommon, and clerics are rare, as are dwarves and elves of any class. To determine the number available, she throws a d6 and divides the result by 2 for common types, 3 for uncommon, and 6 for rare. A table of results looks like this:

    d6Common (÷ 2)Uncommon (÷ 3)Rare (÷ 6)
    1000
    2100
    3110
    4210
    5210
    6321

    The table shows that some number of common types are available five in six times. One or two are present one-third of the time, and three only one-sixth. One candidate from the uncommon types is available half the time, and two of them one in six times. While rare types appear only one-sixth of the time, then only a single candidate.

    One-sixth, or 16⅔%, may not be considered so rare; we use the term relative to common. For finer granularity, we can use a larger dice. A d12’s 8⅓% gradation makes the rare types sufficiently infrequent while still keeping them in the game. If rare types appear only 1% of the time, for example, it’s hardly worth rolling for it.

    A d20, with its 5% gradation, yields a few more potential hires of the common type, while keeping the numbers of uncommon and rare types low.

    d20CommonUncommonRare
    ÷234567891011121314151617181920
    10000000000000000000
    21000000000000000000
    31100000000000000000
    42110000000000000000
    52111000000000000000
    63211100000000000000
    73211110000000000000
    84221111000000000000
    94321111100000000000
    105322111110000000000
    115322111111000000000
    126432211111100000000
    136432211111110000000
    147432221111111000000
    157533221111111100000
    168543222111111110000
    178543222111111111000
    189643322211111111100
    199643322211111111110
    2010654322221111111111
    d20 Results Divided by 2 Through 20.

    Still, I like the d12 for the purpose. The granularity is enough fine for game purposes, and, depending on the divisor, we get up to six common types. With only a 28% refusal chance on the negotiation table, more than six candidates available might as well be a hundred; no need to roll on the negotiation table. Plus, we get some use out of the dodecahedron.

    d12 Number of Hirelings Available by Class Frequency Divisor
    d12CommonUncommonRare
    ÷23456789101112
    100000000000
    210000000000
    311000000000
    421100000000
    521110000000
    632111000000
    732111100000
    842211110000
    943211111000
    1053221111100
    1153221111110
    1264322111111
    d12 Results Divided by 2 Through 12.

    In the table above, I place arbitrary categories on the divisors based on their maximum results. One might consider a divisor of 6 as rare, allowing 2 of the rare types 8⅓% of the time. The DM can select a divisor for each category as seems fit, even changing the divisor to suit current conditions (as in wartime or when a demon horde is on the rampage). For example, I like a divisor of 2 for common types, 4 for uncommon, and 11 rare. We might say men-at-arms (0-level) are twice as numerous as fighters and roll twice on the common column.

    d12Common (÷ 2)Uncommon (÷ 4)Rare (÷ 11)
    1000
    2100
    3100
    4210
    5210
    6310
    7310
    8420
    9420
    10520
    11521
    12631
    Common: fighters, men-at-arms (roll twice)
    Uncommon: magic-users, thieves, halflings
    Rare: clerics, dwarves, elves

    Hireling Level Determination

    Phenster suggests, by the method to determine hireling cost based on experience required for their level, that those of 2nd and higher levels might be seeking work at the Nine of Pentacles. He does not, however, provide a method for determining the level.

    The simplest method to determine hireling level is, of course, to roll a dice the size of the highest possible level (the hiring PC’s level). This gives us an even chance for each level. But, like greater numbers of candidates, I have the idea that higher-level NPCs seeking employment are less frequent.

