Scarlet Heroes contains the base rules, whereas Scarlet Horizons is the name of my particular adventure setting and in some ways modifies the Scarlet Heroes rules. The rules of play are identical to the published Scarlet Heroes rules, except as noted below.
For clarity, these rules are specifically for play in solo or two-person PC parties. You're welcome to adapt them to a non-Scarlet Heroes style of play. Please just give appropriate attribution.
The setting is Earth hundreds of thousands of years after Y2K. Yes, land masses have drifted all over the globe. Yes, there are hundreds of islands in a strung-out archipelago, varying in size from a few acres to hundreds or even thousands of square miles.
Much time has passed: The Middle Ages, The Industrial Revolution, The Space Age, The Visitation, The Disaster and Great Declension, The Age of Ice and Darkness, and now ... finally ... The Time of the Red Tide. Yes, the world has moved on. Much has been lost to history, yet some things remain and there is still much to be gained or reclaimed for those with the drive to explore the setting's geography and lost history. Welcome to Scarlet Horizons.
The setting of Scarlet Horizons is Asian-themed post-apocalyptic fantasy in Earth's very far future. Most of the world has been consumed by something called the Red Tide, an alien horror that takes the form of a crimson mist, able to corrupt and consume both physically and through dreams.
The remaining population of the world fled to the Sunset Isles, an extensive archipelago located roughly where Great Britain existed hundreds of millenia ago. There, after driving the native Shou into the wilderness, they settled and formed new kingdoms.
The world saw unthinkable advances during The Visitation, suffered untold losses during the Great Declension. Sages speculate about what heights of exalted knowledge and fabled technology now lie hidden in the sediment of countless past generations. But for every tomb-plunderer and ruins-seeking archaeologist, there's a minion of the Ninefold Celestial Empire who is set on preventing the uncovering of veiled secrets from antiquity. Such things must remain shrouded, lest one faction or another gain advantage.
There are four major kingdoms in the setting — the failing Mandarinate of Xian, once the ruler of the entire archipelago, the Hellsworn Shogunate of the North, the decadent Magocracy of Tien Lung, and finally the hard-working and faithful monotheistic Hohnberg Pact. But within some of these kingdoms, there are vast areas of wilderness that an aspiring PC might settle and rule over, if she has the people skills.
The Ten-Thousand Islands of the archipelago of the Sunset Isles are home to samurai and sohei, wu-jen and alchemists, gunslingers and barbarians, monks and paladins, rangers and tomb raiders, wardens and reclusive sorcerers, necromancers and sublime ascetics at remote monasteries, powerful shoguns in palaces, and fey monsters of the mundane, magical, and (human?) types.
Yes, red sorcery and the Shou exist, but they may or may not be the focus of various campaigns set in Scarlet Horizons. In my setting, there are the Shou and then there are the more grossly monstrous goblinoid races, the distinction being that the Shou are believed to be an evolved form of the former, perhaps through interbreeding with humanity in ages past, or through genetic engineering.
Certainly the spells available to adventurers may be drawn from the Scarlet Heroes book, but they may also be sourced from 1st ed. B/X, or from Labyrinth Lord.
Heroes on their turn, during combat, make move up to thirty feet and make a single attack. This is perhaps the most common combo.
Alternatively, a PC may forego any movement other than an optional free 5-ft step and may attack once and hold the other action back In Defense. This is declared at the beginning of a PC's turn in combat, before any dice are rolled. When declared, it confers a 4-point bonus to Armor Class to that PC until the beginning of that PC's next combat turn. A hero declaring In Defense may not in that same round use a Heroic Deed that involves more than 5-ft horizontal movement.
When declaring In Defense, a PC may replace a melee attack with an attempt to Quaff Potion. The PC makes an unmodified d20 roll. On a natural '1', he fumbles, dropping the potion (DM determines chance of breakage). Otherwise, she quaffs it successfully. To maintain In Defense, the character would do nothing that round except defend, quaff the potion, and (optionally) take a 5-ft. step.
