Onn Revised Core Rules: Bard

The Bard (Fighting-man Subclass)

Hit Dice Type:	d6.
Armor/Shield Permitted:	Light armor; Light and Medium shields.
Weapons Permitted:	Any 1-handed melee weapon; Light Crossbow, Dart, Firearm (Pistol), Short Bow, Sling.
Prime Attribute	Strength and Charisma.
Starting Gold:	3d6x10gp.

Bards are collectors of lore and knowledge, travelling minstrels who hire for entertainment for their supper, explorers of far off lands and more. Bards travel far and wide, carrying with them the knowledge they glean from the places they visit and spread word of events great and small from town to town. Most of the tales a Bard shares with the populace at large is of the common variety, stories of great battles, or a masterful hunt by some petty lord, gossip of the court ladies and the like. Adventurers however, can learn some interesting facts about creatures, lore of a local dungeon or rumors of adventures to be had in nearby towns. On occasion, a Bard will offer to accompany, or allow himself to be hired to a band of adventures in order to create a new tale and gain more knowledge he can use.

The Bard is generally a charismatic individual and must possess at least a 10 Strength and 12 Dexterity and Charisma. As Bards progress in experience, they gain several abilities and are able to produce magical effects through their music, song and tales.

Bard Class Abilities

Bard’s Ear (1st level): Bards are attuned to sounds and noises and the tuning/playing of musical instruments. Whenever a Bard is the subject of discerning noises or performing, they gain a +2 bonus to any die rolls.

Disarming Charm (1st level): Bards are personable and gain a +2 bonus to any die rolls involving influencing the reactions of others.

Fighting-man Combat Options (1st Level): Bards have one combat option at 1st level, gaining another at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter. See the Fighting-man Class for details.

Haphazard Lore (1st level): The Bard is a repository of various tidbits of knowledge and lore from his wanderer lifestyle and can attempt to glean information from examining an item, creature, object or writing. The Bard generally has a +1 bonus to any die rolls to glean information. At 4th level and greater this becomes a +2 bonus and at 9th level and greater he possesses a +3 bonus.

Heroic Performance (1st level): Bards have the ability to cause almost magical-like effects through the use of music, song, recitation, dance, brazenly combating foes with panache and the like that affect allies or enemies (depending on the effect generated). Heroic Performance can be used 3 times per day, plus the Bard’s Charisma adjustment. Unless noted otherwise effects last until the Bard ceases performing (maximum of 1 round per level, plus the Bard’s Charisma adjustment).

·          Captivate: The Bard can capture and hold the attention of 1d6 enemies plus his Charisma adjustment in a 30 ft radius, beginning with the closest to the farthest. If the monsters fail Ego saving throws they cease attacking but will still defend themselves until the effect ends.

·          Countersong: The Bard can suppress the effects of other creatures’ sound-based mind effects, such as a harpy’s charm, in a 30 ft radius around himself. If the creator of the sound-effect is within 30 ft of the Bard and fails an Ego saving throw, the effect is broken and cannot be reestablished until the Bard stops performing. Requires a sound-based type of performance.

·          Hero’s Luck: Allies within a 30 ft radius that can see and hear the Bard are affected, gaining a +1 bonus to saving throws and ‘to hit’ rolls. At 6th and higher levels this becomes a +2 bonus.

·          Hindering Magic: All spell casters within 30 ft of the Bard attempting to cast spells must succeed at an Ego saving throw with the Bard’s Charisma adjustment applied as a penalty. Failure means the spell is lost with no effect.

·          Rally: Companions of the Bard fighting within 30 ft of him gain a +2 bonus to morale and reroll any failed morale checks while under this effect. At 7th and higher levels this bonus becomes +4.

·          Song Spell: At 1st level the Bard can emulate any Healing, non-combat Illusion or Charm spell of 1st level with a use of Heroic Performance. Every 4 levels beyond 1st level (5th, 9th, etc) an additional spell level may be emulated.

·          Wayland’s Tune: If the Bard performs at least half the day while travelling, his group travels 50% farther than normal. One use of Heroic Performance will suffice to cover the day of travel.

Magic Item Enhancement (1st level): Bards playing any magical instrument gain a 50% greater result and can activate it an additional time if it has limited uses per day or week, with no penalty.

Weapon Mastery (1st level): At 1st level the Bard begins with 4 weapon slots, gaining additional slots at 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter. See the Fighting-man class for details.

