Transcription
Advanced White BoxPlayer’s Handbook
2nd Edition, 2016Swords & Wizardry, S&W, and Mythmere Games are trademarks of Matthew J. FinchCover Art: Copyright Dungeon Crawl Classics – Vault Of The Dragon King, 2005. Erol OtusArt: Goblin by Adrian Smith, Half-Orc from Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn, Barbarian by mgnz, Assassin byskavenzverov, Thief by Katris Felis, Ranger by Mikko Teuho, Dwarf by Max Dunbar, Paladin by Max Dunbar,Fighter by Wayne Renolds. Bard by Christiano Flexa, Wizard by zelldweller, Elf by Dave Stokes, Halfling by StevePrescott, Magic by Anthony Palumbo, Druid by Jeremy McHugh, Cleric by A.J. Manzanedo, Heroquest by LesEdwards, Faerie by Iain McCaig, Wardancer by Paul Dainton, Artificer by Terese Nielsen, Alchemist by rogierbdagya1c, Warlock by Michael Mckenna, Beastmaster by Frank Frazetta, Tiefling by Tony DiTerlizzi, Half-Elf byJared Blando, Automaton by march1studious, Annotated Dungeon Map by saundbyInspiration and material from Whitebox Omnibus, Whitebox Heroes, Castles and Crusades, S&W AdditionalWeaponry, Crusader‘s Companion, D&D 5th Edition, Whitebox Companion II, Whitebox Demihumans, DarkestDungeon, Dungeon Crawl Classics, D&D 3.5 Edition, Pathfinder, dandwiki, and Whitebox, blogsites, YouTube,Charles Mason, /tg/, and many, many more.I am not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch or Mythmere Games2
Table of ContentsForeward. 4Rules of Play .5Character Creation .6Stress and Sanity .8Henchmen Rules .11Combat .11Classes & Races .14Fighter .15Cleric .17Wizard (Magic-User) .20Bard .23Druid .25Paladin .28Ranger .30Thief .32Barbarian .35Assassin .37Master Merchant .41Warlock .43Artificer .46Cavalier .48Dwarf .50Halfling .52Elf .53Half-Elf .55Goblin .57Half-Orc .59Automaton .60Tieflings .62Faerie .64Items & Equipment.66Adventuring Gear .69Weapons .70Armor .72Campaign Setting .74Magic & Spells .77Schools of Magic .79Wizard (Magic User) Spells .80Cleric Spells .125Druid Spells .143Warlock Spells .162Alchemist Potions .1783
ForewordMy introduction to Tabletop-RPGs was through the medieval toy and castle sets namedImaginext and Playmobil. I had the instinct of rolling to see which knight would win in thebattle, kindling my fire for tabletop roleplaying. In 8th grade, I bought the vintage 80s boardgame Heroquest and loved it immensely. I created homebrew rules, classes, and quests for it,expanding it to the point to where it was more a tabletop roleplaying game than a hack and slashboard game. So I set out and bought the then new D&D 4th edition quick start set. The ruleswere over complicated for my friends and my attention span, so we made our own. We took outmany of the rigorous combat rules in favor for a richer roleplaying experience. In early highschool, I tried Pathfinder and 3.5 edition. I had a feeling that it wouldn't feel like the retrodungeon crawling of Heroquest, but I had no idea that it'd feel more like filing taxes thanactually playing a roleplaying game. It wasn't until an anon on the /tg/ (traditional gaming) boardsuggested Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox, and said that you'll never go back. I tried it. Theycouldn't have been further than the truth. It was free, it was fun. It felt like the homebrew fun ofmy youth, yet adaptable for my more matured and aged roleplaying needs.Swords & Wizardry: Advanced Whitebox Player's Handbook has gone through manyedits, and will continue to go through many more. While I did work on some classes and rules onmy own, many aspects have been ripped directly and shamelessly from other sources. Fromblogs, to supplements, to other computer games, to other editions, this book is more of acompilation of my favorite homebrew rules and I mostly take credit for compiling them togetherin one book. The name Advanced Swords & Wizardry is more so to distinguish between theoriginal game and my house rules for it takes attributes from a plethora of other systems andsources. OD&D is known for its harshness and unapologetic nature. You may not survive. But ifyou do, the fruits of your labor are ever so sweeter. Races work as classes because they are rarein a predominantly human and evolving world, leaving ancient magic and lore behind slowly butsurely. This philosophy is directly inspired from Gary Gygax's philosophies in creating theoriginal game. It was almost discouraged to play as another race due to level caps, formatting amore human-centric game.The DM has the right to modify any rules. In fact, there are gaps in the rules specificallyfor the DM to add their own flare and make it their own setting. When in doubt, make a ruling.This book is a great resource for players as well as the Dungeon Master. For monsters, spells,and magical items, refer to the white box. You are a hero, not super hero. OD&D is very muchbased on a human scale. It is incredibly normal for players to feel small from the start. It's wherethe popular saying "Don‘t split the party" comes from. If the original Whitebox only had 3classes and 3 races, one may ask, why are there so many more options in this book? I lovevariety and options. No two party should be the same. I encourage experimentation as a DM.After all, above balance, the game is about having fun with friends, crawling dungeons.4