Most of the time for spellcasters, a combat round involves casting a spell — which takes the place of making a melee attack — and (optionally) up to 30 ft. of movement. If the spell description requires a full round to cast the spell, the caster may do nothing else other than take an optional free 5-ft step. A spellcaster who casts a spell in a given round may not also declare In Defense for that round, due to having to manipulate spell components. However, a spellcaster doing nothing other than meleeing may forego battlefield mobility and declare In Defense.
A PC at the top of their turn in combat may declare Total Defense. In that case, no movement other than an optional 5-ft step is possible, but the bonus to AC is 5 points (most PCs), or 6 points (if the PC has 3+ levels in Fighter). Total Defense precludes any spellcasting or Heroic Deeds. Unlike in using In Defense a potion cannot be quaffed when using Total Defense. It requires absolute concentration.
In Defense and Total Defense apply only to melee attacks, not to ranged attacks, area effects, or automatically targeted spells against the one using these defenses. However, both In Defense and Total Defense do apply versus touch attacks. In those instances, apply the AC bonus to the target's normal Touch AC.
Isn't it unfair that PCs never get more than one attack per round (outside of any Heroic Deeds making this possible)? Yes, terribly unfair. It's much better to be a monster than a PC. Lots of monsters get two, or even three or more attacks per round...
Races and classes — except in regard to the Shou — are as detailed in Scarlet Heroes and below, and use their class's given attack bonus progression, hit point progression, etc., except that player-characters are created at Level 0 with normal Level 1 hit points and are then promoted immediately to Level 1 where they add additional HP based on class and Constitution bonus. Because PCs adventure either solo or with a single other PC (for a duet of heroes), this makes them a tad bit less squishy, for survivability purposes.
b: cannot be a barbarian; m: cannot be a Mage; n: cannot be a necromancer;
p: cannot be a paladin; t: cannot be a thief
The four core classes are Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Magic-User. Subclasses off each of those core classes are possible in Scarlet Horizons.
Create your character using the Scarlet Heroes character creation rules, with one exception: create the character at level 0 with maximum hit points for class die and Constitution modifier. Then, promote the new character to level 1 and add additional hit points.
Each time that your character gains a level — except when promoting the character from 0th to 1st level — roll a d4 once for each ability score (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA). On a result of "1", that ability score gains +25 percentile points. On any other result on the d4 (2-4), add only +10 percentile points to that particular score.
Example: Bobo the Wizard rises in level from 1st to 2nd and has the following ability scores:
Roll a d4 die once for each score in the order listed above, Bobo the Wizard's player gets: 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 4 for the results.
The character's ability scores are now the following:
The numbers following the forward slash are percentiles. Thus, the character is now one-quarter of the way to STR 09 but only one-tenth of the way to DEX 13. Upon gaining 3rd level, Bobo the Wizard's player again rolls for the ability scores in the listed order and gets results of 2, 1, 4, 4, 1, 3. The ability scores now become the following:
When the percentile portion of an ability score reaches or exceeds 100, the base score increments by 1. For instance, if several levels from now Bobo the Wizard has INT 16/90 and attains another level, Intelligence will improve either to 17/0- (if a 2-4 result occurs on d4, or else to 17/15 on a d4 result of 1.
It is the Dungeon Master's prerogative to (a) require that the d4 results be assigned in order — as described above, or (b) allow players to assign as rolled except allow two results to be switched, or (c) allow players to assign d4 results in any order.
A player may not assign more than a single d4 percentile-indicated result to a given score when a new overall level is attained. In other words, each ability score may only benefit from a single d4 indicated increase.
Magical weapons may have a bonus ranging from +1 to +3. This bonus applies to any attack roll made while using the weapon. When determining damage inflicted by the weapon when used in the hand(s) of a hero, use the standard Scarlet Heroes rules and then choose to add the weapon's bonus to one die's result.
We always add a magic weapon's bonus to one of its die rolls, before converting to HD of damage. You can see, then, the desirability of magical weapons compared to their mundane counterparts.
