Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Pronouns are good. Not using them will make the book harder to read and will feel unwieldy.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

A response to various comments:

The idea behind the rapier is that most weapons, if not using AC vs Armor charts and not counting encumbrance, basically come down to "How much damage does it do?" So I made generic weapon categories that'll cover most things, and then added weapons that behave differently. If the rapier is not different than a regular sword, there's no point to it. But I thought it might make a good "gentleman's weapon" that would be allowed in town because it's so much more ineffectual against town guard types wearing chainmail.

The Cleric as "holy warrior." Hmm. Originally, my idea was that only the Fighter would advance in fighting ability. He's the Fighter, that's his job! Everyone else has other things they can do. This would also allow the weapon restrictions on other classes to go away, as if their natural attack ability never increases, then they don't challenge the fighter's ability even with magic weapons, so no need for restrictions.

But then I thought, what good is the dwarf if he isn't a squat fighter type? And isn't the whole point of the elf to be a fighter/magic-user combo? Suddenly almost half the classes advance in fighting ability, and the MU, Specialist, Cleric, and Halfling look like the combat also-rans. The MU people don't care about because it's normal for them to be way behind in the combat stakes, and the Halfling *I* don't care about. Frankly, I'd be happy to leave off all the demi-humans but cross-compatibility is a prime goal more than twisting the game beyond all salvaging.

So I'm not sure what to do. All classes have better hit tables than 0 level humans (including all regular soldiers and men-at-arms) so they are combat trained. Clerics can cast spells even when decked out in full armor and can use whatever weapon they'd like. That's a war machine right there as far as I'm concerned.

A vicious circle. So what else to do with the dwarf and elf then?

Specialist Sneak Attack power: In my version, 2x level damage means +20 at 10th level, 21-28 if using a sword. 1e gives quadruple damage at that level, so we're talking 4-32 points. (and by 16th level 1e is giving quintuple damage...). My version doesn't allow the damage potential 1e does, and at least makes sure the sneak attack is worth the attempt - especially since the character has to hit using the same charts as they were at first level in order to inflict that damage.

The pronoun issue. Hmm. Using "they" as a singular pronoun works fine in speech, but whenever I see it written I really, really hate it. "His or her" is much worse as a waste of space. Contorting writing to avoid possessive pronouns together just makes everything awful. Yet even with the way everything will be set up (work is moving forward on the cover, but nothing is finished or set in stone yet so I don't want to let too much out of the bag) some people will still bristle if I just use "his" as a generic possessive pronoun. There are no good options.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Oh, and neither Tolkien "quest fantasy" nor "swords and sorcery," as they're normally thought of anyway, will be the exact flavor.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

As much as you decry having to include the Halfling as a class, the problem is that you have to make them desirable to play and right now, it is not that. The problem is that the advantages of the Halfling are nearly all defensive -- better Armour Class and better Saving Throws barely balanced by slightly increased speed or Initiative.

One option might be to add more combative advantages in the form of weapon bonuses for preferred weaponry. This might well be too traditional a route depending upon what you want to do with hlotfp-weird-fantasy-roleplaying.

Last edited by Pookie (2010-01-04 19:41:38)

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

I put down here a couple of comments I have about the rules as they are now. Remember that in the end, it will be your book, so feel free to ignore any or all of these comments.

The rules about armour wearing for magic users is not clear.

Without any prerequisite, why would anyone prefer a magic user over an elf? Comparing them:
- at times, MU have one level more than elves (even more true at higher levels when elves keep adding their CON bonus while MU don't)
- elves have more hit points
- elves can wear armour
- elves have a progression on their "to hit" chart
- elves can better detect secret doors and have a better surprise reaction
- the saving throw are very similar.

The same type of comparison can be made for fighters and dwarves.

Typo on the first line of 2nd § in halfling description.

Halflings are indeed ridiculous, totally useless. What's the use of the +2 armor class if you can't hit a thing and even if you do, you inflict nothing more than a scratch?

I would put the Web spell as having an area effect, not as being a paralyzing effect.

The lance seems to be a very very good weapon (same for the polearm). You should include in the description that they need two hands and I would personnaly somehow limit their use if fighting in close combat (from the first rank).

If you include the "(not counting DEX modifier)" in the weapon description, you should also later detail what part of the AC is due to high dexterity for monsters.

The rules to get XP from treasure seem unclear and strange. If a big monster swallows a chest full of gold (why not?), why would the PC get XP if they wait for the monster to shit those coins out before killing it and not if they kill it to retrieve the chest? I would also include rewards as giving XP.