    To skew the results toward lower levels, roll the level using an equal distribution as in the previous paragraph, then divide the result by the results of a second dice, rounding up. Taking the d8 (8th-level PCs) as an example, we see in the table below that dividing by a d2 splits the first dice in half, giving equal distributions in the low and high results. Dividing by a d3 or a d4 yields some variation in the lower middle results (3 and 4 on the d8) but the same equal distribution for the lowest results and the upper half.

    d8÷ d2÷ d3÷ d4÷ d6
    118.75%25.00%31.25%43.75%
    218.75%25.00%31.25%31.25%
    318.75%20.83%15.63%10.42%
    418.75%12.50%9.38%6.25%
    56.25%4.17%3.13%2.08%
    66.25%4.17%3.13%2.08%
    76.25%4.17%3.13%2.08%
    86.25%4.17%3.13%2.08%
    Distribution of Results of a d8 Divided by the Results of a d2, d3, d4, and d6.

    The small percentage equally distributed for higher-level hirelings feels appropriate. I do want some variation in the lower levels, which leaves the d2 aside. The larger the divisor (second) dice, the greater the percentage for lower-level hirelings and lesser for higher levels. I like the d3 for the greater (though small) chance for higher-level results, but it requires (unless one is armed with a d6 numbered 1 to 3 twice) an additional mental step to derive the d3 results from a d6 roll. For this reason, while its higher results are less likely, the d4 is attractive. I give tables of results for both. Let the DM decide.

    Determine Hireling Level (÷ d3)
    PC Level
    NPC Level2nd3rd4th5th6th8th10th12th16th20th
    183.33%66.67%50.00%40.00%33.33%25.00%20.00%16.67%12.50%10.00%
    216.67%22.22%33.33%33.33%33.33%25.00%20.00%16.67%12.50%10.00%
    311.11%8.33%13.33%16.67%20.83%20.00%16.67%12.50%10.00%
    48.33%6.67%5.56%12.50%13.33%16.67%12.50%10.00%
    56.67%5.56%4.17%10.00%8.33%12.50%10.00%
    65.56%4.17%3.33%8.33%8.33%10.00%
    74.17%3.33%2.78%6.25%8.33%
    84.17%3.33%2.78%6.25%5.00%
    93.33%2.78%2.08%5.00%
    103.33%2.78%2.08%5.00%
    112.78%2.08%1.67%
    122.78%2.08%1.67%
    132.08%1.67%
    142.08%1.67%
    152.08%1.67%
    162.08%1.67%
    171.67%
    181.67%
    191.67%
    201.67%
    Dice Equal to PC’s Level Divided by a d3.
    Determine Hireling Level (÷ d4)
    PC Level
    NPC Level2nd3rd4th5th6th8th10th12th16th20th
    187.50%75.00%62.50%50.00%41.67%31.25%25.00%20.83%15.63%12.50%
    212.50%16.67%25.00%30.00%33.33%31.25%25.00%20.83%15.63%12.50%
    38.33%6.25%10.00%12.50%15.63%20.00%20.83%15.63%12.50%
    46.25%5.00%4.17%9.38%10.00%12.50%15.63%12.50%
    55.00%4.17%3.13%7.50%6.25%9.38%12.50%
    64.17%3.13%2.50%6.25%6.25%7.50%
    73.13%2.50%2.08%4.69%6.25%
    83.13%2.50%2.08%4.69%3.75%
    92.50%2.08%1.56%3.75%
    102.50%2.08%1.56%3.75%
    112.08%1.56%1.25%
    122.08%1.56%1.25%
    131.56%1.25%
    141.56%1.25%
    151.56%1.25%
    161.56%1.25%
    171.25%
    181.25%
    191.25%
    201.25%
    Dice Equal to PC’s Level Divided by a d4.

    Pandemonium Society characters reached levels around 13th. I include 20th level because we have a dice for it.

    At levels for which no dice matches (7, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19), use the next higher dice. On any result above the PC’s level, re-roll the first dice—not the divisor dice (d3 or d4). A d16 is achieved by rolling any dice plus a d8. An even result on the first dice adds 8 to the d8 results. Ignore the first dice’s odd results. In the same way, we can make a d9 (with a pair of d3s), d15 (d5, d3), and a d18 (d6, d3).