We can see, from the above table, that in the hands of an average-strength combatant, a short sword (which deals 1d6) could, upon conversion of the die roll to damage, inflict 0 damage, 1 HD of damage, or (at most) 2 HD of damage. Even as that average-strength combatant gains levels, the best they can hope is to deal 2 HD of damage with a single attack. But what if that short sword has a +2 magical bonus? Now in the hands of the same average-strength combatant, that short sword can inflict between 1 and 2 HD of damage. And if that combatant has a +2 STR bonus? Now, that +2 short sword can inflict between 1 and 4 HD of damage. Even a massive ogre could be felled with a single blow by a strong fighter using such a magical sword.
When not using Scarlet Heroes-style damage, weapon dice may explode.
For starting hit points, no need for dice rolling. Start at max HP at level zero given class chosen (Fighter 8, Cleric 6, Mage/Thief 4) + Constitution bonus. Then immediately promote to 1st level and gain X more HP where X is equal to the sum of Con bonus and (4 if Fighter, 3 if Cleric, 2 If Mage or Thief).
Optionally, at 1st level, you can choose to only get 5 Trait points instead of 6. If you do, sacrifice the Trait point in order to gain +3 HP to your HP maximum. Upon gaining 2nd overall level, and all subsequent overall levels, you will gain a single Trait point to spend either on (a) starting a new trait at +1, improving an existing Trait to +2 or better, or sacrificing for 3 more Hit Points.
For levels 1 through 9 (these are overall levels: Mage 9, Thief 3 / Fighter 6, etc.), you may not raise a given Trait above +3, unless you are a Thief. Thieves are true skill monkeys in Scarlet Horizons. Beginning at level 10, however, this cap no longer applies to any Traits.
Regardless of level attained, PCs only have a single roll-to-hit attack each round (the Fray die isn't rolled to-hit; it hits automatically and is rolled to see how many hit dice of damage the hero inflicts). The standard (non-Fray) attack is 1d20 + relevant attribute bonus + base attack bonus — plus any magical weapon bonus, if applicable. Monsters, on the other hand, may have more than a single attack per round. But, that's not fair! Hey, there's a reason most NPCs don't go adventuring or delving...
A PC can move up to thirty feet (if unhindered by difficult terrain) and may make an attack roll before or after this movement. Alternatively, a PC may sacrifice their attack roll in order to move up to sixty feet.
For any given PC, the Fray Die cannot come into play each round unless the PC has some means to target it. For melee fighters not using a ranged weapon, this means they are limited to adjacent foes. Characters using ranged melee weapons (crossbows, bows, hurled axe, dagger, etc.) could make a ranged Fray attack, provided they have sufficient ammunition (or have retrieved that spear since the last time it was hurled) and a clear line of sight to their target. Mages in Scarlet Horizons may target anyone within sixty feet with their Fray Die, as long as they can see the target.
Rarely, the Dungeon Master may have to inform a player that her character's Fray attack was ineffective. Perhaps the monster is immune to all attacks except the highest level spells, or weapons that carry a +3 magical bonus or higher. However, this should occur only rarely, as the Fray Die is integral to solo and duet play. At the DM's discretion, a failed Fray attack should be noticed by the character so that Fray attacks in future rounds can be beneficially targeted.
Skill checks use a 2d8 + relevant attribute bonus + highest relevant trait — just as described in the Scarlet Heroes rules. Saving throws are made the same way, except that the hero also adds her level.
Charge requires at least 10-ft unobstructed line of approach to target foe and cannot be done through difficult terrain. A charging character adds +2 to-hit and +2 to-damage but suffers a -3 to AC.
A raw roll of 1 is always a failure, and a raw roll of 20 is always a success. Unless a raw d20 result of 20 is needed to-hit, a results of 20 indicates a critical hit. A critical hit allows the attacker to add her Strength or Dexterity modifier (whichever is more applicable) to the regularly determined damage after conversion using Scarlet Heroes rules.
If Scarlet Heroes rules are not being used, then a critical hit occurs when a roll of natural 20 on a dodecahedron die isn't needed just to hit. First, resolve any exploding weapon damage dice. Then, mazimize the damage of the lowest-rolling damage die. Then, add any Strength, Dexterity, or magical bonuses.
