PM received and sent!  Sorry, I've been away from the board for a week or so, as predicted.

Chainsaw and Iron Ranger, thanks for the assist!

Spider of Leng wrote:

Incidentally, the jack-o-lanterns & scarecrow are statted up in the Swords & Wizardry version of Tome of Horrors.  Scarecrows are also in 1st edition Fiend Folio. 

To my knowledge, the first appearance of a jack-o'-lantern in our beloved hobby is this illustration by Greg Bell, in the 1975 Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I, Greyhawk:

And speaking of bugs... this is the 'original' Bugbear!  It's the look I prefer, and find entirely suitable for insertion into Hyperborea, for which one can use any of the available OS stats (and for a nice kicker, make them a minor Sub-lunary Dæmon).
Though Jimm's shambling boar-thing certainly deserves a mention as well 

~ sub
 

joethelawyer wrote:

the xp penalty for being a demi human is the only penalty.  they can all be any class, just progress slower.  gave humans nothing to compensate. 

It's your game, brother.  My dad (who once played a Dwarf long ago!) used to say, "The proof is in the pudding."  In other words, by exercising their power to choose race and class in session zero, your players will be telling you how good they perceive these advantages to be.

Not saying that everyone is a min-maxer or takes advantage of the best possible stats, but many are, and the later D&D editions tend to encourage this style of gaming.  You're giving demi-humans more bonuses than AD&D does, with a penalty that is equal or lesser.  +20% XP seems stiff, but in play it actually means the demi's will level up only a couple of sessions behind their human companions (depending on your pace and how generous you are with XP).

For example, if I were at your table I'd ask to roll using Method III, put my top score in DX and make an Elf.  For class I would choose Witch, Shaman, or Legerdemainist, thus getting the most out of the race's extra weapons, stealth, and magical boons.  When he's not casting offensive spells he'll be supporting the party with his Longbow.  And my minmax-fu is not even that good, compared to some ;-)

~ sub

A Decision

I kicked off my new play-by-post game using "Rats in the Walls" with some minor changes.  As I write this, the party is in the basement and things are rolling along.  (Their rippling thews were unequal to the task of opening the iron trapdoor, so now they're rigging up a block and tackle that they bought on the wharf!) 

So here's my dilemma.  The party's cleric is a chaotic good Amazon who worships none other than Aurorus!  Coincidence, right?  Like some of you, I too realized the sub-basement could make a nice base for the PCs, but I worry that the shrine of A. would be too much of a 'gimme.'  I feel that it's really there to be a source of mystery and, perhaps, temptation to use its dark powers -- not to be a ready-made chapel / divination booth for the PCs to move into.

Of course being CG, the cleric would stop short of human sacrifice (the neutral magician has fewer scruples).  This could trigger some alignment play which is fine and dandy, but I want the focus of the game to be on exploration and gritty derring-do --not so much on brooding about moral dilemmas, which we can delve aplenty in other games.

Do you see my point?  So I'm thinking of changing the shrine's object of worship to Mordezzan, Khalk-Xu, or Kthulhu (the latter is not my top choice, but would tie-in with the idol in the pirate treasure next level down).  Thus making the shrine somewhat forbidding and perilous (short of inimical) to the players, as I think it was meant to be.

Or, I could just leave it as is and see what the players do…  what do you guys think?

~ sub

Yes, do tell...

Thrasaric wrote:

Part of why I questioned it was these spells were going to negate the encounter that I was thinking would be at least a challenge. 

Hi Thrasaric. as you realised, there is a reason your players chose these spells!  Consider also how quickly one Sleep spell can end an encounter with weak opponents.  These three spells (and one or two others) are intended to be powerful tools in the hand of a low-level party.

Command:  when you think about it, AS&SH didn't change the spell duration -- it shortened the combat round ;) I would've gone RAW and ruled that since the werewolf failed its save, it's compelled by a divine power to stay on the floor for the whole minute and suffer the penalty for being prone.  Remember, creatures can still attack from a prone position.

Hold Person:  As you pointed out, the victim is subject to Auto hits and coup de grace.  Not good, but again, it gets a saving throw.  In this case I agree that the 1-hour duration is questionable.  I'd like to see Ghul's and DMPrata's thoughts in this.

mabon5127 wrote:

Characters begin with HP equal to Constitution.
As characters level, they re-roll HP dice and only begin to increase total HP when the dice roll (+con mod) is greater than their Con attribute.
HP over Con attribute restores overnight with a good rest. HP up to their Con restore more slowly like normal HP.
...
Not original, I stole the idea from somewhere.

I really like this idea, Mabon, and just might steal it for myself!  :-) A 20-hp kicker may be appropriate for Hackmaster but it's a bit much for this game (unless, like Spider of Leng, you use full exploding damage dice AND up to x5 crits… then your PCs might need it!)

A compromise, which I've settled on for my upcoming PbP game, is to give each PC a permanent kicker of ½ CN, rounded down.  It should prove helpful at low levels and less noticeable later on.  Of course, the sauce is there for both goose and gander in terms of leveled NPCs.

Some of my other house rules (and I'm trying to keep this a tight list – we already have a great system to begin with!):

Thief abilities (Table 11).  I'm borrowing from AD&D 2e and later editions the idea of customizing thief skills somewhat.  Instead of the fixed +1 bonus for high attributes, the character gets a pool of discretionary points equal to (DX-10) plus the # of bonus languages from his IN.  Each point improves a chosen thief ability by 1-in-12, with a cap of +3 to any one.  This applies to all thief subclasses except bards, who get (DX-10)/2 plus # lang's since they have fewer thief abilities.

(Ex. a thief with DX 13 & IN 13 gets four points; he can use 3 to raise Climb Walls to 11:12, and the remaining 1 to raise Decipher Script to 1:12, or apply it to any other ability except Read Scrolls which is locked until 5th level.)

Runegravers.  I am toying with the idea of adding 8 more runes, thus making the complete Elder Futhark available.  I'll probably sound this out further in another thread…

Armour (Table 46).  Again inspired by

Chainsaw wrote:

Sounds fun! Can I participate as a viewer/reader only?

Hi Chainsaw, glad to have you, but I guarantee it'll be more fun if you roll up a toon and play!

Just curious, are the pubbed adventures a factor in your decision?  I'm already considering a tack to making up my own stuff instead, now that I'm looking at some free time opening up.  A short plot or two tied in with a roomy Underborean pile...

Anyhoo, check your PM for invite.

~ sub

Iron Ranger wrote:

Spellbinder wrote:

So, instead of a lvl 1 Fighter, I could play a lvl 1 Barbarian instead.

If your rolls qualify, you should play a lvl 1 Barbarian instead, but always a good idea to check with your DM to see if Barbarians frequent the environs or one can be worked into the game.

And if the Referee says "no" to a Barbarian, I question whether he can even call his game AS&SH...  =D

Spider of Leng wrote:

He was avenged, however, as both bone golems in the room were similarly destroyed by criticals inflicted by the PCs.  That at least made his death epic and memorable.  They limped back to Helix laden with booty and using an unseen servant to carry the corpse...

Always bring an unseen servant spell.  Whether it ends up being the loot or your friends, you'll be using it