    Regular Entourage: Hirelings and Henchmen

    The following article is from L’avant garde: Newsletter of the East Middleton Wargamers Association #65, July 1984.

    Regular Entourage

    by Phenster

    Jinx likes to have a lot of sword- and spearmen as a regular entourage. He says it's better to have more steel on the target. Beowulf doesn't like to have any hires at all. He says his two-handed sword is steel enough. I like to have a fighter or two to protect my skin when the going gets rough. Hazard lets us roll the dice for our hirelings, so it's more fun when I can't throw a spell. Plus, when one of our characters is killed, we can always take over a hireling or a henchman.

    We used to advertise for positions and role-play the encounter and haggle for the fee and all that, but after one or two times it wasn't much fun. Now we just go to the Nine of Pentacles[1] and buy ale for potential hires. We tell Hazard what professions we're looking for and how many. Then Hazard tells us how many there are and how much they cost according to his system (see below). We still do some haggling.

    Dwarves and elves for hire are rare, but we can usually find one or two human-types or halflings we want. And there's never a shortage of men-at-arms, unless there's a war or something, like the time a horde of demons got loose from the Great Halls and rampaged the countryside.

    Hire Rates by Armor Type

    To figure the cost to retain the services of a hireling, Hazard takes 1/10th the XP required for the hire's level. All 1st-level human and halfling types cost 100 g.p. minimum. Men-at-arms (0-level) are 50. 1st-level dwarves and elves are 200.

    That's the usual rate, which we call CHAIN. Double the rate is PLATE (+1 reaction), and half is called LEATHER (-1 reaction). You can negotiate for even lower rates (-2 reaction). Then it's called JACK, as in "I didn’t get jack...." Any bonus money or benefits is called SHIELD (+1 if consequential). If you really want a particular hireling for some reason (like if a fighter looks especially strong), you can pay DOUBLE PLATE for an extra bonus.

    We have to buy armor and weapons for hires, of course, plus equipment and rations. We also pay room and board, and hirelings get half-shares of the treasure. We usually don't have to pay guild fees (for magic-users and thieves), but a potential hire might haggle for it, and that gets expensive!

    Dwarves and elves expect to be paid plate (-1, -2 for lesser offers).

    Negotiation

    After we make an initial offer, Hazard rolls 2d6 on this table. He gives a bonus for really good offers (PLATE and SHIELD), high charisma[2] and the PC's reputation for treatment of hirelings. Or a penalty for bad offers, etc.

    2 Offended (-1 further checks)
    3-5 Refuses
    6-8 Haggles
    9-11 Accepts
    12 Pleased (+1 loyalty)

    If the prospect is offended, he just can't be persuaded and he might spread rumors about you. You take a penalty on any other negotiations for a month or so. If he refuses, you might get him back in the game by doubling your offer, but it's usually not worth it. In case he wants to haggle, he might make a counteroffer, or he could say no (usually politely) and wait for you to make a better one. This is the time to throw in shield (a bonus), so you get another roll on the table.

    Shield

    Shield is a bonus offered in addition to the usual rate (plate, chain, leather). If offered up front, it usually gets you a +1 bonus on the first negotiation roll. After the first roll, you can offer shield to convince the hire (get another roll), but you get no bonus.

    Good examples of shield are more gold, gems, jewelry, paying guild fees, or a magic item (even a potion will do). Bonus gold, gems or jewelry should be at least 20% of the base offer. Offering a small trinket as a bonus or saying you equip all your fighters with plate mail and shield is called a WOODEN SHIELD if it's true. It's good (you might get another roll) but not good enough for a bonus to the roll. If it isn't true, it's called a STRAW SHIELD, the same as promising extra treasure or any other future thing. Offering a straw shield gets you a -1 penalty on the negotiation table. This is because the initial payment usually goes to the hire's family for safe-keeping until he comes out of the dungeon. It serves as his estate if he doesn't make it.