For instance, Halitha the Duelist attacks using her rapier and scores a critical hit. She rolls a d6 and gets a 4 result. That translates to 1 point of damage. However, because it was a critical hit, she is able to add the modifier that applies to her Dex 18, so the damage becomes [1 + 3] = 4. Monster critical hit combat damage is handled differently. For every four full hit dice the monster possesses, one additional point of damage is done. Thus, if the PCs were fighting an 8-HD wyvern that scored a critical hit on a claw attack, the DM would determine damage normally and then add 2 more points of damage.
Generally, a monster has the attack bonus of a Fighter whose level matches the monster's hit dice. Put another way, a monster's attack bonus, barring a different bonus given in the monster's description, is equal to its hit dice. Partial hit dice should be equated to the next whole number — for instance, a 3+1 HD monster would have a +4 attack bonus.
For fatal situations or unpassable difficulties, characters may attempt to Defy Death.
Heroic Deeds cost Risk Dice and yield a chance of something beneficial occurring for the PC. They are special actions heroes can attempt, or desirable circumstances they can bring about.
Heroic Deeds are class-gated and sometimes also level- and/or ability score-gated. Unless stated otherwise in a specific Heroic Deed's description, a Heroic Deed used during combat can be done in addition to your normal movement, Fray Die usage, and melee/ranged attack.
A Risk Dice Pool powers Heroic Deeds. Any time a Heroic Deed is attempted, a Risk Die must be sacrificed from the pool. When your Risk Dice pool is empty, you cannot attempt any further Heroic Deeds until a short rest restores a single Risk Die, or a long rest restores your full Risk Dice pool.
A new PC in Scarlet Horizons begins play — at level 01 in a core class — knowing three Heroic Deeds, and with a Risk Dice Pool of four d8 dice. Upon attaining a new level, a PC gains additional Risk Dice and Heroic Deeds as shown in the table below — your PC may retcon known Heroic Deeds as desired when leveling up.
You may attempt to use up to three Heroic Deeds in a given round. If possible, using Dual Activation of two of these deeds is the smart play, because it counts as a single deed use. You may not use Dual Activation more than once per combat round.
| Risk Dice Pool Size by Overall Character Level | ||
|---|---|---|
This optional retcon is to permit players who have studied the Heroic Deeds carefully to optimize their character for Heroic Deed combos, or for attaining just the right character flavor. The DM may hand-wave the gaining of new Heroic Deeds. Alternatively, the DM may require downtime in which to train.
Saving Throws
Saving throws can be adjudicated via Scarlet Heroes rules (using 2d8+level+highest relevant trait), or using the old Moldvay saving throw table, as shown below. For my in-person Phandelver campaign, we're using the latter:
For the table above, in my table-top game, I still have them roll 2d8+level+highest relevant Trait. To make saving throws more difficult, rule that only half the PC's overall level gets added to the 2d8 roll.
Extremely tough boss monsters might only permit 2d8+highest relevant Trait. The DM can use discretion here. I'd recommend if the character is soloing, or solo plus a sidekick/follower, allow 2d8 + level + highest relevant trait. In a larger party of PCs, perhaps the 'add half your levels' variant.
Surviving Critical Hits & Failed Saving Throws
A hero may voluntarily sacrifice a Risk Die in order to (a) re-roll a saving throw, or (b) to reduce damage from a foe's critical hit directed at that PC. In the latter case, roll the Risk Die. You may subtract the result from the monster's additional critical damage inflicted, or (c) to Disengage from combat without provoking attacks of opportunity.
The Standard Backpack
Regardless of character class or race, a backpack is presumed to contain the following gear inside it or attached to it externally via D-rings, and it is presumed that characters return to a village or town to restock their backpack between dungeon delves, or each time entering a new town — if traveling overland:
The above is called a standard backpack. It's free. You start play with it and can spend your starting gold on things like armor and life insurance. The standard backpack can be shrugged off the shoulders and dropped using a single combat action. Characters who are attacked while carrying their backpack suffer, at minimmum, a penalty of 1 to both armor class and attack rolls because of their awkward burden. Therefore, PCs will shrug off the backpack when possible before combat erupts. When surprised while bearing the backpack, the PC must take a combat action to divest himself of the backpack, or else face the aforementioned penalties.
