On Wandering DMs yesterday Dan and I had been discussing the variations between OD&D and B/X and we received into the subject of apparatus. Again within the day once I was working B/X usually I spotted that encumbrance information in B/X was missing and was aggravated that gear information is break up up all through the textual content in three completely different charts – prices, encumbrance, and injury. I created a unified desk that I take advantage of usually, however couldn’t discover the place it was on this weblog. So off the highest, right here’s my present expanded B/X gear tables.
However why was I in search of it? One of many fascinating variations between OD&D and B/X D&D is the usability of apparatus by race. That is maybe additional essential in B/X as a result of race-as-class characteristic – you primarily have three variations of fighter within the sport – fighter, dwarf, and halfling. Assuming the human fighter is the baseline, dwarves and halflings every mix in their very own units of advantages – infravision, additional languages, detection skills, hiding, bonuses to saves, and so on. To counter-balance this, there some necessities – minimal stats to qualify for these lessons – and restrictions together with stage restrict and incapacity to make use of massive weapons.
In my very own video games I ultimately house-ruled out race-as-class, detailed within the BXCL. I additionally removed the racial stage limits, partly as a result of I really feel that is moot if you by no means really play past tenth stage, and in the end I reused that restriction for multi-classing. This implies when taking part in a single-class fighter, the one purpose to not be a dwarf or halfling is the stat necessities. I don’t like the concept this pushes excessive Dex/Con fighter sorts in direction of a type of selections – would you ever see a single-class human fighter with excessive Dex and Con?
I did add an XP tax within the BXCL – it prices 10% extra XP to stage up as a dwarf or halfling. I felt like this was a fairly good interpretation of the variations within the XP charts in B/X when utilizing RAW race as class. That stated, I feel this price is sufficiently small that almost all gamers gloss over it in a short time. In order that leaves us with the weapon limitation. In response to the textual content, the one weapons off limits for dwarves and halflings is the lengthy bow and the two-handed sword. Personally, I lengthen that embody the pole arm as effectively, each as a result of it appears logical, and I preferred the concept this leaves entry to d10 injury weapons as a profit to taking part in human fighters. However it’s a must to quit your protect to get it, so in relation to utilizing a one-handed weapon, a standard sword is clearly the best alternative regardless.
This has bothered me for some time, however I wasn’t positive what precisely I needed to do about it. Lastly, I made myself a fast chart of melee weapons grouped by variety of palms required to make use of them and injury they do:
Truthfully I got here at this pondering the issue was the battle ax – it’s two handed and solely does d8 injury. It is usually the one two-handed weapon accessible to dwarves and halflings. However why on earth would you select that over the clearly superior regular sword? It’s the one one-handed weapon that does d8 injury and it’s accessible to everybody.
So right here’s one other concept – what if I dominated that the traditional sword is so large that dwarves and halflings can solely wield it two-handed? For these lessons this is able to imply the one method to get a d8 injury weapon is to decide on a two-handed one: sword or battle ax. All of the one-handed weapons (brief sword, mace, battle hammer, hand axe) are caught at d6 injury. In order a halfling or dwarf fighter you may both wield a one-handed weapon for d6 injury or a two-handed weapon for d8. A human fighter now will get an fascinating benefit – each classes get bumped up a die sort with one handed d8 injury from a sword and d10 from two-handed swords and pole arms.
One other fascinating side-effect right here is that the brief sword lastly has a use case. Truthfully, I can’t consider any purpose in BX D&D that any character ever selected the brief sword. The mace and hammer usually get utilized by clerics as non-edged one-handed choices, and the hand axe is usually picked up as a throwable choice by fighters. However the brief sword? I truthfully have by no means seen anybody select it.
There’s nonetheless a part of me that desires to go absolutely summary right here as I did within the guidelines for Ten Lifeless Rats, the place weapon stats are dictated by measurement. One handed “hand weapons” do d6 and two-handed “nice weapons” do d8. The selection of what sort of weapon they’re – sword, ax, membership, desk leg, no matter – is only one in all type. However I fear going too far off the deep finish begins to interrupt a few of the nostalgia issue of this sport for me, which is certainly one of many causes I desire taking part in BX over say any of the retro-clones.
So I’m scripting this right here to strive it on for measurement – how do I really feel about ruling that standard swords are two-handed for dwarves and halflings? Hmm… not dangerous truthfully. Price a strive not less than as soon as I feel. Although it doesn’t clear up that pesky elf drawback.
