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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Clone Project: Description Roll

Continuing my attempts to simplify the original mechanics for a possible clone: the LBBs use rolls of 3d6 not to determine if something happens, but to rate characters in some descriptive category. The six standard attributes are the most obvious examples, but there's also Loyalty for henchmen and hirelings. Descriptive attributes seem to work a lot like reaction rolls, with their low/average/high results, except that they are typically only rolled once each for a given character and include two extra ranges: Very Low (between Low and Extremely Low) and Very High (between High and Extremely High.) We might even be able to add a 3d6 column to a reaction roll table for the cheat sheet.

Here's a summary of the descriptive attribute ranges, based on the reaction roll ranges:
Roll 3d6 if a descriptive rating is needed. Less than 9 is Low, with 6 being Very Low and 3 the extreme. More than 12 is High, with 15 being Very High and 18 the extreme.
The LBBs don't have as many features of the six standard attributes as Supplement I or later editions, so it's easy to summarize some of them:
  • Dexterity affects a character's ability to use ranged missile weapons, adding a +1 bonus for High Dex or a -1 penalty for Low Dex.
  • Constitution affects a character's hit points, with Very High Con adding +1 point to the result of each hit die rolled, and Very Low Con subtracting -1 point from each hit die.
Earned experience adjustments would take a little more explanation in the final document and should probably introduce the character class section, but it's also fairly simple: High scores add +5%, Low scores subtract -5%, with Very High/Very Low scores doubling the adjustment.

Loyalty takes a little more explanation, but not much:
Loyalty for hirelings is a 3d6 roll, like the six attributes, but modified by Charisma and possibly other factors; it is unknown to the employer without the use of magic. Loyalty modifies morale rolls: High scores add +1, Low scores subtract -1, with Very High/Very Low scores doubling the adjustment. Hirelings of Extremely Low Loyalty will desert at the first opportunity (no morale roll needed,) and those with scores above Extremely High never need to check morale.
The hard part is the Charisma table and the effects of Intelligence on languages known: neither fits the established pattern. The number of languages is a pretty simple formula, so we could just go with it (1 extra language per point of Intelligence above 10.) But I'm wondering if it's best to just tinkering with the way Charisma works to simplify it:
Charisma affects the morale of a character's hirelings: High scores add +1 to morale, Low scores subtract -1, with Very High/Very Low scores doubling the adjustment and Extremely High quadrupling it. Characters can have a maximum number of hirelings equal to Charisma/3, rounding down for Low scores and up for High scores; Extremely High Charisma gets a +6 bonus, for a total of 12 hirelings.
The LBBs don't have the Intelligence tables for spells known, so that's a major worry avoided.

Can anyone think of any other tables or adjustments linked to attributes in the LBBs?

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