Weapon breakage, shields sundering and armor survival

As much as I am enjoying blogging about ability scores, I have a KotB campaign to run and the first session, Feb 5^th, is only a month away.

So a momentary pause as I collect some house rules into one place. Now these aren’t original, though I have tweaked them to my liking, and I have linked to the inspired creators original blog posting where I can.

Weapon Breakage

Alexis at Tao of D&D has some excellent ideas about weapon breakage. Then he rants against one of his commentators, and undo’s some of my admiration, not that Alexis would care what I think.

http://tao-dnd.blogspot.com/2010/12/time-for-break.html

His motivation in his post was to save the battle axe. I don’t feel the same need as I have already done, in my opinion, much to redeem the battle axe for my campaign; class-based weapon damage and axes equally good against both metal and non-metal armor compared to swords.

Alexis applies a weapon breakage rule on a natural roll of 1, what others house rule as a critical fumble (as did Alexis initially) and I proposed would lead to a minus 1 on initiative for the WHOLE PARTY in the next round.

I am now abandoning the initiative penalty, though possibly may reintroduce it in the future in addition to the below proposal. Because there is something very attractive about weapon breakage. It adds drama, it is realistic as weapons certainly do break, it allows for differing qualities of weapons to have different break points, it encourages new weapon experimentation when a weapon breaks and it removes magic weapons from the party’s arsenal and keeps them acquisitive and hungry for more.

Yes you heard it – it removes magic weapons. As a DM, you have to like that.

The devil as always is in the detail.

Alexis proposed a system where breakage occurred on:

1in 6 - ordinary, crummy weapon

1in 8 - 'hard-forged' weapon

1 in 12 - 'blessed' weapon, one that had been hard-forged and both lucky and loved in its construction

1 in 20 - 'mastercrafted' weapon would be the kind made by an artist or a magic weapon

All great stuff but I wonder what happened to 1 in 10, I think Alexis wanted to step up quickly from ‘hard-forged’ to ‘blessed’.

I have been thinking about magic weapons and non-magical weapons of quality weapons for my campaign. I want to keep magical weapons, magical. I discuss my campaign ideas much further below.

What I really like about Alexis’s weapon breakage system is it makes weapons special even when they aren’t magical.

What I am planning to use:

On a natural roll of 1 on a d20 ‘to hit’ roll a 2^nd dice must be rolled to see if the weapon breaks, using the following table.

Dice	Weapon Quality	notes
1 in 6	Cheap, poor	Less than full cost
1 in 8	Ordinary	Full cost (ordinary long sword 15gp)
1 in 10	Well made / quality	x3-x10 cost (well made long sword 45-150gp)
1 in 12	Superb / masterful	x100 cost (masterful long sword 1500gp)
1 in 20	Magical, elven or dwarven make	>x100 cost (magical long sword 2000gp as per DMG). Most magical weapons prior to enchantment will be as a base a masterful weapon.
1 in 20 twice in a row and so forth	If higher categories are desired (eg per additional + of the magic item)	Perhaps the magic weapon losing +1 each time it ‘breaks’ whereupon if it breaks again when non-magical it is broken for good, unless reforged / remade.

Missile weapons:

Bows – 1 in 6 breakage is of the string, 6 turns to repair if spares carried (total destruction see below)

XBow – 1 in 6 breakage is of the mechanism, need weapon maker to repair (total destruction see below)

Sling, other natural product – as per above table and the item is irreparable

Now detractors might think, how can a well-made weapon break every 200 swings (1 in 20 then 1 in 10= 1 in 200).

Combat is abstract so we are not counting swings and I assume the swings occur even more often in weapons practice. What we are looking at is the chance for the weapon to fail when it’s needed the most.

It may not be totally realistic but it looks like damn good fun for players and DM alike.

Shield Sundering

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2008/05/shields-shall-be-splintered.html

Trollsymth has a legendary post about shields sundering / splintering and I urge you to click on the link if you haven’t read it.

My take is this:

As a desperate last-ditch defence to avoid a likely mortal wound, shields, and only shields, may be sundered.

BEFORE damage is rolled but after a successful hit a character armed with a shield may elect to sacrifice the shield to avoid the damage. No damage is rolled for or applied and the shield is considered destroyed (sundered) and must be immediately discarded. Likewise against a breath attack or some other damage causing spell that may be minimized by a saving throw, BEFORE the saving throw is made, the shield can be sundered and the character automatically makes their save.

Magic shields (but not shields of quality or superb, which are both still normal shields) will lose +1 for each time they are sundered and are destroyed once they are sundered a final time as a normal shield.