Bonus Languages (3rd level): Because of their knack for picking up sounds and widely traveled lifestyles, Bards are also masters of linguistics. Bards may add an additional Language to their Languages list at every 3rd level (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc).

Decipher Writing (4th level): Bards can determine the contents of written messages, and have a +2 bonus to any die rolls to decipher any written non-magical language they encounter. They may read all spell scrolls, but suffer a 10% chance per spell level of a backfire or miscast. The exact effects are determined by the Referee.

Establish a Stronghold (9th level): A Bard can establish a stronghold in the same way as a Fighting-man. This will more resemble a college, academy, museum or library since it will be more of a center of learning than a fortified keep (although centers of learning in the wilderness can be actual keeps or fortresses for protective purposes). Followers numbering 3-36 will be attracted to the school as well as prospective Bards and sages wishing to learn from the character.

Level	Title	Experience	Hit Dice
1	Wanderer	0	1
2	Rhymer	1,625	2
3	Sonneteer	3,250	3
4	Lyrist	7,500	4
5	Skald	15,000	5
6	Troubadour	30,000	6
7	Minstrel	60,000	7
8	Muse	90,000	8
9	Bard	120,000	9
10	Bard	240,000	-
11	Bard	360,000	10
12	Bard	480,000	-
13	Bard	600,000	11
14	Bard	720,000	-
15	Master Bard	840,000	12
16	Master Bard	960,000	-
17	Master Bard	1,080,000	13
18	Master Bard	1,200,000	-
19	Master Bard	1,320,000	14
20	Master Bard	1,440,000	-

Another monent in Gaming Infamy

This little wonderment of mishap occurred not long after a few 3.5e players got together when I offered to run them through some old-school-cool game: Swords & Wizardry. As I recall, we never got to the actual adventure that night and there were a bunch of characters lost, lol! I used the 'beta' of Michael Curtis' Stonehell Dungeon when he was posting it in sections on his excellent blog and added some flavor to the surface in the form of a small military fort on a desert borderland called Fort Sarwidge. Lots of fun times!

Character Attack Ranks in Onn

Attack Ranks

All characters attack at Attack Rank A (1 attack per round). Bards, the Fighting-men classes and Shao Disciples have the ability to make more than 1 attack per round against monsters of 1 Hit Dice or greater when they reach higher experience levels.

Characters with a listed number of attacks per round make all of their attacks as normal on their initiative. Characters with a number of attacks per 2 rounds make 2 attacks on even numbered rounds and the balance of their attacks on odd numbered rounds.

Character Attack Ranks

Rank	Bards	Fighting-men	Shao Disciples	Attacks/Round
A	1-9	1-6	1-7	1/round
B	10+	7-12	8-14	3/2 rounds
C	-	13-18	15+	2/round
D	-	19+	-	5/2 rounds
E	-	-	-	3/round

A little fun from Gaming moments past

I'm a hardcore KotDT fan, and when funny stuff happened at our gaming table I'd do a small strip commemorating the moment... for the longest time when we ordered out for food invariably someone's food was left off the order and a delivery person (sometimes a cute delivery person ^_^) would have to run it out late. For the longest time it was also the same person's food too, lol! Well we tried a different place that didn't have delivery so one of the group went to get the food, which should have been about a half an hour or so...

Turning Undead in Onn

I thought I'd share a small slice of one of the changes for the Revised Core Rules - Clerics and Divine Champions versus the Undead.

Clerics and Divine Champions Turn Undead by rolling 3d6 plus their Wisdom adjustment and cross reference the result according to their level and the number rolled on the chart. Successful turnings have a 30 ft radius centered on the character and any creature to be affected must be able to see them. A successful turning attempt affects 1d6 HD of undead, plus an additional 1d6 per point of the Cleric’s Charisma adjustment. A minimum of 1 creature will be turned on a successful attempt. The creatures in the area of effect will be turned from the weakest to the strongest if different types of undead are in the area. Turned undead are forced to retreat outside area of effect - if they cannot, they will move as far away as possible and only attack to defend themselves.

If the Cleric scores double or greater than the number needed to turn, he destroys up to the number of HD indicated. If triple the number needed is scored he destroys an additional 1d6 HD of undead creatures and if quadruple the needed score is reached, an additional 2d6 HD are destroyed.