Is it wanted that there is no recovery in case of diseases?  The INT in the example doesn't come back naturally with time?

What's the thought process behind punishing characters with less than half their hit point by preventing natural regeneration?

A character with two daggers in his hands, ready to throw them, and three more hanging from his belt would be more encumbered than the same character with a backpack full of gold, two medium-size weapons at his belt and a full large sack in one hand?

About the pronoun issue, if you want references, in French the rule would be to use "he" and in edition 3.5, they always use "she" (I have a feeling that this argument is not going to be very heavy).

Last edited by Zuzurp (2010-01-05 13:07:00)

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Zuzurp wrote:

The rules about armour wearing for magic users is not clear.

As far as I'm concerned, everyone can wear whatever armor they want. But the intention is that certain abilities (MU spellcasting, a lot of the Specialist stuff) only work when someone is unencumbered overall.

Zuzurp wrote:

Without any prerequisite, why would anyone prefer a magic user over an elf? Comparing them:
The same type of comparison can be made for fighters and dwarves.

I don't want to use level limits (I've never run a game from Level 1 and had anyone get to level 8, let alone level 12, so what does it matter?), but this problem you describe is present in the source games as well.

I think the problem is more for the dwarf-fighter comparison. Elves need over 50% more XP to gain a level than MUs. 20,000 to Fireball is a hell of a lot shorter time than 32,000, for example, and that extra 1500 needed to gain second level could seem like forever.

So if I drop the hit progression from dwarves, what would they get instead? d10 hit dice to make them (potentially) tougher than all?

And the same question for elves, but with their incredible XP requirements I'm not so eager to take anything away from them.

Zuzurp wrote:

Halflings are indeed ridiculous, totally useless. What's the use of the +2 armor class if you can't hit a thing and even if you do, you inflict nothing more than a scratch?

Again, this is a traditional problem, not one I'm introducing. I don't feel a need to do anything to make the halfling more impressive (balancing a character type that was only ever an afterthought isn't something I care about), but I will take another look at it... but any added benefits will definitely be non-combat. I'm more and more thinking, "You want to be good at fighting? Fighter."

Zuzurp wrote:

I would put the Web spell as having an area effect, not as being a paralyzing effect.

The idea is to read the save tables left to right and pick the first applicable category.

Zuzurp wrote:

The lance seems to be a very very good weapon (same for the polearm). You should include in the description that they need two hands and I would personnaly somehow limit their use if fighting in close combat (from the first rank).

They are impressive in early editions as well. I don't like having an "automatically lose initiative" weapon (although I will revisit it, I'm studying Mentzer as the how-to here), but these weapons would count automatically in encumbrance calculations.

Zuzurp wrote:

If you include the "(not counting DEX modifier)" in the weapon description, you should also later detail what part of the AC is due to high dexterity for monsters.

Monster AC will be as-is, none of it from DEX for these purposes.

Zuzurp wrote:

The rules to get XP from treasure seem unclear and strange. If a big monster swallows a chest full of gold (why not?), why would the PC get XP if they wait for the monster to shit those coins out before killing it and not if they kill it to retrieve the chest? I would also include rewards as giving XP.

I'll need to clarify. Proper hoards will be worth XP and a chest guarded by a monster would indeed be considered a hoard. As for the other example, one thing I want to stress is "money gained in civilization isn't XP, money gained out in the dangerous weird lands is XP."

Zuzurp wrote:

Is it wanted that there is no recovery in case of diseases?  The INT in the example doesn't come back naturally with time?

After the end of the disease, INT will recover at the rate of 1/week (as per the rules given in the healing section), but I will clarify this in the disease example.

Zuzurp wrote:

What's the thought process behind punishing characters with less than half their hit point by preventing natural regeneration?

Hit points aren't just a measure of injury, but of luck and fate and blah blah etc. But if you're down to half your hit points, you're REALLY hurt in some way, and take longer to heal without magical help.

Zuzurp wrote:

A character with two daggers in his hands, ready to throw them, and three more hanging from his belt would be more encumbered than the same character with a backpack full of gold, two medium-size weapons at his belt and a full large sack in one hand?

Yes, perhaps this needs a tweak. But I want a quick "official" eyeball rule for encumbrance that doesn't involve counting coins and torches and oil bottles.

But thanks for commenting, it's this sort of thing that helps me look at the nuts and bolts when writing and organizing before I sit down and see how this will all work in play.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

I see the logic behind calling thieves "specialists", but will doing so muddy the waters a bit in regard to cross-compatibility?