Cursed shields cannot be sundered; instead if sundering is attempted, the character will take maximum damage from the attack or automatically fail the saving throw, whichever is more appropriate, reflecting the curse having it’s full effect.

Armor and missile weapon survival (bows and crossbows only)

When a character or NPC/monster is killed OR reduced to zero or below hit points the armor and any bows or crossbows plus any other potentially fragile items must make a save vs magic wands using the owners Hit Dice/Level, or be destroyed / rendered useless. Magic armor or bows/crossbows (but not items of quality or superb, which are both normal items) will get their bonus applied to the save but lose +1 for each time they fail their save and are destroyed once they fail a final time as a normal item.

This method means that dead heroes (better saves) are more likely found with armor intact and follows DMG rules for item saves more closely (see DMG page 80) but doesn't use the DMG complicated table. It can also be applied when the party wants to know if they can use the dead orc's or companion's armor.

That’s enough about rules, let’s talk KotB in my campaign world.

Magic items are going to look like this:

Most +1 magic items found in B2:KotB module are instead going to be items of quality and not magical. They cost a minimum of 3x more than a regular item. I may on some special items give them a +1 ‘to hit’ bonus but not also +1 to damage and therefore they cannot damage magic creatures requiring a +1 magic weapon or better to hit. They simply have no effect on these creatures. Quality weapons and also quality shields and armor are as heavy as the normal variety. Hopefully this framework allows me more freedom in the creation of items I give to the party without resorting to powerful magic so early in the campaign. A weapon that breaks less, is worth more gold and perhaps has a +1 'to hit' bonus is pretty special for 1st or 2nd level.

Elven crafted magic Items

The majority of magic items are of elven make, but are still very rare.  They can be +1 or better and can damage magic creatures, providing they are powerful enough, as stated in the monster description.

Dwarven forged magic items are made by dwarves for dwarves but can be used by other specifies if their size allows. Very very rarely dwarves have made items suitable for use by other species.

Magic-User enchanted magic items – can be of any power and after elven magic items are the next most common.

Clerical magic items or sacred items are of two types. (you will need to look at this post to understand this section)

For similar time and costs a high level cleric may make an item that will be blessed by Law or a Chaotic Minion to imbue the item with magical strength. Normally the item will contain, somewhere in its construction, a relic of a famous martyr or minion and the gaining of such a relic will usually involve a difficult quest.

Incredibly rarely Law may bless an item on the battlefield for use by a Lawful Character creating either a temporary magic item for that battle or even more miraculously a permanent one. Chaos just does not care for its’ minions in the same way Law does. The blessed item will never be one that is already magical but if this miracle occurs it will be on a mundane weapon or item picked up on the battlefield by a beleaguered martyr. For example having been disarmed the martyr breaks off a tree branch to use as a club or else picks up a fallen soldiers normal spear, and miraculously finds the weapon blessed. A guide for the chance of this miracle occurring can be that when death appears certain for a Lawful cleric (other Lawful characters are at half chance) there is a base 1% chance per level of this miracle occurring, modified by the DM for the circumstances. The chance of the item being permanently magical should be the same percentage chance rolled again. For a lawful character less than 10^th level the item will be +1, 10-19^th level +2, 21^st level and above +3; the item may have other special abilities at DM discretion.

That’s it for the moment. A final note.

I have found some interesting articles on grip strength and norms in children and all adult ages – quite relevant for my research on ability scores and strength. I can not find norm references for the military press, remembering (thanks to Spawn of Endra for reminding me) that DMG says strength 3 is the ability to military press 30 pounds, 18 strength 180 pounds. If anyone can find some norm referenced tables for children and adults of different ages for the military press, I would be very grateful.

Thanks for reading

Clerics, Priests and Shrines

There is a lot of dissatisfaction with clerics. See: http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/search/label/cleric

or http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/

I am sympathetic to the arguments – the lack of pulp fantasy role models for clerics; can a priest who lives in a church gain levels without adventuring; and if they must adventure then every church will be inhabited by a higher concentration of heroes than the Inn of the Last Home. Will the bishop be scouring dungeons on his day off or will he get XP for managing his church – should the baker then get XP for baking bread?

I agree there must be a clear distinction between the normal man and the adventurer. Only the adventurer has levels. I want the normal man to reign supreme. Even the King may be a normal man but most likely will have a few levels gained from hunting and war. He doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be the highest level in the land, unless Kingship is based on combat and not hereditary.

So when thinking about my KotB campaign a number of thoughts come to mind.

