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1. Attributes I've altered the usual attributes for simplicity's sake. Since there are no non human characters in Thews & Thaumaturgy, this works. But I wouldn't recommend these alterations for a game where non humans are allowed.
Strength and Constitution are both represented by Brawn. Brawn fulfills all the functions of ST and CON: damage taken, saving rolls, combat adds, etc.
Glamour takes the place of Luck and Charisma. Glamour in its original sense means magic. Later on, of course, it came to mean a certain kind of charm or attractiveness. Here it means both, and represents something like divine favor. If the gods like you, you'll get away with more than if they don't.
2. Rolling the Dice Roll 4 dice for your character's attributes and discard the lowest number.
3. Equipping Characters Don't bother to roll up your gold pieces. Just equip your character with a reasonable amount of equipment and a handful of coins. For example, a fighter will have a sword, axe, what have you. A wizard has a staff or familiar while a rogue has a weapon of some sort. Gold is rare in Antikhton, so your character will be carrying mostly copper coins and a few pieces of silver. Prices, when appropriate, will be given in copper, rather than gold.
4. Weight Possible, Languages, Height, etc. Don't bother with this. Just make something up that's reasonable or entertaining. One important thing to keep in mind, however, is that all wizards can speak their own language plus Old Pianggarian, the ritual language of Magic in Uthina. See the World of Thews & Thaumaturgy page for information on languages.
1. Weapons Again, for simplicity's sake, I've simplfied the weapons chart. If you want a special weapon, just equip your character with it. Describe its special features you want and I'll let you know if it's OK.
| Size | Dice | BR Req'd. |
|---|---|---|
| Huge* | 5 | 18+ |
| Large* | 4 | 16+ |
| Medium | 3 | 12+ |
| Small | 2 | 9+ |
| Tiny | 1 | 6+ |
Use your judgment here. A sword, axe, or spear is Medium, while a two handed sword or battle axe is Large. A poleaxe or halberd is Huge. The same goes for missile weapons: a crossbow so powerful it has to be drawn with a windlass would be Large or Huge. Fists are Tiny. Remember, leverage = damage! But also use your imagination. Feel free to describe your weapon's blood curdling appearance: jagged saw toothed edges, wicked barbs, etc. We're going for dramatic effect; not verisimilitude.
2. Armor has also been simplified. Additionally, warriors do not get double the value of the protection from armor. Instead, they may subtract a number of points of damage equal to the number of DEX points above 12 divided by .5 (round up). So, a fighter with a DEX of 14 subtracts 1 from any damage he or she suffers - one with a DEX of 17 subtracts 3, and so on. This bonus stays in effect whether or not a warrior wears armor. It's a "combat training" bonus and represents the warrior's skill in dodging blows and minimizing damage.
| Type | Protection | BR Req'd |
|---|---|---|
| Massive | 12 | 20+ |
| Heavy | 10 | 16+ |
| Medium | 8 | 14+ |
| Light | 6 | 10+ |
Massive Full body armor covering head, torso, and limbs and shield. DX penalty = DX x .75
Heavy Full length hauberk (neck to knees) and shield. DX penalty = DX x .5
Medium Mail shirt or cuirass and shield or hauberk and no shield. DX penalty = DX x .25
Light Shield only.
Again, use your imagination. If you have medium armor it doesn't matter whether it's mail, scale, or lamellar. As far as protection goes, it's all the same. The point is to individualize your character by describing his rusty chain mail or the gleaming bronze plates of her lamellar cuirass. (N.B. full European style plate armor doesn't exist in Antikhton.)
3. Spite Damage applies in all combat situations per Ken St. Andre's House Rules:
"It has been pointed out (and rightly so) that things are not always one-sided in combat with the winners getting off scot free, and the losers taking all the damage. To simulate the fact that even the luckiest of winners take some damage in combat, there is the Spite rule, and it works very simply. The loser takes whatever excess hits the winner generates. The winner takes one point of damage for each six rolled by the loser during the combat roll. That point of damage per six ignores armor and constitutes an actual small wound to the victor. If neither the victor nor the loser in the combat round manage to penetrate armor and do damage, then both of them apply spite damage to the other."
1. Casting Spells Thews & Thaumatugy magic involves summoning dread forces and invoking nameless demons. Quite often these entities have minds of their own -- which can make it dangerous to persuade them to do something they don't normally do. Consequently, I've altered the magic rules to reflect the arduous nature of spellcraft on Antikhton.
