Friday, May 17, 2024

Trow Fortress 01: Character Creation and Advancement

When you play at my table, you start like this:

1. CHARACTER CREATION

1.1 Attribute Scores

Roll 3d6 in order for Strength, Dexterity, Background, Magic and Alignment. You can swap two of them if you want. Attribute scores will probably raise a little during the game. The bonuses work like this:

18: +3
16 or more: +2
13 or more: +1
9 or more: +0
8 or less: -1

Strength adds (or substracts) one HD for each bonus (which in turn, at certain numbers, modify the attack bonuses. More on this on the COMBAT chapter). It also modifies your "Open stuck doors" roll, which is a catch-all for brute force tasks, by 1 step per bonus.
Strength is very important for non-fighters too, as it is the measure of your charging capacity: you can carry slots equal to this score without being encumbered (MV or Movement 1 instead of 3) and only 3 more objects after that.

Dexterity adds one expertise per bonus. Some are combat related, some are more about agility: The  current list is (bear this lack of context for now):
Fencing: When you are attacked in melee and your opponent rolls a 1, you get an extra attack against him when using a one-handed sword. Doesn't work while using a shield.
Marksmanship: You can spend a turn aiming with a type of ranged weapon. On the next attack, you can either do an extra 1d6 damage if it hits, or raise advantage on an attack that missed (basically adding a d6 or substracting the disadvantage if you had any).
Ninjutsu: You roll an extra d6 for all movement and stealth rolls.
I hope to come up with better names at some point. If your bonus is negative, your movement becomes 2 instead of 3 by default

Background: There is a list of backgrounds but you can make up your own with your GMs approval. This score evolved from the concept of Intelligence, though it specifically represents how well you perform your background skills: Ranger, Alchemist, Thief, Sage, etc. are some examples. You roll die equal to your bonus, and normally a 5 or a 6 are hits depending on the action.
If your bonus is 0, you roll with disadvantage (roll 2d6, keep worst), and if your bonus is -1, you get double disadvantage (3d6 keep worst).
If an action can be attempted by characters without the relevant background, they roll at double disadvantage too.
Your background doesn't have to be chosen at the start, it can be chosen during the game and its probably useful to do so.
Once per character, you can produce an item at any point that is related to your background, no matter the shitty bonus you got on it.

Magic: Each bonus you get here means that you have a new spell slot. This is the only way magic is available to non-wizards. More on this on the upcoming magic chapter.

Charisma: you can have ONE faithful retainer per each bonus, so zero for average people. Retainers can be people and animals at first. They don't have to travel with you, but they might be a king or a princess at a given city: you know they will always vouch for you. Spirits or "Gods" can be befriended this way: some can be summoned if the character has Magic Dice, and some can provide passive benefits. Charisma also affects loyalty

Constitution: We don't have this one. On a natural way, my players have end up calling "constitution" to their HD amount, so I ended up doing the same (I know that HD/HP are not just meat points and represent more things beyond mere sturdiness of body, but I don't want to argue with them)

1.2 CHOOSE CLASS

Once you have your stats rolled, you must choose your class from the only three that are available at the start (I haven't ever needed more yet): Trow Warrior, Wizard and Kobold. (Kobolds are just hobbits by other name, while Trow are basically humans)

 



TROW KNIGHT: Start at 3 HD. Can use all weapons and armor.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  3HD
Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD
Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD
Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD
Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 
Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD
Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD
Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural HD: 16, with probable Str increments)
 
 

WIZARD: The spell system is based on the GLOG, though I had to tone it down its power a bit. I think its partly my fault as my spells tend to be more powerful or versatile. The 5 mana dice that Goblin Punch awards by level 4, I make it into four at level 9! Their maximum number of spells memorized is five (one at start, other at level 12 and three at differing grades of MAGIC score) which I love because it suits the lore of the Dying Earth books, in which the top mages could at most learn five spells at the same time. Wizards really benefit from a good magic score, so consider swapping your best score into it if you want to play one. Crippling any other score in the process is thematically appropiate.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD and one spell slot.
Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD
Level 03: save dice: 1, Can wear a staff (+1 Mana die)
Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 06: save dice: 2, (+1 Mana die)
Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD
Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 
Level 09: save dice: 3, (+1 Mana die)
Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 12: save dice: 4, (+1 spell slot)
Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD
Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd: 11)

Wizards can prepare 1 spell per slot, but can have as many in their spellbook as their level. Until you have more spellbook than slots, you don't need to worry about even having a spellbook.


KOBOLD: +1 AC versus enemies larger than a Trow, and +1 save die versus breath, spells and traps. Their strength is, however, capped at 12.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD, Stealth (on a 5+, Hide in Shadows or Move silently)
Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD
Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,
Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD
Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice
Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 Background
Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 
Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice,
Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 Background
Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD
Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,
Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 Background
Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd:12, str increments impossible)

1.3 RANDOM PROGRESSION:

Everybody uses the same progression charts, but advancement is deliberately a bit chaotic so all PCs advance at different times: The requirements are deliberatelly small, but there is a trick: when you have the required XP, spend that amount (substract it from your sheet) and roll d6: On a 4 or more you level up. On a 6 you also raise any attribute by 1.

level 1: 0
level 2: 450
level 3: 900
level 4: 1800
level 5: 3600
level 6: 7000
level 7: 15000
level 8: 30000
level 9: 60000
level 10: 90000
level 11: 120000
level 12: 150000
level 13: 180000
level 14: 210000

The explanation for this rule is given here.

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