    When we were starting out and didn't have much treasure yet, we mostly paid chain. But now we usually have enough gold to pay plate. Our reputation for good pay and fair treatment is pretty good, except for Jinx. He's generous with shield, but his hires have a habit of "giving up the estate."

    Loyalty

    Initial Loyalty

    When the hire accepts an offer, the DM rolls 3d6 for the hireling's loyalty score. Add any bonuses/penalties from the PC's charisma and the negotiation roll. The DM keeps hirelings' loyalty scores secret from the players.

    Testing Loyalty

    A hireling's loyalty is tested at the end of every adventure, after treasure has been divided and hirelings have been paid their shares. Bonuses and penalties based on treatment during the adventure (+1/-1) and extra treasure (+1) apply. If you didn't get any treasure to distribute, -1 to the roll. You get a +1 if the hire is the same alignment as you and a -1 if the hire's alignment is diametrically opposed to yours (you probably won't know it). Hazard also tests loyalty whenever a hireling is faced with great danger or some moral dilemma concerning the employer, the party, or the mission for example.

    Test loyalty with a d20 roll. Rolling the loyalty score or less means his loyalty goes up +1. Higher than the loyalty score means his loyalty goes down -1.

    Broken Loyalty

    If the loyalty score ever drops below 11, the hireling's loyalty is broken. This means that if the initial loyalty score (3d6) is 10 or less, the hireling probably won't stay with you after the first adventure, unless you manage to get some bonuses on the loyalty test.

    When a hireling's loyalty is broken between adventures, he leaves. (Role-play according to circumstances.) If loyalty is broken in the dungeon or some dangerous wilderness, the hireling's morale drops to 10[3], and he will leave as soon as it's safe. A neutral hire might commit treachery if he can take advantage of a situation. An evil one probably will commit treachery just to be mean.

    Saving the hireling's life automatically gains +1 directly to his loyalty score.

    Suicide missions, asking to do something against his alignment, or some behavior on the PC's part that is dramatically opposed to the hire's alignment, will automatically break loyalty.

    Henchmen

    A hireling whose loyalty score reaches 20 becomes a henchman (one adventure minimum). A henchman is a trusted lieutenant to the PC. His loyalty is no longer in question, and he doesn't have to check morale anymore. (A hireling has to pass a morale check when things are looking grim or run away.) A henchman follows the PC in all cases (except extreme cases as above: suicide missions, etc.). A henchman gets a full share of the treasure, and he pays his own way (room and board, etc.). He's a lot like, but not quite, like another PC. The player has full control over the henchman's actions, but don't abuse the privilege (like sharing magic items and stuff like normal 2nd PC rules).

    Experience Points

    Henchman and hirelings only get half XP. Hazard doubles the number of PCs, then adds the NPCs, then divides the total XP by that number. The PCs get two times the amount, and NPCs just get one.

    1 Phenster mentions the Nine of Pentacles elsewhere (see “Dirty Fighting”), referring to it as the group’s “local Sword & Board,” which, we assume, is an inn.

    2 See Ability Score Bonuses and Penalties [E], “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium.”

    3 See Morale [E], “Advanced Combat.”

    Level Advancement

    This is the 22nd in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

    For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

    Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

    A note on the cover page near the closing staple of Paradigm Lost #2 (November 1980) instructs the subscriber to “REMOVE STAPLE WITH CARE . . . CENTERFOLD INSIDE!!!!” Phenster teases us further in the editorial column “From the Amanuensis”:

    We have a special "centerfold" treat in this issue for all you little demons of the Pandemonium Society. An assortment of tables (that go with a piece by Hazard about characters past 3RD LEVEL) are arranged by themselves on one side of 6 pages with a drawing of a siren (sorry, none of our photographs came out). All you have to do is unfold the pages (you were careful with the staple, right?) and paste/tape them onto cardboard that you can fold in threes. Add a few more tables of your own devising for your own custom Referee Screen!