2. Staffs and Familiars Wizards start out with a staff (or ring, or orb, or what-have-you) or a familiar (cat, rat, bat, toad -- or something really frightening like a pomerian or shih-tzu.) These are minor demons or spirits that have taken corporeal form in order to serve a wizard. Both the staff and the familiar allow the wizard to add his level to the magic SR. So a 3rd level wizard adds 3 to his SR when casting a spell. Additionally the staff or familiar has one special property, such as understanding languages, detecting magic or demonic presences, glowing in the dark, maintaining telepathic contact with its owner, etc. The choice is yours, but don't overdo it.
3. Levels The Wizard's Guild -- an ancient and venerable order founded aeons ago in the lost city of Pianggar -- establishes and maintains The Orders of Initiation in the Arcane Arts by means of the top secret Protocols of the College of Occult Knowledge. There are 5 stages of initiation, denoted by color:
Within each Order there are four grades, which correspond to the "levels" of the regular rules. Thus the correct form of address for a 6th level Wizard, for example, is an "Initiate in The Incarnadine Order of August Adepts, Grade II".
Wizards advance more quickly through the Grades than through the Orders. When an initiate applies to a higher order, he is subjected to a rigorous examination that most aspirants fail. The following chart of level advancement reflects the difficulty of advancing to a higher order.
4. The Wizards' Guild Magic exists in Antikhton, but ordinary mortals fear and shun anyone suspected of dabbling in the occult. Indeed, among the Zanji, the practice of magic is punishable by death. (Though it's not unknown for important and influential officials to protect warlocks and wizards in return for certain favors...) In the eastern and western parts of Uthina, magic is subject to strict legal prohibitions but isn't illegal per se. The Wizards' Guild works closely with local authorities to regulate the practice and study of the Occult Arts. Both parties benefit from this arrangement. The civil authories protect the Wizards' Guild peace and security (so valuable to a learned body) and the Guild maintains strict standards of decorum and probity among its members -- with a few notable and disastrous exceptions.
Established in the ancient lost city of Pianggar, this awesome and mysterious institution maintains libraries and centers of learning throughout Uthina and the Phargolian Isles; as well as a few eremetic retreats on the north coast of Xibangu. Notable among these schools devoted to the Arcane Arts are those of Ffex, Yspla, and Agathol; though every large city has a small gathering of journeyman and master Wizards who regulate and instruct the local wizardly population. A Wizards' Convocation is held every seven years in a carefully selected location; usually a lonely place far from the haunts of men. Wizards from the length and breadth of Uthina and the isles flock to Convocation to trade spells and gossip.
There are other organized bodies of magicians in Antikhton, most notably the Brotherhood of Silence in the hermit city of Min. A far more ancient and powerful body than the Wizards' Guild -- albeit considerbly smaller -- the Brotherhood of Silence is a contemplative, retiring order that rarely interferes in the doings of men. It is believed that the superiors of this order have long since shed their mortal bodies and become gods. The Black Hand is a loose confederation of Wizards devoted to evil and the worship of the Old Gods. In principle The Black Hand and The Wizards' Guild are implacable opponents; although in practice members of each body have been known to share "trade secrets". Each group continually attempts to infiltrate and subvert its rival making the life a Wizard doubly difficult. For the ignorant populace fails to appreciate the difference between members of the Wizards' Guild and the witches, warlocks, black magicians, and necromancers who populate the verminous, foetid ranks of the dreaded Black Hand.
I'm adopting the following level advancement rules from the unpublished 6th Edition rules. However, the level advancement rules for Wizards remain in force but will be modified in light of the following:
"Earlier editions of Tunnels and Trolls used the concept of character level, and a method of keeping score where it was always about twice as tough to reach the next level. The sixth edition has done away with that concept. People don't have levels in the real world, and they don't need them for Trollworld either. Whenever a character manages to accumulate 1000 adventure points, the gods of Trollworld award him two points of increase. If you are playing a human, then one point generally goes to Kremm; and the other point can go to any of the other six prime attributes according to your choice. If you are playing any other kindred, simply roll a die, and give that point to the attribute indicated: (ST-1, IQ-2, LK-3, CN-4, DX-5, CH-6). Speed never increases because of adventure points—only magic or unusual circumstances can affect that attribute."
"You may sometimes get very large adventure point awards for performing superhuman feats or solving extremely dangerous and difficult puzzles. When that happens, go ahead and take your 2 points of improvement for each thousand and spread out all the attribute increases at one time. Be sure to apply those bonuses one at a time—thus if you have gained 5207 adventure points in a single adventure, and your character is an Elf, you would randomize 5 times to see which of the prime attributes got increased. "