1.     Priests are normal men (1-4 HP) who live at a temple, they wear robes not armor and can cast spells ONLY whilst on temple grounds

2.  Clerics are warrior priests (called Templars to better differentiate them) who adventure and fight (with any weapon) and can cast spells on the field (ie anywhere)

I toyed with calling clerics, crusaders but I would expect a crusader to be as proficient as a fighter, which a cleric is not. A Templar seems to evoke in my mind less such equality of fighting proficiency, being somewhat more mystic a title, or have I been playing too much Dragon Age Origins?

To better differentiate between a priest and templar I think they need different level advancement titles. Now the priest gains titles though internal temple politics not level advancement but an ‘equivalent level’ templar should be treated with a similar respect even if they lack the same authority in a temple. It will be no surprise to anyone reading this blog (is anyone?) that my Templar level titles are inspired by JB’s B/X Blackrazor and for your interest I have repeated his chart next to my own, since mine is so derivative.

Title	Temple Priest  (Normal Man)	Templar  (Cleric)	JB’s cleric titles
1	Acolyte	Devotee	Zealot
2	Adept	Martyr	Devotee
3	Priest	Zealot	Martyr
4	Vicar	Paragon	Paragon
5	Curate	Crusader	Crusader
6	Elder	Elder	Elder
7	Bishop	Initiate	Initiate
8	Lama	Paladin	Paladin
9	Patriarch	Knight Templar	Temple Lord

The key difference between my Templar and JB’s cleric titles is I move martyr to level 2 in keeping with my Cosmic Battle worldview and the gaining of cleric spells at level 2.

I like that Elder is on both tables reflecting that the Templar is not part of a separate church but a warrior branch. The concept of paladin from AD&D and Mentzer is fully subsumed into the Templar class.

Temple Priest’s are normal men yet I think they should be able to cast spells, since a temple should be a place for characters to gain healing and succor.

I propose a spell casting capability linked to the Temple Shrine. The duly appointed head priest of a temple (whether that be an acolyte (not likely) or a Patriarch) casts spells at an equivalent level to the traditional cleric according to the level of the Temple shrine; whilst on Temple Grounds only.

A temple shrine gains spell level power according to the number and quality of their relics held in the shrine. There is only one shrine / temple. A shrine may be more than one alter and could be a number of alters within one temple but usually the most sacred items are brought together ornamenting one grand alter.

  

Shrine Level

For each minor relic +1 level

For each major relic +3 levels

For each sacred relic +5 levels

For example a temple has the earwax of St Nobby (a minor relic). The shrine is equivalent of a Level 1 cleric ie as per B/X can’t cast spells.

In the town nearby the shrine has the hair of St Ny (minor relic), the ring of St Ham (minor relic), the mace of Saint Josie a Templar who died from his wounds after killing a captain of Chaos (major relic) and the thighbone of St Cuthbert (sacred relic). 1+1+3+5 = 10. The priest of this shrine (certainly a Patriarch), even as a normal man, can cast spells as a 10^th level traditional cleric despite his 1-4 hit points.

Can only the head priest cast spells on temple grounds or can other priests? After all does the Patriarch wish to cast all the cures on the populace in person. I would suggest that all duly appointed priests in the temple if given the authority and the blessing of the head priest can cast spells but they all draw from the same shrine pot. From the example above a shrine of 10th level cleric ability has spells levels 4,4,3,3,2 and that has to go around all the priests at that temple for a whole day (reset at first light of dawn perhaps). Once the shrine spell pot is emptied for the day that's it. For this reason I am sure the head priest of the temple will delegate wisely and only a few of potentially scores of priests in a large temple will have such spell power. The other result is that healing spells are not numerous and freely available to the populace. It would be very hard for the Lawful church to improve the commoners lot, even if they wanted to, with 4,4,3,3,2 the main show in town! It also justifies the cost the PCs will have to pay for temple healing assistance.  

I would additionally suggest that a Templar who took on priest duties at a Temple should have the additional spells of the shrine combined to their usual level spells. That will make them tough indeed on Temple Grounds. This is not just visiting a temple the Templar must forsake adventuring (for a given time) and take on an official role in the temple.

Whilst all above works well for a city or a town when I consider the Keep on the Borderlands and the Curate in the Chapel I can’t picture him any other way but fully armed and ready to battle Chaos (capital C). It is a Keep on the Borderlands and the whole keep reeks military readiness. So my plan is to make him a Templar Crusader with three Devotees instead of the three acolytes. This is a battle chapel not a soft town church. To play with my shrine idea I’m giving the chapel the mace of Saint Josie a Templar who died from his wounds after killing a Giant of Chaos (major relic). This will give the ‘Curate’/Crusader, let’s call him Roderick, an additional 2 1^st level spells while on temple grounds. Hardly game changing.