For example, if you publish a module that includes a "5th-level specialist", won't that cause a lot of head-scratching?

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Geoffrey wrote:

I see the logic behind calling thieves "specialists", but will doing so muddy the waters a bit in regard to cross-compatibility?

For example, if you publish a module that includes a "5th-level specialist", won't that cause a lot of head-scratching?

The compatibility note with the class description could clear that up for anyone using other adventures with these rules... and in modules, calling them "Specialists or Thieves" in descriptions, or having a note at the beginning that "Specialists are also known as Thieves or Rogues" would take up just one line and cover it.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

You could rename all the classes after fruit, with explanatory notes.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

JimLotFP wrote:
Geoffrey wrote:

I see the logic behind calling thieves "specialists", but will doing so muddy the waters a bit in regard to cross-compatibility?

For example, if you publish a module that includes a "5th-level specialist", won't that cause a lot of head-scratching?

The compatibility note with the class description could clear that up for anyone using other adventures with these rules... and in modules, calling them "Specialists or Thieves" in descriptions, or having a note at the beginning that "Specialists are also known as Thieves or Rogues" would take up just one line and cover it.

"I am a level four lemon! FEEL MY CITRUS POWER!!!!!"

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

James wrote: 'I'm on the spell lists now. No Raise Dead, Reincarnation, or Resurrection. Dispel Magic and Protection from Evil will make those who like magic items unhappy, but further thoughts on how to not make MUs the final word need to be thunk if gear is de-emphasized. I'm also leaving the illusion spells til last, because really, I don't want the classic "How does that work?" ambiguity to be there.'

All sounds good to me. A couple of points:

1. To help prevent magic-users from being the final word, limit their spells to 6th-level spells (and clerics to 5th-level spells), just like in the 1974 boxed set.

2. How many illusion spells are in the original rules? Is it just one (phantasmal forces)? BFRPG (and, IIRC, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia) pretty much take the ambiguity out of that spell.

Last edited by Geoffrey (2010-01-21 18:25:09)

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

http://www.lotfp.com/images/dump/LotFPGameWorking.pdf

LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing, version 0.02 with spell descriptions added.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Okay, I did some proofreading:

Page 6, sentence 2: If the total is less (that - should be "than") zero

Page 12: Life span information for Elves is missing

Page 12: Under Halflings - feet are sufficiently protected and insulated that they suffer (not  - Should be "no") frostbite

Page 16: Under Lawful - Those who are Lawful in alignment are part of an inevitable destiny, but without knowledge of what that destiny is and what their role will be in fulfilling it and so (insert "are") forever looking for signs and omens to show them their proper way.

Page 16 - last sentence of Chaotic - Many mortals who are so desperately
wish they were not. (Fragmented - needs a re-write)

Cheers,

Phil

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Repost or cross-post or something of comments I stupidly and rudely put in the wrong place the first time:

Quick 1st thoughts on perusing some of the spells of interest to me. Might have more comments/questions after reading them all.

Anywhere where I sound nit-picky or smart-assed is unintentional, I just come off that way sometimes.

Glad there's no wish spell.

Realize it would be un-old school to be too specific, but for my curiosity, did you intend Jalo’s AA to be able to re-create a specific person?

As written, a really fat 1st level MU can't use feather fall to save herself. As a former fat man I think of these things. But I love the idea of using it as an ersatz protection from normal missiles.

Detect Magic: some versions of DM specifically say the detected magic will glow, implying that the spell works in the dark. Your description (where you point out that hidden items can’t be detected) could be read to imply that the spell is useless underground without a light source/infravision/&c.

Shame the whole licensing thing means you can't call it "Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter"--that kid deserves her immortality. I wonder what ever happened to her.

You're much more specific with fireball than with most of the other spells.

Thank every god that shits that you didn't use Mentzer's version of magic missile (the glowing arrow that follows the MU around thing). Interesting that you went w/ increasing dmg done by a missile rather than # of missiles. Don't disagree, but curious as to your thinking.

Thank them again that you didn't nerf sleep, such as by giving it a save.

I mentioned in the comment for Jalo's spell that I understand why spell descriptions shouldn't be too specific, but I also understand why you were with fireball. So, re my all-time favorite spell, polymorph other: if you polymorph a monster into a literal fish out of water, will it suffocate with no further PC action required? ("Assumes all physical characteristics" seems to imply so.) What happens if you polymorph a monster into a small creature (a goldfish, say) & swallow it? Digestion, therefore death? Passes through unharmed? Stays there & if somebody dispels the magic it regrows & kills the host? Point is, polyother is one of those easily abused spells. If you do want to have the occasional spell description that goes into too much detail so as to prevent abuse (a la fireball), you may want to do it with this one.

