Revised Magic Swords in MyD&D

In MyD&D the bonus of a magic sword was generally used to indicates the Grade of the weapon. So a +5 weapon was Grade A (or First Rank), a +4 weapon was Grade B (or Second Rank), and so on down to a +0 weapon being Grade F (or Sixth Rank). Over time, the Grade of the weapon became more important in defining the power and abilities of the weapon than the numerical bonus.

I was always a little unhappy with Gygaxian approach to magic weapons, mainly because a +1 bonus was a miniscule effect when you used a d20 to resolve combat. The original Chainmail approach used 2d6 instead, where a +1 bonus created a much more sizeable bonus because of the normal distribution of the 2d6 roll. On Chainmail and OD&D, 75% of swords were +1, and the maximum bonus for legendary named weapons was +3. That 2% chance of a +3 sword was supposed to represnt finding magic swords such as Excalibur, Gram and Durandel. In MyD&D these have always been represented by the legendary Grade A (+5) weapons, which must be named and have a dedicated purpose.

In the MyD&D grade system a Grade F (+0) weapon is effectively a masterwork weapon. It gives no actual bonus in combat, but is a status-boosting item for characters, increasing the character's perceived fighter level by the magic bonus of the craftsman. So a masterwork weapon produced by 7th level weaponsmith would grant the wielder a +3 bonus to the characters Fighter level. As a side effect of their craftsmanship, a masterwork blade can be enchanted without shattering the blade when the enchantment ends.

Now there was only one type of Grade E (+1) sword in MyD&D. It traditionally provided a +1 bonus to the wielder (as well as the status bonuses of a masterwork weapon). This bonus was a result of the simple perfection of the sword rather than being the result of any overt entchantment. Now I consider this bonus to be inadequate for the idea behind the weapon. So my new proposal is that Grade E (+1) and higher swords be reclassified as a "magic sword" in MyD&D.

All magic swords in MyD&D will allow the character to roll two d20 and take the highest of the two results as the result of the roll (the same as for advantage in 5E).

The comparative chance of success for a normal person using a +1 magic sword is given in the following table.

Armour Worn	OD&D Sword+0	Chainmail Sword+0	OD&D Sword+1	Chainmail Sword+1	MyD&D Sword+1
No Armour	60%	58%	60%	72%	80%
Shield Only	50%	42%	55%	58%	75%
Leather/Padded	45%	42%	50%	58%	70%
Leather&Shield	49%	28%	45%	42%	64%
Chainmail	35%	42%	40%	58%	58%
Chainmail&Shield	30%	42%	35%	58%	51%
Plate	20%	58%	25%	72%	44%
Plate&Shield	10%	42%	15%	58%	36%

Grade D (+2) weapons have always had a +1 bonus in MyD&D and so are the same as Grade E weapons under these revised rules. There are two types of Grade D weapons - weapons with a special magical ability and bane weapons.Having these abilities do not make the magic sword more effective as a sword.

• Bane weapons are those listed in OD&D as +1/+3 vs a specific target. In MyD&D these do double damage against the indicated target type (roll double the damage die rather than multiplying by 2). Remember in OD&D all weapons originally did d6 damage, so doubling the damage has the same general effect.
• Magical weapons have special abilities culled from the intelligence powers table. Although I used a modified version of the table by John T Sapienza Jr from Different Worlds 4 so the special abilities are much more varied than the ones fornd in the OD&D table. These powers may be active (which need to be invoked by the user), or passive (and simply affect the user).

Grade C (+3) weapons are reforged in an elemental forge and imbued with the elemental energies of the forge. Mythically they are considered twice-forged weapons as a result. Note that elemental energies include both classical elements such as fire, earth, metal, ice, and stone, but also more abstract elements such as death, undeath, holy, unholy, and even things like love (although a sword or knife embued with love energies is probably going to cut emotional bonds as a result, rather than create them; arrows and clubs on the other hand...). The advantage in these swords is entirely due to their elemental affinities rather than their being better swords, so I don't think I will pursue my original plan of rolling three d20 for a hit roll.

Grade A and B (+4 and +5) weapons are elemental weapons that are forged for a third time, which shapes the elemental energies into a dedicated function. For example am elemental metal sword (a Grade C weapon) can cut through most substances and lesser metals with ease, negating the effects of armour (for example). An elemental metal sword reforged into a sword of sharpness (a Grade B weapon) can cause crippling injuriies with a successful strike. The one-and-only vorpal sword (a Grade A sword) can do the same to creatures that are normally resistant to such injuries. Again, having these powers does not make the weapon a better sword, just a more dangerous one. So again, the hit probability need not be changed as a result.

The corollary of this is, of course, that wearing "magic armour" (Grade E or better armour) causes anyone targetting the wearer to roll two d20 and use the lower result (the same as disadvantage in 5E). Which is a pretty severe penalty. Fortunately, when wielding a magic sword against a target in magic armour both factors will cancel out and a single d20 is rolled to determine the success of the attack. Of course the nature of the other abilities of weapon and armour will affect the fight.