Rules ofPlay5
Character CreationClassic Whitebox vs. Advanced EditionThe original version of the S&W: Whitebox was based on the OD&D (OriginalDungeons & Dragons) Whitebox rules. It is incredibly streamlined, easy to pick up, andadaptable to the Dungeon Master's discretion. This Advanced edition of S&W: Whitebox adaptsthe accessibility of the Whitebox set of rules, while adding complexities for more experiencedplayers. Remember that the Dungeon Master may change any aspect of the rules to their liking.S&W: Whitebox originally featured only six playable classes: Fighter, Magic-User(Wizard), Cleric, Halfling, Dwarf, and Elf. When a character hits 0 hit points, they are dead.There are no stress levels, difficulty checks are more or less determined by the Dungeon Master,attribute bonuses ended with 1, and rolling stats were 3d6 in descending order. Play these rulesfor a more retro experience. Refer to Quick Primer to Old School Gaming for the true retro feel.Character SheetsA character sheet is a piece of paper designed to organize and contain any and allnecessary PC information, for the benefit of both the Dungeon Master and Player. For AdvancedSwords and Wizardry: Whitebox, the character sheet could be something as simple as a 3 5‖index card—with equipment and spells written on the back, like so:6
Attribute DescriptionsStrength: Physical power for lifting, hurling, cutting, and dragging. Characters with Strength of 5or less can carry a weapon or a shield, but not both. When performing tasks of hard labor, playercharacters typically add their strength modifier to said roll per the Dungeon Master‘s discretion.Intelligence: Intelligence represents IQ, reasoning, and the ability to solve puzzles or understanddifficult concepts. A high Intelligence score gives a character an additional language for every 2points above 10.Wisdom: Wisdom determines a character‘s insight, perception, sanity, stress management, andgood judgment. A character‘s stress score is equal to their Wisdom score. Any character with ahigh Wisdom score (15 ) gets a 5% bonus to XPConstitution: Constitution refers to the health and endurance of a character. A high Constitutionscore (15 ) gives 1 hitpoint for each hitdie, while a weak Constitution (6-) gives a penalty -1for each hitdie.Dexterity: Dexterity is a combination of coordination, nimbleness, and quickness. A highDexterity (15 ) will add 1 to a character‘s Armor Class while a low Dexterity (8-) gives apenalty of -1 to Armor Class.Charisma: From a character's looks, to their bravado, a highly charismatic character has a betterchance to talk their way out of trouble and can lead more hirelings than a character with a lowerCharisma score. A PC with a high Charisma (15 ) may start a character with a torchbearerhireling.Attribute ScoresThe basic abilities are numbers which represent the Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom,Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma of a character. The standard way to create attribute scoresis to roll 3d6 for each attribute in descending order. Once those rolls have been made, it isobvious which type of character best fits the statistics—though, the player always has the optionto play any class desired.Attribute RollDescriptionBonus3-9Below Average-110-13Average013-15Stellar 116-18Fantastic 2House Rules: Heroes of LegendFor campaigns in which the PCs are superhero in nature, players have a choice between rolling4d6 for each ability in descending order and dropping the lowest number, or rolling 3d6 andchoosing which ability to attribute the roll to. Note that rolls may not be saved for later and mustgo somewhere before a new roll is made.7
