In a wonderfully weird way to end 2020, this post exists because the cleric in my solo campaign just got polymorphed into an ogre when setting off a magical trap...
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| Half-ogre PC by Timothy Truman |
Requirements: STR 9, CON 9
Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d10
Maximum Level: 10
Armor: Any appropriate for size, plus shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Common, Goblin, Orc
Combat Progression: as a Fighter
Saves: as a Fighter
XP Progression: as a Fighter
Ogre Strength: +2 to Attack and Damage in Melee Combat
Stronghold: An Ogre may start building a stronghold at 2nd level
Weaknesses: -2 on all Reaction Rolls; -2 to hit Small Creatures (like Halflings and Dwarves)
After Reaching 9th Level: An Ogre will be recognized by humanoid populations as a Warlord and the Ogre will attract humanoid followers from far and wide. Ogres may only hire humanoid mercenaries. Specialists and retainers may be of any race.
Here's to better polymorphs and transformations in 2021.
Have a happy and blessed New Year.
8 comments:
That’s a pretty cool B/X class, got to say.
: )
Happy New Year, padre!
Nice, but as presented why would anyone ever play a human fighter ever again? It perhaps needs some penalties such as +10% XP for each of the bonuses of the 1d10 hit dice and +2 to hit and damage bonus.
Some other refinements I'd suggest are having to pay double for armour, difficulty in finding magical armour of the required size and only able to use thrown missile weapons. I'd maybe think about a -1 to individual initiative, and a 1 or 2 in 6 ability to sniff out humans, dwarves and elves.
I see a couple of key issues with this class that would have me choose a human over the above. Firstly, that Reaction Roll penalty is huge. As written, CHA is one of the most important ability scores in BX. It determines the morale of your retainers and the ability of your character to keep those retainers coming back for more adventures with you. In the games I play, this is a big part of the game. Most of my players over the years have ended up playing one of their retainers after a character death. That -2 makes getting and keeping good retainers really difficult.
Secondly, note the section on reaching 9th level. Only humanoid mercenaries are allowed. In other words, even though you can start building that stronghold at 2nd level with all the gold you got on your adventures, you can only protect that investment with orcs and goblins because no one else will work for you. The long term consequences of this set-up are numerous.
I also usually enforce the Arneson rule where 1 xp = 1 gp spent. All of the above makes spending all that treasure to level up that much harder.
So, yeah, if I had a choice to play a human fighter or this class, I'd choose the human fighter.
Maybe a XP progression as the dwarf (2200- 4400- 8800 ...)?
If you want, but then I would raise the max level to 12th.
Happy Little Christmas, Father Dave :)
Does "humanoid" exclusively refer to monsters in OSR systems? I was confused when I read that section of the class, since in 5e and 3.5 "humanoid" includes humans, and demihuman races.
Yes, at least in B/X. There is a distinction between "humanoid," which refers exclusively to monsters, and "demi-humans," which refers to the various race-as-class creatures such as dwarves, elves, and halflings.
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