I will point out that high grade magic items are pretty rare, even though I actually have written guidelines of how to forge them. The first step is to find a craftsman with sufficient abilities to make them and convince them (and most likely their employer) to do the work for you. Then there are the materials required, which tend to be rather expensive. And for equipment of grade C and above you will need to find an appropriate elemental node to charge the elemental forge with the required energies. The vast majority of magic items are of the Fourth Rank or less.

Aristocratic Families

Within the aristocratic caste it's all about the family. This makes the generation of the character's family a bit more complicated than other castes.

Family Title

It is first neccessary to generate the Family Title. This is done by rolling 2d6 and consulting the following chart. If this roll is a "12," the player has the option of rerolling using 3d6. [In this case leave the dice on the table.]

2d6	Family Title
2	None.
3	Household Knight/Courtier
4	Manorial Knight
5	Knight Bannerette
6	Baron
7	Viscount
8	Count
9	Marquis
10	Duke
11	Prince
12*	King
13**	High King
14**	Great King
15**	Minor Emperor
16**	Emperor
17**	Great Emperor
18**	World Emperor
* If a natural 12 is rolled on the first roll the player has the option to roll 3d6 instead. They must take this result, even if it is less than 12. ** If this title does not exist in the game then the family is of ancient royal blood.

If the roll is a "2" the family is considered of noble blood but there is no title or estate to inherit for whatever reason. As a result there is no need to continue the aristocratic family genration progress.

If the 3d6 roll gives a title that does not exist in the game, then take the lowest two dice of that roll (or roll 2d6 again) to determine the family's actual title. However the family is considered to be of "ancient royal blood." This attribute can be used to justify the family's claim on the crown.

Inheritance Rank

This is literally the number of people between the character and their inheriting the family title (not including the character). Roll 2d6 to determine this number. Remember that player characters are neither the heir nor the spare, which is why they have turned to the career of an adventurer to make their own fortune in the world.

Note that the title-holder (noble) will have an immediate family of 1d6+1 people that might potentially inherit the title.

If the Inheritance Rank is greater than the number of the immediate family then the character is considered a distant cousin. It is not unknown historically for such a cousin to discover they have inherited the title, especially after a "successful" peasant uprising. [Successful in this case means the peasants ambushed and killed the noble and their family, the uprising was supressed by the neighbouring nobles (who are generally not of an overly progressive bent), and a few token peasant "ringleaders" were hanged.]

As a reminder, eliminating the people between you and the title is generally frowned upon by polite society. [Even leavinbg aside that technically an adventurer has foresworn their birthright (although there are many cases of them claiming it anyway).]

Family Reaction

Technically the family reaction roll (2d6 + Cha bonus) to your choice to become an adventurer represents the reaction of the titular head of the family. If you are a cousin, you may also elect to make a reaction roll for your own immediate family (which will also consist of 1d6+1 siblings). This may substitute for the equippage roll if it is better than the noble family reaction.

Note that a Positive, Friendly or Allied reaction (9+) often comes with an unspoken understanding that the character is also supposed to support the family interests while acting as an adventurer. Failure to do so may reduce the family's reaction level (and the assistance that can be covertly obtained from them in the future).

A Quick Summary of Martial Arts

All classes in MyD&D have the capability to evoke "magical" effects. The magic-using classes (Mage, Cleric, and Adept) do this overtly with spells, sutras, and masteries. The combat-orientated classes (Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue) may do so using the various martial arts. The term is generic for all three classes, although each class has their own specialised forms of martial arts.

Like spells, specific martial arts must be learned from ancient treatises or from someone that already knows the technique. The same procedure is followed. The treatise must be studied for a week and then the student makes a d12 roll against the standard spell knowledge table. If they roll the number specified or less, then they have understood the techniques sufficiently to be able to invoke it. This base number is altered by the characteristics of the student. Any class may add their Willpower bonus to the number. If it is higher, fighters may add their Charisma bonus to this number instead, while rogues may add their Intelligence bonus to this number instead. Rangers may use either their Charisma bonus or their Intelligence bonus, depending on the nature of the martial art.

For example, Fred the 1st level Fighter has a treatise that teaches the first level martial art of hands of fire. From the table we see that the base chance of doing so is 1 in 12. However Fred has a Willpower of 9 and a Charisma of 16, which means that he gets a +2 bonus, meaning the chance is actually 3 in 12. After studying the treatise for a week, his player rolls the dice and gets a "2." Fred has learned how to focus his fire qi sufficiently to manifest flames from his fists, causing his melee attacks to also have the fire elemental effect.

Note that each repeated attempt of learning from the same treatise reduces the target number by 1. If you cannot learn the technique within that time, then the treatise is not suitable for you.

Note that a practioner may specialize in a specifc form of elemental qi. This makes learning techniques involving that qi easier to learn, while other techniques become harder to learn. As for specialising in a type of magic, this reduces the effective level of any technique using the qi the character has specialised in by 1, whilst increasing the effective level of any other technique by 1. This also applies to the cost of invoking the technique as well as learning it.