What of this blogs namesake the Jovial Priest (Bacchus is the name I plan on giving him by the way from Leigh Hunt’s poem). Although there may be chaotic non-adventuring priests most chaotic priests will be Chaotic Templars, disguising themselves as Templars. Priests just don’t move around so much living on temple grounds unless travelling between temples. The Jovial Priest is thus the Jovial Zealot, still apt I think and his two assistants, who I envisage as two high charisma young ladies with a penchant for evil, are Devotees.

A final note about alignment language. I read somewhere, can’t remember where, that the Lawful alignment language can be considered akin to Latin and the Chaotic version Latin in reverse. I like this idea. The concept you can just talk to the Jovial Zealot in Lawful and show him up for the imposter he is, just doesn't ring true. He can speak ‘Latin’ easy enough. It’s the Lawful infiltrator to a chaotic gathering who better practice his backward alignment tongue.

Unaligned – a new alignment choice.

Reading Keep on the Borderland (KotB) I was struck by the Gygaxian worldview.

“The Realm of mankind is narrow and constricted. Always the forces of Chaos press upon its borders, seeking to enslave it’s populace, rape its riches, and steal its treasure.” Then a little later. “…turn from Law and good and serve masters of Chaos.”

It’s the capital-C for Chaos and the L for Law that impresses me. They mean something – they have a capital.

I suspect the most faithful descendant of the Gygaxian worldview is Warhammer not D&D. So planning my KotB sessions I started reflecting on the Cosmic Battle that Gygax and Warhammer encapsulate and how this relates to alignment.

Alignment discussions in blogs and forums have long debated the merits of different alignment systems so what can I offer? Probably nothing, I am not sure I am even original, someone, somewhere will have surely said this before me. But anyway, here goes…

Most sentient beings are unaligned. That is they have not committed themselves to the Cosmic Battle between Law and Chaos. They may have an opinion as to which they prefer and even work toward one end, but they haven’t aligned themselves wholeheartedly. Unaligned are like most of us. We do good most of the time, are fairly selfish some of the time and occasionally we do evil. These are choices we make day to day. Were there to be a god of Law or demons of Chaos, most of us would side with Law but would generally prefer not to die for the cause.

Aligned characters are different. They actively choose to side with Law or Chaos (note the capitals). They have committed themselves wholeheartedly to the Cosmic Battle. It is through this commitment that clerics gain access to spells. They are the generals and knights of this battle. But Alignment is not just for clerics but all characters and sentient begins in the world, if they wish to commit themselves to a side in the cosmic battle (see below). What of Neutral? I think one can suppose there are spiritual powers one can worship that are neither fully in the Law camp nor fully in the Chaos camp, which would allow one to worship and thus gain access to clerical spells. In my campaign world such worship will be extremely rare. So rare it will only be available for NPCs.

Thus alignment will look like this.

Aligned            I            unaligned

Law                 I

Neutral            I

Chaos              I

Alignment Languages and Know Alignment

The immediate implication to me is that alignment languages start to mean something as does the spell Know Alignment. Most people are unaligned, even many of the underlings supporting Chaos. Detect evil may still reveal intentions of the unaligned, since evil intentions are not necessarily linked to Chaos. As a side note on Know Alignment - many have problems with it, as do I. How can Chaos infiltrate civilisation if Know Alignment is so easily cast. I intend to adopt 2^nd edition AD&D, which I have never played, reverse version of the spell which allows the caster to hide alignment for 24 hours. I would also make Chaos have many magical items, a small broach or ring perhaps, that have this identical effect.

Another implication is that Law does not equal good just as Chaos does not equal evil. Generally those aligned with Law do good but when the cause of Law is not threatened by Chaos those in the church of Law can still be downright selfish and occasionally evil (a detect evil may be of more use in a church than Know Alignment). The difference is that those Aligned must actively seek as one of the primary purposes of their life to advance the cause they are aligned to.

Clerics

As a B/X fan I am very fond of the fact that clerics do not get access to spells until 2^nd level. This makes that moment pretty special. On consideration I have concluded that starting characters are never Aligned they are all unaligned. Only with experience do characters have an opportunity to choose a side in the Cosmic Battle. For clerics I propose this moment is 2^nd level – it’s the choosing of a side, and undergoing some special ceremony, that grants them access to spells.