For example – Jana the Adept (3rd level Cleric) possesses a Wisdom of 15 (+1) and Charisma of 17 (+2) She encounters 7 Skeletons and 2 ghouls Winning Initiative, she moves to within 30 ft of them all and pronounces the evil possessing the undead to be driven off. Her turn check is a 14 on 3d6+1, and her number affected is 12 HD rolled on 3d6 (1d6, plus an additional d6 for each point of her Charisma adjustment). Jana has doubled the score of the roll needed to turn the Skeletons, so all 7 of them vaporize in the holy light of her Deity, leaving  5 HD for the Ghouls. Only 1 ghoul is turned, leaving the other unaffected. Each Ghoul has 3 HD, and the remaining 5 HD of Jana’s number affected will only affect one of them, the partial HD left having no effect on the remaining Ghoul.

Clerics versus Undead Table

Undead HD	Clr 1	Clr 2	Clr 3	Clr 4	Clr 5
<1 HD	10	7	4	4	4
1 HD	13	10	7	4	4
2 HD	16	13	10	7	4
3-4 HD	19	16	13	10	7
5 HD	22	19	16	13	10
6 HD	-	22	19	16	13

Using Monster XP as XP Needed

Everyone has seen and/or created their perfect 'Class Creator' for their game system. They take into account most aspects of the classes and assign point values to each ability in order to custom build classes players may want to play.

This isn't one of those things, lol. I took the monster XPV chart and the adjustments used for monster abilities and built the class XP values for each level through 10th. This is all highly a mental exercise for fun, but if you consider that a HD is a HD no matter the values and spellcasting and combat ability balance out, here is how I assigned the adjustments:

Cleric - Starts out on the Class B Level monster line (equivelent to 1-1 HD), +1 for turning ability, +1 for 1st/2nd level spells, +1 for 3rd/4th level spells, +1 for 5th level spells.

Fighting-man - Starts out on the 1 HD line, +1 for combat ability.

Magic-user - Starts out on the Class A Level monster line (equivelent to 1/2 HD), +1 for 1st/2nd level spells, +1 for 3rd/4th level spells, +1 for 5th level spells.

Keep in mind I'm using the Onn XPV chart (adapted from Swords & Wizardry Core Rules), but the XP chart looks like this:

If Characters needed the XP they are worth as Monsters to Advance

Level	Cleric	Fighting-man	Magic-user
1	0	0	0
2	120	60	60
3	240	120	120
4	400	240	240
5	800	400	600
6	1,100	600	800
7	1,700	800	1,100
8	2,000	1,100	1,400
9	2,500	1,400	2,000
10	3,000	1,700	2,500

Something on my Mind

In the past, I've had long go-round discussions with my group about the way to find a character-power versus monster-power 'balance'. I've seen some real good dissections of HD vs Level vs Monster Lovel, but I'm wondering what the classes would look like if they were built in the same way monsters were instead of the mostly arbitrary charts we've come to know.

Over the weekend I'll post more in this!

The World of Onn Forum

I decided to let the World of Onn/Rifthaven forum go. In case anyone had it booked marked, don't fret. Onn is still going strong and coming along as I hoped it would.

(or, as most would say, behind still and causing me fits, lol)

Hit Points as Real Damage, Part II

In the last post, small changes to how healing worked were introduced into the current system of Onn and in general any retro- or oldschool-style game. I say small, but also far reaching due to the fact that hit points are a central part of the game, as is their loss and recovery.

Damage and Death is the way hit points are lost (obviously). Individual Referees may desire to come up with systems of their own to simulate the declining health of an adventurer as they lose hit points, but for the scope of Onn, the fact they are getting so close to death is enough for this one.

If a character is reduced to 0 hit points exactly, he is unconscious but stable. If left alone long enough, the character may recover or die on his own (Referees are free to adjucate this to what best fits their game).

Under 0 hit points, a character is considered dying from internal and/or external damage. Each round the character rolls a Toughness saving throw with his negative hit point total applied as a penalty to the roll. If he fails the roll he takes an additional point of damage; suceeding the roll places him stable at 0 hit points.

Characters reaching a negative hit point total equal to their maximum 1st level hit points are dead.

If a character heals naturally or is magically healed back to positive hit points, he suffers a -4 penalty to all die rolls until he has a full day of rest.

Natural Healing is the most often neglected recovery method of hit points. In worlds where magical healing is available, natural recovery is often moot or all but forgotten. Characters regain their Constitution's Natural Healing rate for each day of rest. Rest is considered non-stressful activity (equipment upkeep, foraging, small game hunting, sitting around or praying/studying, etc) no matter where the character is. Adventurers don't need a warm bed and cushy settings to be considered resting (though of course it is the most preferred!).