Fred is now a 6th level fighter who has specialised in fire-based martial arts. The 3rd level body of fire is considered to be a 2nd level technique for him. This means he has (assuming his bonuses have not changed) his chance of learning this technique is 4 in 12. Similarly the first level feet of water is also considered a 2nd level technique for him, again with a 4 in 12 chance of success.

Note that there is no difficulty in learning techniques that make use of different qi. However invoking techniques that make use of different qi may result in something called qi poisoning. This is particularly true if the qualities of the qi are naturally opposed, or the area of their affect overlap. If you can relate the qi in some manner then the chance of poisoning is much reduced.

Because of his specialisation, just having Fred invoke feet of water has a chance of causing qi poisoning, since water is naturally opposed to fire. If he also invoked hands of fire this chance would increase. And if he invoked body of fire it would almost certainly cause qi poisoning.

You will note that most martial arts are simply described using a body part and a form of elemental energy representing the qi of the martial artist. This makes it relatively easy to randomly generate a treatise; although there are many commonly known techniques as well, such as feet of air (allowing free movement over difficult terrain) and hands of fire (allows melee attacks to also have the fire elemental effect). In setting they almost certainly have much more poetic names.

The exact effect of the martial art is usually determined by the qi invoked. Note that qi is internalised elemental energies and will generally have the same effects. So hands of metal will cause the practioners hands to cause damage in a fight as if they were sharp weapons. The actual damage die used in this situation is determined by the character's level, so a 1st level fighter would do damage equivalent to a dagger (d4).

The level of the martial art technique generally determines the size of the body part that is affected. For example:

• 1st level: The hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, or heart.
• 2nd level: Legs, arms, tail, wings, or chest.
• 3rd level: Body.
• 4th level: Extrabody. For example having wings of fire when the character does not have any natural wings.

Martial arts are generally a lot more limited in level than spells simply because most practioners do not possess high enough SP to freely make use of higher level techniques.

Like spells, the cost to invoke a martial arts technique is equal to (the level of the technique + 1) squared in SP. So a 1st level technique will cost 4 SP to invoke. This will require an action, and usually involve some sort of performative activity to do so. The effect will last for the scene, or until dismissed.

The actual martial arts tend to be associated with the style of combat of the class. So fighters have martial arts that focus on melee combat, rangers have martial arts that focus on missile combat, and rogues have martial arts that focus on avoiding combat. As with spellcasters, the basic "cantrip" magic of each class is not actually considered a martial art. For fighters, for example, this is the ability to make a special attack (an attack that has some other effect than causing damage) for 1 SP.

[Quick Review] Steadings & Followers

For those players and gamemasters interested in a quick and easy system for building settlements then I would take a look at Sibling Dex's Steadings & Followers supplement for Dragonbane. Looks like a nice system for building out your local village/township, regardless of what rules system you use, and is available for free from here.

That said, I do like those systems that don't just build a settlement but also provide explicit benefits for the lord (presumably the player) investing in the settlement. Examples of these include:

• The Book of the Manor for Pendragon which provides the character with bonus checks during the Winter Phase based on what they add to their manor, improve income, and the loyalty of their peasants. For example buidling a Hunting Lodge on your lands earns you a free check of the Hunting skill each Winter Phase.
• Houses of the Blooded which provides the players with free checks based on what is built. For example building a brewery can give the players free Courage checks.
• The Dawnline which allows the player vampires to update and improve the human village they are sheparding through the predawn. Such as a Butchers Rack that allows the village to trade Distance for Sustenance (too much time spent may mean the Dawn catches up to everyone), or a Cartographer's Wagon that gives bonus Distance moved each downtime phase.

Beyond, of course, having local craftsmen available at need.

Armour Absorption in MyD&D

One of my big problems with D&D is that artificial armour is simply not as effective as it was in history.

One way to improve this is to allow armour to negate a certain amount of damage. Now there are a number of ways to do this. Many games, including Runequest for example, just absorb a fixed amount of damage. Dragon Warriors has a novel systems where weapons do a fixed amount of damage, but have an Armour Bypass Roll that must be tested against the armour worn to do that damage. But my favourite comes from an old article in Alarums & Excursions (whose author I have unfortunately forgotten) that uses random damage absorption.

Armour Worn	Damage Absorbed
Padded	d2
Leather	d4
Studded Leather/Ringmail	d6
Chainmail	d8
Splint/Banded	d10
Plate	d12

Magic armours get to add their magical bonus to the effect.

Chivalric weapons, which are designed to be swung with great force in order to defeat armoured opponents, halve the damage absorption (round down), but at the cost of striking last in the round (unless they also have reach).

Note that all this is in addition to the normal penalty to hit the target due to AC.

This does help greatly improve a fighter's power, and is invaluable in one-on-one adventuring games. The only problem is that you now need to go through your Manual of Monsters and determine what component of the creature's AC is due to armour that is worn, and what component is due to speed and magic (or whatever other factors might apply). I do like the variability this system provides in that you can generally rely on armour, but it's not always completely predictable and a lucky shot might make it through a gap.