[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]

Character Death
(a.k.a. “Steve’s Rule”)
          When a character dies, the player has the option to create a new character. If the death was a heroic death, particularly appropriate to the character’s personality and goals, the new character will be created at the start of the level that the previous character was when it died (i.e. at minimum experience points for that level). If the death wasn’t particularly heroic, the new character will start at one level less than the party average. If a character is retired for a good reason (true to the character’s personality and goals), a new character can be created at the level of the retired character; otherwise, the new character begins at one level less than the party average or at the level of the retired character, whichever is lower.

[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]

Experience Points
          Experience Points are handled a little differently in this game than in the standard 3rd Edition D&D game. The same guideline for granting XP for defeating monsters is used, but all Experience Point values for combat are halved. This halving is counter-balanced by awards for good role-playing, coming up with inventive ideas and generally contributing to the game in a positive fashion.
          XP Sheets are expected from each Player. These XP Sheets can be personal narratives, journal entries, short fiction or even a paragraph or two about what the character did. They should include not only the events that the PC participated in, but the character's reflections on those events. XP Sheets should be e-mailed to the DM prior to the following game. If an XP sheet is not turned in, the PC will receive half of the average XP gained by those players who did turn in XP sheets.
          You get extra XP for sending your sheet in in a timely manner. If you are the first person to send in an XP sheet after a game, you get a bonus of 250 XP. If you send it in the first week (between Sunday when we finish gaming and 11:59PM midnight the following Saturday) but are not the first person to send it in, you get 100 bonus XP. If you send it before Friday (i.e. before 11:59 PM on Thursday night) on the second week, you get 50 bonus XP. If you send it Friday or Saturday morning, you get no bonus XP, though you still get normal XP from the adventure. If it doesn't get e-mailed before 2pm on Saturday, you will receive half of the average XP awarded to those who have turned in XP sheets. Of course, the winner of the 250 XP bonus will not be revealed until the following game.

NPCs and Experience Points
          NPCs will receive the full average XP for each game they are in. Most NPCs who travel with the party will be assigned to a specific player whose duty it is to keep track of that NPCs XP and actions during combat. Of course, the DM can overrule any action if the NPC would do something differently.

[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]

Luck Points
          Luck points are a measure of a particularly heroic or villainous person's force of will, intuition or just plain good fortune. During character creation, the player rolls a 1D6+1 to determine his maximum Luck Level and starting Luck. The result is the most Luck that PC can ever have (thus the most Luck Points anyone can have at first level without magical assistance is 7). For every four levels of experience thereafter, their Maximum Luck is raised by 1 (though their current Luck is unchanged). Unlike all other abilities, Luck is purchased with XP. XP expenditure is equal to 100 times the Luck level sought.
          For example, Camey's player rolls a 4 on 1D6; he adds one, for a total of 5. This is his Luck Maximum and starting Luck. After the first adventure, he gains 600 XP and has spent all of his Luck Points. Camey's player decides to spend 300 XP on Luck and saves the rest for advancement in his character class. That 300 XP purchases 2 Luck points (100 to receive the first Luck Point, 200 more to receive the second Luck Point). After further adventures, Camey's player eventually spends enough XP to get 5 Luck points, his maximum. When he achieves 4th level, his Maximum Luck raises to 6, but he still has 5 Luck points (unless he has 600 XP with which to purchase his 6th Luck Point).
          A character may purchase Luck Points in this manner only when he receives XP from the DM. If he chooses to purchase a Luck Point any other time, the cost is doubled and the PC may not spend more XP than he has in his current level. In other words, a PC can never lose a level by spending XP in this manner.
          A single Luck point is worth +2 on a single D20 roll or, alternatively, an extra 1D4 to damage. The points must be spent before the roll is made. The additional Luck points are treated as if the player actually rolled the modified number…in other words, if you spend one luck point and roll an 18, the roll is treated as a natural 20…a Critical! If the result of a Luck-enhanced combat roll is over 20, the critical multiplier is raised by one for each point past twenty. In other words, most weapons do x2 damage on a Critical Roll (a natural 20). If the Luck-enhanced roll is 21, the damage would be x3; if the roll is 22, the damage is x4. The maximum multiplier from a Luck-enhanced Critical is x10.
          Luck can also be used to ignore the affects of being at 0 hit points for one action. For example, Camey has been reduced to 0 hit points by his nemesis, Baron Algernon. He spends a Luck Point and makes a normal attack against the Baron (unless he wishes to spend further Luck points on this roll, as well). Without the Luck Point, Camey would drop to -1 hit points, immediately fall unconscious, and begin to die. By expending the Luck Point, he remains at 0 hit points and does not fall unconscious. Note that the Luck Point only allows for a single action…even if Camey had multiple attacks, he could only take the one attack by spending the one Luck Point; if he wanted his second or third attack, he would have to spend another Luck point on each.