The weight of potions is negligible. It is presumed they come in thin metallic vials that can't easily break, unless otherwise specified, because of their value. There is adequate space in the standard backpack's pouches for five potion vials. Alternatively, a belt pouch may serve to carry these.
A character may wear his class's standard clothing and/or armor, i.e., his class harness, without undue encumberance. PCs are lightly encumbered when in armor and wearing the standard backpack, regardless of their Strength score.
Any PC in harness and wearing his backpack, and carrying 10+ pounds of loot has encumbrance worsened by one category; 25+ pounds of loot worsens encumbrance by two categories. Particularly strong characters may add an additional ten pounds per point of Strength attribute bonus. Thus, a STR 18 character wearing harness and pack would not become moderate encumbered until carrying 40 pounds of loot, and wouldn't become heavily encumbered until carrying 55 pounds of loot. Characters with any negative Strength modifier can only carry worn clothing and a pack; they aren't robust enough to wear armor effectively, and they cannot carry more than five pounds of loot.
A mage's belt pouch of spell components adds negligible weight and is ignored for the purposes of determining encumbrance. Likewise, a cleric's worn holy symbol add negligible weight, and if the fighter carries a map the same applies. A mage's spellbook does add to encumbrance. That extra flagon of wine the fighter carries adds to encumbrance. If the cleric bears a weighty statuette as a gift intended for a nearby shrine, that adds to encumbrance. Such items as these should be listed under Loot on the character sheet. Technically, they may be carried inside the backpack, but list them separately under Loot so that everyone means the same thing by the term standard backpack: "Oh shit, I lost my backpack and it also had my [insert Loot items] in it!"
Unencumbered characters are those wearing only normal clothing or class-normal armor and not bearing a standard backpack.
Lightly encumbered characters suffer -1 to attack rolls, Dexterity-based saving throws, and a +1 penalty to Armor class.
Moderately encumbered characters suffer -3 to attack rolls, Dexterity-based saving throws, and a +3 penalty to Armor class, and their movement is halved.
Heavily encumbered characters suffer -6 to attack rolls, Dexterity-based saving throws, and a +6 penalty to Armor class, and their movement is quartered.
Magic-Users can use up to light armor without loss of spellcasting. They cannot cast (usually) if using a shield, as many spells require both hands for somatic components.
Copper pieces in the Scarlet Horizons setting are approximately the size and thickness of a modern-day American nickel, and 450 copper pieces weigh exactly one pound. Silver pieces in this setting are called chroma. They're the diameter of a modern-day American half-dollar piece, and 250 chroma weigh one pound. Gold pieces in this setting are called royals. They're the diameter of a modern-day American silver dollar, and 100 gold pieces weigh one pound.
You can see, then, that dungeon loot becomes encumbering rather quickly. For this reason, tomb robbers and dungeon plunderers often prefer gems, which have a much higher value-to-weight ratio than coinage. As a rough rule — gems vary some in size and weight, of course — one-thousand gems weigh one pound. This portability benefit has to be weighed against the particular utility of copper, silver, and gold for powering various devices and magicks in the Scarlet Horizons setting.
Most copper pieces aren't to be found in circulation as currency but rather in quite considerable quantities in dungeons. As a result, most coins found in active circulation as currency are either silver, gold, or — more rarely — platinum. Copper is sufficiently rare in circulation so as to raise eyebrows. Pay for goods or services with copper pieces and you'll probably get an inquisitve, "Been adventurin', have ye?"
The reknowned tomb raider, archaeologist, and historian, Dr. Percival Longshanks, is famous among sages for postulating that at one time in the distant past copper pieces were indeed the most prevalent coinage in circulation. If he is correct, it begs the question why such coins are now to be found primarily only in ancient treasure caches — and particularly in dungeons.
A bevy of modern-day spells and machines — such as the CFF (Copper-Fed Furnace), to be found in palaces, other public buildings, and wealthy homes all across the Archipelago) — are fueled specifically by copper. There are cupric interpolators, copper-fed eldritch cannons, copper-powered self-rotating hourglasses, and the list goes on and on.
