Magic Sword Redux

This set of tables is meant to replace the entire Monsters and Treasure sword section. It should create more variable sword results than the official rules, gathering much of its inspiration from Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign. 

Magic Swords

Unique among magic weaponry, swords possess a number of human characteristics. These are Alignment (Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic), Intelligence, and Egoism. Thus for all intents and purposes, swords are Non Player Characters. And also like henchmen, may turn against their owners at inopportune moments.

Origin (d6): A sword’s exceptional abilities (if any) depend on the forger’s class. Furthermore, holy swords will have special powers in the hands of the paladin-type character.

1	Holy Sword, forged by Clerics
2-6	Magic Sword, forged by Magic-Users

Alignment (d6): Picking up a sword of opposite alignment will cause 2 dice worth of damage (2-12 points), otherwise if the alignment of the sword does not match the potential wielder, it will deal only 1 die (1-6 points).

1, 2, 3	Lawful
4, 5	Neutral
6	Chaotic

Non-player characters take only half damage, if not acting as a free agent, and may be freed from any spell, alignment change, or otherwise may be otherwise removed from the service of their former master.

If the sword’s Intelligence and Egoism is 6 or more points above the character's who picks it up, the sword will gain control of the person, even causing him to become aligned as the sword, and will immediately act accordingly. 

Intelligence (d12): Swords with an intelligence of 5 or greater will understand the language of their makers. For swords of 11 intelligence or above, roll 1d6 and select a number of additional languages known by the sword that best fit its abilities.

	Mental Power	Communicative Ability
1-4	None endowed	None*
5-8	One primary power	Empathy
9, 10	Two primary powers	Empathy
11	3 primary powers and the ability to use languages	Speech
12	Also above, but also has 1-3 Extraordinary Abilities	Telepathy

* Power must be discovered by the wielder since the sword cannot communicate.

Primary Powers (d30)

1	Note Shifting Walls
2	Detect Rooms & Sloping Passages
3	Charm Person
4	Locate Secret Doors & Traps
5	Detect Traps
6	Detect Gems (# and Size)
7	See Invisible Objects
8	Detect Evil
9	Detect Metal & What Kind
10	Detect Magic
11	Healing (1 point/6 turns or 6 points/day)
12	Flaming Sword
13	Detect Copper
14	Light
15	Detect Living Beings
16	X-Ray Vision
17	1-4 Times Normal Strength for 1-10 Turns (1/day)
18	Wishes (2-8)
19	Detect Silver
20	Detect Undead
21	Read Magic
22	Sundering (25% chance/round to break opponent’s weapon)
23	Creature Detection (roll for specific creature type)
24	Detect Gold
25	Enemy Detection
26	Sword of Cold (+1-3 damage vs. fire use/dwelling monsters)
27	Detect Treasure (500 GP value or greater)
28	Anti-Magic (within 10’)
29	Roll Twice (ignore results 29, 30)
30	Roll for 1-3 Extraordinary Abilities

Purpose: 10% of swords will have a special purpose. These swords will automatically have their egoism score moved up to the maximum value (12) and will gain an additional ability:

Purpose (d20)	Bonus To Hit	Bonus to Damage (or Special*)
1-9: Slay Opposite Alignment (50/50 for neutral swords)	+1 to +3 vs. Alignment	None
10-15: Slay Monster	+1 to +3 vs. monster	Specific monster only
16: Slay Monsters (1-4)	+1 to +3 for monster (roll for each)	Specific Monsters only
17: Slay Fighters**	+1 to +3 vs. Fighting-Men	Fighting-Men only
18: Slay Magic-Users	+1 to +3 vs. Magic-Users	Magic-Users only
19: Slay Clerics	+1 to +3 vs. Clerics	Clerics only
20: Slay Thieves**	+1 to +3 vs. Thieves	Thieves only

* 10% of swords with a special purpose will instead paralyze (for Lawful swords) or disintegrate (for Chaotic swords) their foes rather than additional dealing damage. If no bonus to damage is indicated, reroll the result.

** If thieves are not used, roll 1d6: (1-2) Fighting-Men, (3-4) Magic-Users), (5-6) Clerics.

Swords without a specific purpose will have a universal bonus to hit against all opponents (rather than just specific ones), but not to damage, unlike swords with a specific purpose. Otherwise the bonus to hit and damage applies only to creatures of a specific type.