[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]

Psionics
          Psionics are being used as written in the Psionics Handbook, with exceptions noted in these pages.

          Wild Psis: Wild psis are those characters who exhibit psionic Powers without having trained as a Psion or Psychic Warrior; typically, this Power is gained during character history generation. For purposes of determining the strength of a Power, the character receives a Manifester Level for every three Character Levels. In other words, a 2nd-level Bard/2nd-Level Thief has two Manifester Levels (because they are a 4th level character). Furthermore, the character can only manifest the Power once per day per Manifester Level. A Wild Psi may take a closely related Psionic Power as a Feat at a later time, but the Manifester Level of this Psionic Feat is determined from the level of the character when the Feat was chosen and he must find a trainer. For the purposes of psionic combat, a Wild Psi is considered "Flat-footed or out of power points", though he may pick up a Psionic Defense as a Feat to counter this. It is actually more difficult to train a Wild Psi than an unrealized psionic character in a Psionic character class, so the time for training is doubled. Furthermore, upon completion of the training (and attaining the 1st level in Psion or Psychic Warrior), the Wild Psi loses all previous psionic Powers and Combat Modes, including any that were gained as Feats (the Feats expended can be replaced only with Psionic Feats from the Psionic Handbook).

[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]

Training

Multiclassing
          Multiclassing is handled a little differently than in the standard 3rd edition D&D rules. In order for a character to multiclass, they must first find a suitable tutor. A suitable tutor is assumed to be anyone who is currently a member of the class that the multiclassing character desires (i.e. this includes PCs) and is willing to teach the PC. The PC must then train with the tutor for a certain number of days before they can pick up the new class. The base number of days that the PC must train for his new class is 60. If the PC has a positive Attribute Modifier in the main Attribute of the class he is electing to join (as shown below), then divide those 60 days by the Attribute Modifier. If the PC has a negative modifier in the main Attribute of that class, multiply the absolute value of the Attribute Modifier (i.e. turn the negative into a positive) by 60 to determine the number of days it takes to train for the new class. Furthermore, if the trainer is of sufficient level in the class that the character is being trained in, the time to train the character reduces even further. In no case can the time to train for a new class drop below ten days.

Classes and Their Main Attributes Table

Time Reduction for High Level Trainers

          The cost for materials and equipment needed in training is 10 gold pieces per day. NPCs will often charge at least that much again, times their level, for their time and effort. Particularly prestigious trainers may charge even more yet.
          Example 1: For example, Marissa, who is a Fighter and has a Dexterity of 16, wishes to multiclass as a Rogue, because there are no Rogues in her party. She eventually finds a 6th level Rogue to train her. Her base time for training is sixty days. This is divided by 3, her positive Ability Modifier for Dexterity, the Main Attribute for Rogues; in other words, twenty days. The time is further multiplied by three-quarters because her trainer has six levels in the class she is being trained for, taking the time down to 15 days. Her trainer isn't particularly famous, so he'll charge the normal price for training. It costs 10 gp per day for the equipment, resulting in 150 gp (15 days multiplied by 10 gp). The trainer is 6th level, so he adds another 60 gp per day to the cost for his time, bringing the total cost up to 1,050 gp (150 gp for equipment, 900 gp for the trainer's time). If she'd had a Dexterity of 7, which has a -2 modifier, the time would have been ninety days (60 days, multiplied by two, multiplied by three-quarters), costing a total of 6,300 gp.