Now, if a character spends 2 weeks in a civilized location and comfortable while under the care of another tending to him, he regains full hit points at the end of the 2 week period regardless of how hurt he is.

Fast Healing is a weaker form of regeneration (that all-too-familiar property of Trolls). Characters with Fast Healing heal the indicated rate regardless of their activity level until they reach 0 hit points...at that point the body is too damaged to continue to repair itself.

Magical Healing is the most common form of healing adventurers encounter. The 4 healing spells Clerics, Druids, Divine Champions and Rangers have access to in the World of Onn would look like so:

Cure Light Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 1st Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 1 point, plus the target's natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis but when cast in this fashion no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause light wounds for 1+1d6 damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Cure Serious Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 4th Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 4 points, plus double the dice of the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness but when cast in one of these fashions no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause 4+2d6 points of damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Healing Circle*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 5th Level

Range: Self

Duration: Instantaneous

This spell heals the caster and all allies in a 10 ft radius around the caster of 4 points, plus double the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness in an ally at the caster’s desire, but when these maladies are removed only 1 point, plus the target’s natural healing rate are cured for that individual.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause a circle of wounds inflicting 4+2d6 points of damage to all enemies in a 10 ft radius around the caster.

 

Cure Critical Wounds*

Spell Level: Cleric/Druid, 7th Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds on the target equal to 16 points, plus quadruple the target’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis, cure blindness or deafness but when cast in one of these fashions no damage is cured.

An evil reversal of this spell allows an Anti-cleric to cause 16+4d6 points of damage if he successfully strikes the victim with a +2 bonus on the ‘to-hit’ roll.

Hit Points as Real Damage

Working off the supposition that Hit Points are purely how much damage a creature can sustain before being killed, the Constitution ability can serve as more than just a Hit Point adjustment for hit dice gained when levelling up. Constitution can be used to affect natural healing as well in a definable way.

Ability Score	Adjustment	Natural Healing	Fast Healing
1	-4	1	-
2	-3	1	-
3-4	-2	1	-
5-8	-1	d2	-
9-12	-	d3	-
13-14	+1	d4	-
15	+1	d6	-
16	+1	d6	-
17	+2	d8	-
18	+2	d8	-
19	+3	d10	1/hour
20	+4	d10	1/turn

Like normal, Adjustment affects the amount of Hit Points per HD the character has. Natural Healing is the amount of hit points a character regains for a day of rest, while Fast Healing is a slower but similar ability of regeneration.

Likewise, Clerical healing magic would work by using the character's Natural Healing rate. The more robust/tough/quick to mend/etc the character is, the more damage healing magic repairs, speeding up the recovery of wounds through holy power, like so:

Cure Light Wounds

Spell Level: Cleric, 1st Level

Range: Touch

Duration: Instant

Immediately cures wounds and injuries equaling 1 point, plus the recipient’s natural healing rate. Optionally, this spell can remove paralysis but when cast in this fashion no damage is cured.

So a Cleric casting Cure Light on a character with an average Constitution (9-12) heals 1+1d3 hit points of damage, while a more robust individual (Constitution 15-16) would be healed 1+1d6 points of damage.

Other Class Options for Fighting-men

If a Fighting-man decides not to establish a stronghold at 9th level, he may opt to become a Druidic Knight, Knight, Paladin, or Warlock if he possess the requisite ability scores and meets any other requirements.

Druidic Knights are fighting-men that have an affinity for Nature and revere one of the Nature deities. To become a Druidic Knight, a fighting-man must possess a 13 Wisdom and 12 Constitution and be on good terms with a Druidic Circle or Ranger Order.

The character must approach the Circle or Order and make an offer of at least 10,000 gp and/or 2-5 permanent useful magic items given as a gift, they will train him to use the abilities of Wilderness Lore, Pass without Trace and Fast Movement. In addition they will teach him to use druidic orisons and cast 2/0/0 Druid spells per day as a 3rd level caster, but he cannot do so while wearing predominantly metal armor.

In exchange for this, the Druidic Knight swears fealty to the group and must assist its members in times of need. He can expect sanctuary at any place held or friendly to the group

Knights are travelling fighting-men that swear fealty to a nobleman, such as a Duke or Lord or even a King or Emperor. Knights travel the realms, upholding the Laws and undertaking quests for their liege. They spend large amounts of time participating in Tourneys as well, showcasing their martial skills against their equals for land and monetary prizes.