So ubitquitous is the use of copper than copper mining is a lucrative industry. Yet copper mines alone cannot keep up with demand, and thus there are adventuring parties who do nothing except delve for and retrieve copper. Two such prominent bands are Lady Liberty's Liberators and The Untarnished, which operate out of Tien Lung and the Hohnberg, respectively.
Given the utility of copper, therefore, it is not surprising that many adventurers are willing to forego carrying more individually valuable artistic treasures and coinage out of a delve and opt instead to pack out a few precious pounds of copper coins. After all, you might find a buyer for that ancient statuette, but anyone will pay well for copper.
Copper coins that have tarnished to a reddish hue are more valuable than the admittedly prettier bright and shiny version of the metal. Those that have progressed to the blackish hue of tarnish are even more valuable, and those tarnished to a sea-green are the most highly prized of all. On the open market, a pound of shiny copper is worth six royals; a pound of reddish copper, eight royals; blackish copper, ten royals; and sea-blue copper fifteen royals.
Individual store owners and proprietors of various other establishments are happy to accept copper — at a conversion rate of one hundred copper per royal. They know that they can turn around and exchange the copper elsewhere for a royal for every seventy-five shiny copper coins. Adventurers will usually be better off holding off and exchanging copper for chroma or royals either at a money-changer's location, or an alchemist's shop. Often, even mages and clerics are willing to pay a royal for every eighty to ninety shiny copper coins.
| Copper Conversion Rates (Cities/Towns) | |
|---|---|
| Copper Piece Type | # Coins Worth 1 Gold Piece |
| Shiny Cuprous | 75/85 |
| Red Cuprous | 56/65 |
| Dark Cuprous | 45/50 |
| Aqua Cuprous | 30/40 |
Copper has a wide spectrum of healing properties. One of the most fascinating things about copper is the fact that it is the third most common trace mineral within our bodies — linking people deeply with the soft shimmering ore. Clerics have learned to power-up certain spells by expending copper, and some mage spells that now have copper as a material component are said to have had quite different component requirements in the dim past.
Experience points (XP) are gained from two sources: treasure and monsters. However, XP from treasure is only gained if it is spent. Thus, if a character brings 1,000 gold pieces worth of treasure out of a dungeon, he only gains one XP for every gold piece spent. This gold can be spent on anything, whether vital or frivolous, but it must be exchanged for something in order to earn the experience points.
The design intent of this house rule is twofold. First, it keeps player characters cash poor and thus provides them with ample incentive to continue adventuring. Second, it forces characters to use their wealth rather than simply hoard it. Some will fritter it away on meaningless pleasures and trifles, while others will invest it into large projects, such as spell research or the construction of a stronghold.
When treasure is spent properly to earn experience, a single gold piece (a royal) — or gold piece worth of objects d'Art, etc. — translates to 1.0 xp. Therefore, chroma translate to 0.1 xp, and shiny cuprous to 0.001 xp. PCs should normally trade in red-, black-, and aquamarine cuprous for gold before spending treasure.
Be sure to track treasure and wealth separately. Treasure represents valuables, including maps and information, which characters risk their lives to bring back to civilization. Wealth is acquired without danger. Only treasure generates XP when spent, which may also generate wealth. For example, characters who recover 20,000 gp from the dungeon record it as treasure and earn XP when they spend it on the deed to a gold mine. Gold mined from their new acquisition will be recorded as wealth, which can be spent like any other gold but will not earn XP in the process.
It is fine for players to try to spend their treasure in ways that will make them richer and better able to seek treasure. Although treasure must be exchanged for something, this may be abstract. A party which bribes an intelligent monster for information, or to be allowed to pass unmolested, certainly gains something if the attempt is successful. If the bribe is subsequently regained by killing or robbing the monster, it should be recorded as wealth rather than treasure, and may earn the party a reputation that hinders future negotiations.
The unambitious will be content to gather wealth, but those seeking advancement must be willing to risk their lives for treasure. Once gained, spending it before someone else takes it away becomes an urgent priority.
One of the most common ways to spend treasure is to offer it as a reward in exchange for the completion of some task which can generate wealth or improve one’s chances of survival.