Hit PointsHit points (HP) represent the amount of ―damage‖ a character can take before dying andare determined by the amount of hit dice (HD) a character has at their particular class level. If aPlayer begins the game with a 1st level Fighter, (1 1 HD) they would therefore roll 1 HD (1d6)and add ― 1‖ to the end result to determine their PC‘s starting HP.Hit points are re-rolled each time a Player Character advances in level—however, if there-roll results in a character having fewer hit points for their new level than their previous level,ignore the re-roll and retain the prior amount.House Rule: Heroes of LegendFor campaigns in which the PCs are superhero in nature, Player Characters at Level 1 may startat max HD. (For example, if a 1st level Fighter's starting HD are 1d6 1, then their starting HP is7.)Stress and SanityDungeoneering is no jolly career path. Lack of nourishment, witnessing horrors tomankind, being the person in the back of the party for too long in a dungeon, repeatedly low rolls(under 3), and exposure to Eldritch and Demonic secrets lowers one's soundness of mind. Aplayer‘s Wisdom score also works as a measure for stress and sanity (18 being a great grasp onreality and 3 being barely lucid and on the verge of lunacy.). Under the Dungeon Master'sdiscretion, the PC must make a saving throw on said major stressful event and lose 1d6temporary wisdom points (similarly to HP.) A roll of a 6 against one's stress permanently lowerstheir max wisdom by 1 point. When a PC reaches 3 or lower sanity points, they reap an insanityin the chart below. The insanity is present until the PC restores all lost stress points. A PC at -5sanity is irrevocably insane.Insanity1. Delusional. Believe things that aren‘t2. Antipathy. Lack of emotiontrue.3. Catatonia. Fall into a stupor4. Schizophrenia. Paranoia, incoherentspeech, delusions, emotionaldetachment, etc.5. Amnesia. Loss of memory.6. Sadism. Need to harm others.7. Monomania. Obsession with one8. Obsessive-compulsive. Repetitiveidea/subject.behavior.9. Sociopathy. Antisocial behavior.10. Paranoia. Fear that everyone‘s out toget you.It is ultimately up to the Dungeon Master‘s discretion as to what constitutes a stress roll and howoften said feature is incorporated into their game. Maybe a player character was sleep deprived8
for three days? Or the player is struck with a freshet of fear as they are being chased by aMinotaur through its elaborate labyrinth alone? It is easier to obtain stress than to relieve it.Adventurers often retire more from the psychological damages of dungeoneering rather thantheir physical damages. Below is a list of activities and their relinquishing of stress points. If aplayer uses the same negative stress reliever three times in a row, they have a 60% chance ofbecoming addicted to said activity. They then must engage in said activity at least once daily orface a variety of penalties. A long rest relieves 2 stress points.Negative Stress RelieversCasual Sex 4 to sanityAlcohol 3 to sanityTobacco 2 to sanityGambling 2 to sanityPositive Stress RelieversVisiting a Temple 2 to sanityAct of Charity 2 to sanityMeditation 1 to sanityLong Walk/Stroll 1 to sanitySocial Class & Starting GoldA Player Character's social class not only affects their starting gold total, but it affectstheir character's view on life. To generate character social class and starting gold, the PC rolls3d6 x 10, and then rolls 1d6 and consults the chart below.RollSocial Class1PC comes from laboring background (farmer, carpenter, etc.) [-1 to each die]2PC comes from common background/middle class [Face value 3d6x10 roll]3PC comes from artisan/mercantile background [ 1 to one die rolled]4PC comes from lower noble background [ 1 to two dice rolled]5PC comes from upper artisan background [ 1 to each die rolled]6PC comes from lesser royal background [ 2 to each die rolled]9
Character FlawsNo matter how heroic someone is, no one is perfect. The world‘s heroes all have theirown demons. During character creation, each player character must roll for a random characterflaw. It‘s a great opportunity for role playing. Through their journeys, players may learn toovercome their inner struggles, or potentially make them worse.Character Flaws Chart1.Random Player‘sChoice2. Alcoholic3. Greedy4. Pacifist5. Compulsive LiarFlaws6. Religious Radical11. HopelessRomantic7. Control Freak12. Fearless8. Claustrophobic13. Sexist9. Bloodthirsty14. Racist10. Coward15. Gambler16. SelfCentered/Selfish17. Timid/Anxious18. Unquiet Mind19. Brutally Honest20. SaintlyAlignmentIf you‘re playing a game and want an ―unofficial‖ default, then the players may chooseone of three alignments: Law, Chaos, or Neutrality. The good guys are Lawful, the bad guys areChaotic, and anyone just trying to achieve fame, fortune, and balance is Neutral. Some DungeonMasters may employ a more dynamic alignment system, such as Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good,etc., as a ranking of more complex levels of morality.Calculating Armor ClassFor the ascending system, an unarmored person has an AC of [10]. A
Swords & Wizardry: Advanced Whitebox Player's Handbook has gone through many edits, and will continue to go through many more. While I did work on some classes and rules on my own, many aspects have been ripped directly and shamelessly from other sources. From blogs, to supplements, to other computer games, to other editions, this book is more of a compilation of my favorite homebrew