Due to the even more highly regimented martial training Knights receive, they gain 2 additional Combat Options and attack at +1 Attack Rank.

In exchange for the oath of allegiance, a Knight can expect sanctuary in any establishment in his liege’s region. The Knight is expected to provide shelter and comfort to other Knights of his liege as well. If a Call to Arms is made, the Knight is expected to make haste to his liege’s rally point and perform whatever duties his liege needs of him.

Knights may be granted baronies after a long service or particularly important quest and can found a stronghold at that time.

Paladins are Fighting-men dedicated to a non-nature deity. Similar to Divine Champions, Paladins are more militaristic and kick-in the door types who are trained to take action in the name of the Gods. If there is evil, a Paladin will surely be charged with ending its existence. To be a Paladin, a Fighting-man must have never performed an overtly evil act in his career. He must possess a Strength 12, Wisdom 13, Constitution 14 and Charisma 15.

The character must approach a religious order and make an offer of at least 10,000 gp and/or 2-5 permanent useful magic items given as a gift. If accepted, they will train him to use the abilities of Cure Light Wounds (as the spell) once per day and Cure Disease and Dispel Evil (as the spells) once per week each. In addition they will teach him to use clerical orisons and cast 2/0/0 Cleric spells per day as a 3rd level caster.

Warlocks are fighting-men that have some measure of arcane talent, but eschewed the path of the Magic-user for the more martial arts. Misunderstood as making pacts with demons or other dark powers for their arcane ability by most commoners that learn of their abilities, Warlocks are actually extremely willful warriors that are trained to reach out and harness their Ethereal fields and bend it to their martial skills. To be a Warlock, prospective Fighting-men must possess Strength 12, Intelligence 14 and Charisma 13.

The character must find a Magic-user or Magical College to learn the basics of spellcraft. In exchange for a gift of 5,000gp and 7-16 magical items in their search for arcane mastery, Warlocks are taught the ability of Prestidigitation and in the casting of 2/0/0 Magic-user spells per day as a 3rd level caster. Warlocks can cast their spells only while unarmored, or if they are wearing non-magical Light armor or any magical armor. In addition, they may fire a bolt of magical energy once per round that inflicts 1d6 + Charisma adjustment in magical damage and can imbue their shield with magical energy that absorbs pure magical damage attacks, such as magic missile spells.

Multiclassing in Onn

Here's a simple set of multiclassing rules that has drawn on B/X and its race as class rules.

Characters with a 15 or greater in more than 1 classes’ Prime Attribute score have the ability to perform in more than one class at a time, due to natural talent in the diverse training they require. These types of characters are called Multiclassed Characters. Characters begin play as a multiclassed character at 1st level.

Multiclassed characters have their own experience chart and hit dice progression. When a multiclassed character earns enough experience, he advances in level in both of his classes at the same time. When a multiclassed character reaches his level limit in any of his classes, he ceases to advance in that class but continues to advance in the other.

Multiclassed characters use the best attack rolls table allowed to his classes and levels. These characters also use the best saving throws allowed by virtue of all his classes and current levels.

The armor and weapon restrictions of a multiclass character are at the referee's discretion. In general the most restrictive weapon restrictions are used for religious (Cleric and Druid) characters, while multiclassed Magic-user classes can make use of any other classes’ weapons, but are restricted to no armor use. What classes can be combined are up to each referee's campaign.

There are 2 exceptions to this rule:

·         Multiclass elven Magic-users can wear magical Light armor without any restriction to spellcasting ability.

·         Multiclass gnomish Illusionists can wear magical Light armor without any restriction to spellcasting ability.

Multiclass Charcter XP Chart
Level (HD)	XP NEEDED
1 (1d6)	0
2 (2d6)	3,000
3 (3d6)	6,000
4 (4d6)	9,000
5 (-)	12,000
6 (5d6)	25,000
7 (6d6)	50,000
8 (7d6)	75,000
9 (-)	150,000
10 (8d6)	300,000
11 (-)	450,000
12 (9d6)	600,000
13 (-)	750,000
14 (-)	900,000
15 (10d6)	1,050,000

Sorry Folks!

Sorry the posting has way slowed down the last few months! Please be patient as I turn the corner into the homestretch of the Revised Core Rules for Onn! I'll begin posting up alot more in the coming weeks and get things back on track!

James