    Our subscriber A. J. Postlethwaite seems to have heeded the first instruction but failed to carry out the second. Only two tiny holes indicate the staple’s one-time presence. The center pages are intact.

    I reproduce Hazard’s tables within each house rule below.

    Level Advancement

    by Hazard

    Players in the Great Halls of Pandemonium progressed beyond 3rd level over the summer. Since school started I've been juggling calculus, chemistry, and trying to decide how to manage experience points, spells, attack matrices, and so on. (Thank Crom for study hall!) My first idea was to make the switch to AD&D like everybody else. After a lot of reading and much thinking though, I decided the "advanced" rules are too complicated for what they give the game. I looked at the old rules too, but frankly, it's a big mess. They just kept adding on to the system until it became a golem of rules. Eventually, I made up some stuff, inspired by both the old and the new. I tried not to change any numbers (hit tables, saving throw matrices, spells, etc.) from levels 1-3 in the Basic book, so any characters rolled-up from that book are still valid in the Great Halls campaign.

    Necessary Experience for Higher Levels

    Double the amount you need every level, as in the Basic rules, until you get to 8th level. The total amount you need to get to 8th level is what you need to get from 8th to 9th and for every level higher. Fighters need 4,000 to attain 3rd level, 8,000 for 4th, etc. . . They need 128,000 to reach 8th level. Then they need 128,000 more XP to get to 9th level (256,000), then 128,000 more for 10th level (384,000), and so on.

    You get normal HD + bonus h.p. for CON at every level gain through 9th level. After that, you don’t get more HD or bonus h.p. You just get +1 h.p. per level except fighters, which get +2.

    Magic Spells

    Clerics

    Clerics get first and second level spells through their faith at 2nd and 4th level, respectively. Third through fifth level spells (gained at 5th, 6th, and 7th level) are delivered to them by divine intermediaries, like angels and such, while sixth and seventh level spells are given by the deity itself. Clerics can cast these spells at 9th and 12th levels.

    Clerics get another first and second level spell at every other level after the first spell. Third through fifth, they get every 3 levels, and sixth and seventh every 4 levels.

    Magic-Users

    Magic-users start with 1 first level spell at 1st level, 2 at 2nd and 3rd, then 3 for 3 levels, 4 for 4 levels, and so on (as in the chart). The number of spells increases the same for each spell level. Magic-users can cast another level of spells at every odd numbered level.

    Cleric's Turning

    The only table in the whole lot that makes any sense. At higher levels, clerics can turn the next undead monster at every level, getting better by 2 pips. At 4th level they automatically destroy the weakest sort.

    Thief's Abilities

    Thieves add 5% to each ability (except Climbing and Hearing) per level up to 99% (highest). Climbing adds 1% each level, and the range to hear noise goes up 1 every 4 levels. Thief's blow from behind ability gives them triple damage at levels 5-8, x4 at 9-12, x5 at 13-16, and so on. Thieves can read languages 80% of the time at 4th level, like in Basic, but they can’t read magic scrolls (not cleric) until 10th level.

    Attack Matrices

    Characters Attacking

    I did these tables a little different from the book because I wanted to make a smooth transition from level to level without jumping from e.g. 19 to 17, like a fighter does from level 3 to 4 in the old rules. If you look at the average level for each range (which is how they did it in the old rules--completely nuts!), it works out to about the same without any jumps.

    1st level characters need a 20 to hit a monster with a 0 AC. The fighter's chance to hit goes up 1 (3/3) every level. The cleric's goes up 3/4 of a point, drop the fraction, thief 3/5, and magic-user 3/6 (or 1/2) per level. Did you see the math magic I did there?

    Monsters Attacking

    Same as 1st level characters, monsters with less than 1 Hit Dice need a 20 to hit 0 AC, then the number to hit goes down 1 per HD. So, 1 HD needs 19, 2 an 18, 3 a 17, and so on. Monsters with HD+n are counted as the next higher HD.