1, 2, 3	+1
4, 5	+2
6	+3

Extraordinary Abilities (d6): For swords indicated to have one or more exceptional abilities, consult the table below to determine what spell level the sword will possess.

Holy Sword	Casts spells as a 2-5 level cleric
Magic Sword	Casts spells as a 1-6 level magic-user

The actual number of spells the sword may cast (each usable only once each day) are determined as follows. Once the number of spells is determined, roll for which specific spells are known.

1, 2, 3	1 spell
4, 5	2 spells
6	3 spells

Egoism (d12): Swords with an intelligence of 5 or greater will have an ego rating. This is a measure of the sword’s self-interest, used to determine to what degree the sword will influence its wielder. The swords ego may cause the user to: pass off better weapons, allow itself to be captured by a higher level character closer to the sword’s station, surrender itself to a lower level character in order to exercise great control over its user, require a share of acquired treasure in the form of flamboyant scabbards, jewel encrustation, magical guarding devices, and the like.

In these cases, the sword may attempt to work against the wielder (although a sword will not usually work against a wielder whose alignment and goals coincided with that of the sword). First the sword’s influence must be determined: add Intelligence + Egoism +1 per special ability +1 per extraordinary ability (6-30). This is compared to the wielder’s intelligence and strength (5-36) and modified by the physical state of the user. If the wielder is fresh and relatively free of damage (less than 10%) from 1-6 points are added to his total (7-42 then possible). If damage from over 50% has been sustained, or the character is under mental strain from some form of magic, from 1-6 points are deducted (5-30 then possible).

Difference	Result
6 or more	Higher score always prevails
2 - 5	75% chance the higher score will prevail
0 - 1	50% either way

Monster-Based Campaign Design: Characters!

After many, many hours of thinking. I've come to a few major decisions about my monster-based campaign setting. One of those is the available character types and what they represent. Another is that the character's home Kingdom, a Grecian island kingdom known Kull, has no more than bronze-age technology. But more on those later: this post is about characters.

Fighter

A Fighter is a proud and haughty noble, veteran hoplite, or expert wrestler of Kull. Due to their extensive training and coordination, two or more Fighters fighting in close proximity may form a shield wall, improving their AC by 2, but always act last in the initiative order unless all members of the group are wielding spears, in which case they always act first. If any member of the shield wall breaks or is killed, it requires a full round to reform the wall.

Cleric

A Cleric is a priest or priestess of the Olympian gods. A Cleric worships the entire Greek pantheon while also serving a patron god or goddess. Some choices include: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Area, Aphrodite, or Demeter.

Clerics have no restrictions on weapon use or Turning ability, and there is no need for a cleric to meditate, pray daily, or study to use spells. Instead, there is a cumulative 5% per day since the cleric’s last sacrifice that the cleric’s request will not be heard or simply ignored. The sacrifice must be worth at least 100 gold pieces per cleric level to be accepted, otherwise, the offering is taken as an insult.

Magic-User

A magic-User is a philosopher who studies the ancient, magical lore of Babylon, Egypt, or Atlantis. They have no restrictions on usable weapons and may wear armor, but there is a 50% chance their spells will merely fizzle and fail (no matter the type of armor worn).

Thief

A thief is a miscreant of ill repute or a criminal exiled from Kull. A Thief may wear copper scale or plate armor, but while wearing such physically taxing armor the thief’s skills are halved. In additional to its more conventional uses, the Hear Noise skill can be used to fight in darkness or against invisible creatures.

Barbarian

A Barbarian is a furious warrior from uncivilized lands. They are treated as B/X dwarves, but do not possess infraredvision nor have any particular familiarity with stonework or weapon restrictions. Instead, they have a 4 in 6 chance of spotting traps, ambushes, etc. in the wilderness. When completely unarmored (other than employing a shield), a Barbarian adds twice his strength adjustment to damage in melee.

Pygmy

A pygmy is miniature savage. They are known for their deadly slings and riding goats into battle against armies of cranes. Pygmies are treated exactly as B/X Halflings.