For PC-playable races, hitpoints-per-level are always a function of character class, not of race. Monsters, on the other hand, use a d8 hit die. Actual monster hit points, as opposed to hit dice, aren't usually needed in Scarlet Horizons, but if they are the Game Master should use d8 hit dice and any die that comes up '8' is added to the total and adds another die to the pool.
Why might we need to know a monster's hit points instead of it's hit dice, if we're using Scarlet Heroes' combat rules? Well, some monsters have abilities based upon hit points. For instance, some Labyrinth Lord dragons' breath weapons deal damage equal to the dragon's current hit points.
Since the DM won't be awarding XP in quite the same way as Scarlet Heroes suggests, I've implemented an advancement table below. Monster XP and Spent Treasure XP will contribute toward level advancement.
Full Point Stat Increases
A PC gets a 1-point stat increase at every overall level evenly divisible by 4 (four), i.e., 4th, 8th, 12th overall levels, and so on. There is no upper bound, and the player always gets to decide which stat gets the bump-up. It would be entirely possible for a very high level PC to have all six stats in the 20s. Unlike in AD&D 5e, there is no upper bound on high how an ability score can rise — because there is no upper bound on overall character level.
This full-point stat increase applies only to a single stat every four levels, and is in addition to the slower percentile ability score improvements that occur at every level. Full-point increases top out at level 50, after which the character only gets the usual d4 dice method of fractional improvement.
| Experience Needed for Advancement | |
|---|---|
| Level | XP Needed |
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 2,000 |
| 3 | 5,000 |
| 4 | 9,000 |
| 5 | 14,000 |
| 6 | 20,000 |
| 7 | 27,000 |
| 8 | 35,000 |
| 9 | 44,000 |
| 10 | 54,000 |
| 11 | 65,000 |
| 12 | 77,000 |
| 13 | 90,000 |
| 14 | 114,000 |
| 15 | 129,000 |
| 16 | 145,000 |
| 17 | 162,000 |
| 18 | 180,000 |
| 19 | 199,000 |
| 20 | 219,000 |
| 21 | 240,000 |
| 22 | 262,000 |
| 23 | 285,000 |
| 24 | 309,000 |
| 25 | 334,000 |
| 26 | 360,000 |
| 27 | 387,000 |
| 28 | 415,000 |
| 29 | 444,000 |
| 30 | 474,000 |
A cleric attempting to Turn Undead may use their action to target any and all undead within 30 feet of the priest. The cleric rolls a 1d8 Fray die for each cleric level he has, dividing up the damage as they wish among any valid targets in the area. A cleric uses his full character level to determine what undead foes these Fray dice can harm.
For each undead within thirty feet of the cleric, cross-reference that undead's HD with the cleric's overall character level (a CLE 3/PAL 6) is overall Level 9. First, destroy any undead in the area of effect for which there is a 'D' entry in the table. Next, have any undead in the area for which a 'T' is indicated turn away and back away as far as they can get from the cleric.
Finally, the cleric rolls a d8 die for each cleric level she possesses. Her overall character level is used to determine which of the remaining undead may be affected by these Fray dice. If a number is listed, that undead is vulnerable; otherwise it isn't.
Example, a PC that is a CLE 7/FGT 3 enters a chamber in which eight skeletons, a pair of 2 HD undead, and a single 3 and 4 HD undead are present. Brandishing her holy symbol, the skeletons are destroyed, the pair of two-HD undead are turned — as is the single 3-HD undead — and those three move away quickly to stand against the far wall. The cleric gets seven d8 Fray dice. The cleric is easily able to destroy the unturned 4-HD undead with these 'holy' Fray dice.
With Regard to Level Loss
I particularly dislike level-loss mechanics, both as a player and a DM. My preference in implementing level-draining undead is for ability drain to be temporary (hours or days to recuperate), unless a key stat is drained to 0 — for instance, Constitution reaching 0 would mean death.
Alternatively, perhaps each successful attack by very powerful undead removes 250 XP from the PC's accumulated experience, not to fall below the minimum XP for the character's current level.