Marissa's Training Time

Marissa's Training Costs

          Example 2: Wulfgar the Barbarian wants to train as a fighter and has a Strength of 18. Fortunately, Bertram is a 2nd-level fighter in the group who is willing to train Wulfgar for free. The base training time is 60 days. Wulfgar's positive Ability Modifier of +4 gives him a reduction in this time; 60 divided by 4 (the Ability Modifier) is 15. Because Bertram is only 2nd-level, there is no further modifier to the number of days it takes to train Wulfgar. The cost for training is 10gp/day, or 150gp. Because Bertram and Wulfgar are friends, Bertram does not charge for his time and services.

Wulfgar's Training Time

Wulfgar's Training Costs

          Example 3: Dick, a Sorceror with a Strength of 8, wants to become a Paladin. Unfortunately, there are no paladins in the party and the only person he is able to find to train him is Gunderick, who is 1st-level. The base training time is 60 days. Because Dick has a -2 Strength Modifier, this time is multiplied by 2, for a total of 120 days. Because Gunderick is only 1st-level, there is no reduction to that time. The standard cost for supplies at 10gp/day is 1,200 gp. Gunderick, who is the son of a nobleman and doesn't particularly think Dick should be interested in a career as a paladin, decides to charge him double the normal cost for his time. Thus, he charges 20gp/day, for a total of 2,400gp. For Dick to become a paladin, it will take 120 days and cost him 3,600gp!

Dick's Training Time

Dick's Training Costs

Skills and Feats
          To learn a new skill or feat requires training with someone who has the skill or feat as well as the facilities to do so. It takes two weeks to learn a new skill or feat and costs around 50 gp per week for a professional trainer. If the person wishes to learn a new skill from a friend who is willing to forgo the 50 gp, the training cost for materials and such can be reduced to 25 gp per week. If you wish to improve a skill that you have not used since you gained your previous level, you may only improve the skill through training.
          Some feats do not require training, as shown on the table below. These are considered to be knacks or unconscious in nature and aren't really something that can be "taught."

Untrainable Feats

Banking
          A character can bank (or save) skill points, feat slots, spell slots, training, and levels for the purposes of training. You can bank as many skill points, feat slots and spell slots as you want, but you can only bank 1 level at a time. If you receive enough XP to raise your level while you are banking a level (presumably with the expectation of multiclassing), your must use that banked level (though you may choose to bank the new level you've just received). You can also receive training for a new skill, feat or class before you are actually eligible to receive them; in this case, you receive no bonuses from training until you have the skill points, feat slots or levels you need to actualize that training. If you bank training for the purposes of multi-classing in this way, you must take the class at the next available level or the time and money spent on training is wasted and you will have to re-train. Generally, only Sorcerors and Bards need to bank spell slots.

Learning New Spells
          Wizards: Wizards must learn new spells from books or scrolls, taking one day per spell level to learn a new spell. PCs should maintain a list of spells that they know and can learn how to cast a spell that is of a higher level than they could normally cast. In such a case, the Wizard cannot actually cast the spell until he is of sufficient level, but need not take the time to perform this initial study again.
          Sorcerors and Bards: Sorcerors and Bards do not need to study books to learn new spells, but they must spend the same amount of time as wizards on learning a new spell from someone who already knows that spell. The cost for such services vary.
          Psionic Powers: Psionic powers are learned in a similar manner, though the training is much more intense. It takes two days per power level to learn a new psionic power and training must be obtained.

[Character Death] [Experience Points] [Luck Points] [Psionics] [Training]