    Saves

    I cast some math magic on the saving throw tables too. For each save I averaged the total increase from level 1 to 13 from the Saving Throw matrix in D&D and spread it out over the levels. For instance, fighters save Death Ray 12 at 1st level and 4 at 13+. Formula, where L is character level: 12-(12-4)/(13-1)*(L-1). So the saving throw goes down 2/3rds point per level, rounding up. Clerics also go over 12 levels too, but I used 10 as the divisor for magic-users.

    Fighters have the best saves, total increase 8 over 12, except dragon breath, which is 10/12. Clerics' good saves are 8/12 (Spells, Death Ray), others are 7/12. Magic-users have the worst. Their spells (good) save is 7/10; the rest are only 5/10.

    Basic D&D says Thieves save as fighters, but Greyhawk has them as M-Us. I took a road across the middle ground. Thieves start like fighters in all categories, and they progress as fighters in physical categories (8 and 10 over 12) and as M-Us against spells and wands (7, 5/10).

    Elves, dwarves, and halflings use the best save in each category by their class (multi-class possible), like dual-classed humans. Dwarves and halflings get +2 to all saves except dragon breath, which gets a +1.

    Paradigm Lost #2 (November 1980)

    Experience Points by Class and Level [E]

    LevelThiefClericFighterMagic-User
    10000
    21,2001,5002,0002,500
    32,4003,0004,0005,000
    44,8006,0008,00010,000
    59,60012,00016,00020,000
    619,20024,00032,00040,000
    738,40048,00064,00080,000
    876,80096,000128,000160,000
    9153,600192,000256,000320,000
    10230,400288,000384,000480,000
    11307,200384,000512,000640,000
    12384,000480,000640,000800,000
    13460,800576,000768,000960,000
    14537,600672,000896,0001,120,000
    15614,400768,0001,024,0001,280,000
    16691,200864,0001,152,0001,440,000

    Hit Dice by Class and Level [E]

    LevelThiefClericFighterMagic-User
    11d41d61d81d4
    22d42d62d82d4
    33d43d63d83d4
    44d44d64d84d4
    55d45d65d85d4
    66d46d66d86d4
    77d47d67d87d4
    88d48d68d88d4
    99d49d69d89d4
    109d4+19d6+19d8+29d4+1
    119d4+29d6+29d8+49d4+2
    129d4+39d6+39d8+69d4+3
    139d4+49d6+49d8+89d4+4
    149d4+59d6+59d8+109d4+5
    159d4+69d6+69d8+129d4+6
    169d4+79d6+79d8+149d4+7

    Number of Spells per Day [E]

    Clerics

    Spell Level —
    Level1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th
    1
    21
    32
    421
    5321
    63221
    743221
    843222
    9543221
    10543322
    11653332
    126543321
    137644322
    147644432
    158754432
    168755432
    179855533
    189865543

    Magic-Users

    Spell Level —
    Level1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th
    11
    22
    321
    432
    5321
    6332
    74321
    84332
    944321
    1044332
    11544321
    12544332
    135544321
    145544332
    1555544321
    1665544332
    17655544321
    18665544332

    Cleric’s Turning [E]

    Undead Monster —
    LevelSkeletonZombieGhoulWightWraithMummySpectreVampire
    17911NNNNN
    2T7911NNNN
    3TT7911NNN
    4DTT7911NN
    5DDTT7911N
    6DDDTT7911
    7DDDDTT79
    8DDDDDTT7
    9DDDDDDTT
    10DDDDDDDT
    11DDDDDDDD
    N: No effect
    T: Automatic turn
    D: Automatic destroy

    Thief’s Abilities [E]