Upon reaching 2^nd level a cleric must choose to worship Law or Chaos  - they gain spell casting as their reward. A 2^nd level cleric of Law is called a martyr, that of Chaos a minion. Neutral clerics if encountered, are NPCs, confined perhaps to a sacred grove worshiping ancient woodland spirits of nature.

From Level 7, a Chaotic Cleric must choose to worship a specific fallen spirit / demon of Chaos. Were that demon to ever to be destroyed, all Chaotic Clerics of Level 7 and higher would be reduced in XP to 49999 ie 1 XP short of Level 7 and have to choose another demon before they would be able to advance in XP again. It therefore encourages a high level Chaotic Cleric to protect their master! No such penalty exists for the high level Lawful Cleric, as only the end of the world would signal this situation. Further explained below in Cosmic Battle.

Unbeknownst to me when I first drafted this some months ago I was stumbling unwittingly into D&D history which I realised when following up an Anti-Cleric posting by Grognardia but now can’t find the exact link. 

OD&D says Vol 1page 7:

“Note that Clerics of 7th level and greater are either "Law" or "Chaos", and there is a sharp distinction between them. If a Patriarch receiving the above benefits changes sides, all the benefits will immediately be removed!”

So my suggestion moves the choice point to second level but retains the 7^th level importance, for it is at this point a Cleric of Chaos must choose a specific master.

The Cosmic Battle

This is how I am imagining it.

Law – the monotheistic creator.

Chaos – the horde and legion – fallen spirits / demons.

“The Book of Law says that the world will end at the time preordained by Law when Chaos will be ordered and judgment will come. But the Scribblings of Chaos tell that there is a way to avert the final judgment. Whilst one martyr (cleric of Law 2^nd level or higher) remains true, Law is unassailable to them in his heavenly kingdom but – were darkness to cover the world and all goodness vanish, who then would stand ready to be martyred for Law.”

Chaos devotes itself to bringing about that eventuality by eradicating humans and demi-human civilizations and all the good they stand for.

Characters other then clerics

Characters other than clerics may be inducted by clerics into Law or Chaos. They become the captains of their cause. Most characters, general population, demihumans and monsters will remain unaligned serving their own causes and their own sense of right and wrong. That is not to say they will not worship Law or Chaos, they worship as their culture and beliefs encourage but their moral fight remains predominantly personal not cosmic.

From Level 3 other character classes can choose to be inducted. If for some reason the characters are inducted at a lower level they will gain no benefit until they reach 3rd level.

The benefits of being Aligned.

Clerics get spell casting.

I felt the need to give other aligned characters something, apart from an Alignment language. To keep game balance unaligned characters can do what they wish – they will simply reap what they sow. Aligned characters – more is expected of them to aid their cause. The DM must demand this if they are to keep their benefits.

Clerics

Spell casting from Level 2

Magic User

Law - 'protected' the magic-user gains +1 to AC and +1 to saving throws vs spells.

Chaos - 'possessed' cast spells as if one level higher (for range, duration, damage etc)

Fighter

Law - 'valiant' gain a saving throw vs energy drain, immune to fear or charm caused by undead

Chaos - 'beloved' skeletons and zombies will ignore the character unless pre-programmed to attack, wights and higher undead have a +1 reaction roll to the character. Ghouls are unaffected.

Thief – thieves by nature are to free living to seriously commit to the Cosmic Battle, those that do become legends

Law - 'watched over' re-roll a failed climb Walls or failed remove traps (not find traps)

Chaos - 'beware of the dark' hide in shadows +10%

Whilst demi-humans generally oppose Chaos it is rare for a demi-human to commit fully to the cause of Law and extremely rare to find a Chaotic demi-human. Such Chaotic demi-humans are infamous whispers for dark conversations on dark nights.

Halfling

Law - 'hardy' +1 to all saving throws (minimum 2)

Chaos - 'dirty fighter' - +1 to attack in melée

Dwarf

Law - 'dwarf sense' - never lost underground, Find large traps and Understand Mines (detect slanting passages, shifting walls, new constructions) 1-3 on a d6.

Chaos - 'gold lust’ - on a 1 on a d6 (DM rolls) the Chaotic dwarf will sense the general location of any collection of gold, raw, wrought or coin of more than 150cn in gold weight

Elf

A Lawful or Chaotic Elf may advance to 11^th level (other elves are just not that ambitious). The Lawful or Chaotic elf requires 800,000 XP and gains +2 HP, fights as Fighter 11^th level, can cast spells as per 11^th Level wizard including access to 1 Sixth level spell, saving throws remain unchanged.

That’s it for now.