    LevelOpen
    Lock
    (%)    		Remove
    Trap
    (%)    		Pick
    Pocket
    (%)    		Move
    Silently
    (%)    		Hide in
    Shadows
    (%)    		Climb
    Sheer
    Surfaces
    (%)    		Hear
    Noise
    (d6)
    1*1510202010872
    22015252515882
    32520303020893
    4**3025353525903
    5*3530404030913
    64035454535923
    74540505040934
    85045555545944
    9*5550606050954
    10***6055656555964
    116560707060975
    127065757565985
    13*7570808070995
    148075858575995
    158580909080995
    169085959585995
    17*9590999990995
    189999999995995
    199999999999995
    * Blow from behind (+4 attack) starts at ×2 damage, increases every 4 levels to ×3, ×4, and so on
    ** Read languages 80%
    *** Read magic scrolls

    Character Attack Matrices [E]

    Fighter Attacking

    Character Level —
    AC12345678910111213141516
    0201918171615141312111098765
    119181716151413121110987654
    21817161514131211109876543
    3171615141312111098765432
    416151413121110987654322
    51514131211109876543222
    6141312111098765432222
    713121110987654322222
    81211109876543222222
    9111098765432222222

    Cleric Attacking

    Character Level —
    AC12345678910111213141516
    02020191817171615141413121111109
    1191918171616151413131211101098
    21818171615151413121211109987
    3171716151414131211111098876
    416161514131312111010987765
    5151514131212111099876654
    614141312111110988765543
    71313121110109877654432
    812121110998766543322
    91111109887655432222

    Thief Attacking

    Character Level —
    AC12345678910111213141516
    020201919181717161615141413131211
    119191818171616151514131312121110
    21818171716151514141312121111109
    3171716161514141313121111101098
    41616151514131312121110109987
    515151414131212111110998876
    61414131312111110109887765
    713131212111010998776654
    8121211111099887665543
    911111010988776554432

    Magic-User Attacking

    Character Level —
    AC12345678910111213141516
    020201919181817171616151514141313
    119191818171716161515141413131212
    218181717161615151414131312121111
    317171616151514141313121211111010
    4161615151414131312121111101099
    51515141413131212111110109988
    614141313121211111010998877
    7131312121111101099887766
    81212111110109988776655
    911111010998877665544

    Monster Attack Matrix [E]

    Monster Hit Dice —
    AC<1123456789101112131415
    0201918171615141312111098765
    119181716151413121110987654
    21817161514131211109876543
    3171615141312111098765432
    416151413121110987654322
    51514131211109876543222
    6141312111098765432222
    713121110987654322222
    81211109876543222222
    9111098765432222222

    Saving Throws [E]

    Fighters

    Character Level —
    Save12345678910111213141516
    Spell
    Magic Staff    		161615141413121211101098876
    Magic Wand1313121111109987765543
    Death Ray
    Poison    		121211101098876654432
    Turn to Stone141413121211101098876654
    Dragon Breath151514131211101098765543

    Clerics

    Character Level —
    Save12345678910111213141516
    Spell
    Magic Staff    		1515141313121111109987765
    Magic Wand1212111110109887765544
    Death Ray
    Poison    		1111109987765543322
    Turn to Stone1414131312121110109987766
    Dragon Breath161615141413121211101098876

    Magic-Users

    Character Level —
    Save12345678910111213141516
    Spell
    Magic Staff    		1515141313121111109887665
    Magic Wand14141313121211111010998877
    Death Ray
    Poison    		131312121111101099887766
    Turn to Stone131312121111101099887766
    Dragon Breath161615151414131312121111101099

    Thieves

    Character Level —
    Save12345678910111213141516
    Spell
    Magic Staff    		16161514141312121110998776
    Magic Wand131312121111101099887766
    Death Ray
    Poison    		121211101098876654432
    Turn to Stone141413121211101098876654
    Dragon Breath151514131211101098765543

    Multi- and Dual-Class Characters [E]

    Multi-class (non-human) and dual-class (human) characters use the best save for each category by class.

    Dwarves and Halflings [E]

    Dwarves and halflings add 2 to the dice roll to all saves except Dragon Breath, to which they add 1.