3 things unclear w/ Dispel Magic: 1. "any spell-casting class" Does this mean that spells cast by, e.g., a dragon or demon are unaffected by dispel magic? 2. "scrolls are permanently nullified." Does this mean only that they can't be read out loud to cast whatever spell is on them, but can still be copied into a spellbook, or does the writing go away too? 3. "negates magical cures or diseases for only 2d6 turns." 1st level fighting woman has 5 hit points. She takes 3, the cleric cures her for 2, bringing her to 4. Next round she takes 3 more dmg, bringing her down to 1. Round after that, some smart-ass MU dispels the cure, temporarily taking her to -1. Is she alive, dead, undead, temporarily dead, mostly dead, grateful dead, or what?

Re first line of the description of detect evil: if I could reach you, I would kiss you. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Actually, the whole description is really well done.

Silence 15' radius: I seem to recall a controversy as to whether the original intent was a means of being sneaky, or a way for clerics to neutralize MUs. Unless you covered it outside the spell descriptions (e.g., a rule stating whether MUs must be able to speak audibly to cast spells) & I missed it, your description doesn't clear this up. Of course, you might want it that way.

Can we once & for all change continual light to continuous light? It's not a bloody strobe.

While I imagine I'm in the minority, I'd recommend against the whole organize-spells-alphabetically (instead of by class & level) thing. Never been a fan.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Started going over every single spell description, lost the ability to understand what I was reading (not due to the text, I just do that frequently), put it aside for a while, came back to it, realized I'd put my initial comments in the wrong place and so now really don't know what I'm doing, so posting what I have so far, in the hope it's vaguely useful. Or something. Here's the cut-and-paste:

general note: You may or may not care, but your software's handling of the "smart quotes" feature appears inconsistent when it comes to single quotes/apostrophes. Sometimes they're straight and sometimes they're curly. At first I thought it was consistently straight with letters and curly with numerals, but it's not.

Aino's Remote Surveillance: is the MU provided w/ any sort of context? E.g. among many: Does the MU know who the conduit is? Or what race/species he/she/it is? (This could make a difference in interpreting the data provided.) Or the conduit's location? (The object may have been moved by natural or nonliving forces before being handled by a person/creature.)

Airy water: have you considered making the spell reversible, to allow water-breathers to function on land?

Animate dead: 1. many versions of the game limit this spell to chaotic casters, but you didn't. Is this intentional or an oversight? 2. It's unclear whether "One hit die worth of undead per level of the  caster may be created" refers to a) each casting of the spell, b) the total a caster may have under her control at any one time, or c) ever

Animate objects: are you sure you need to specify the movement rates?

Blink: minor typo in the second line: no space following a comma, and the following word is capitalized. Not sure if you meant a comma and the capital is the typo, or you meant a full stop and the comma is the typo.

Chaos: minor typo in the third line: two full stops in a row.

Charm Monster: "This spell makes creature" would appear to be missing an article. In the first line on the second page, there is no space after the first full stop.

Clone: the bit about the vat has a very Raggian vibe to it.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but pure typo corrections are not necessary at this point. The work hasn't been properly edited yet and won't be until the rules are all in place. I fear that typo-hunting efforts will be wasted if sections are changed entirely or even removed.

When everything is ready and has been edited on this end, I'll announce a community proofreading effort (which I'll label a "contest")... the top 3 errorfinders will get a free copy of the box.

Not ready for that though.

Commentary on the rules themselves, and pointing out confusing explanations, that's what I'm after at this point.

>>Started going over every single spell description, lost the ability to understand what I was reading

Yeah, I can definitely relate. This part took far longer than I figured for just that reason.

>>Aino's Remote Surveillance:

Ahh, good points. I'd think no, no, and no. smile

>>Airy Water

Watery air? I think that would be a bit odd, having some fish-creature wandering around in a bubble of thick air.. hmm..

>>Animate Dead

Definitely that many hit dice per casting. No alignment restrictions on the spell... I can think of three references where the dead are summoned for completely above-board reasons (two in SSOC, one in OOTS oddly enough, haha).

As for the details in some spells, the bulk of most of the spell descriptions were taken from existing Open Game Content, Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC 1 mostly. I compared which versions made the most sense, and which filled in the needed details. For Fireball, I thought the blowback detail was important. For Animate Objects, some indication of what exactly happens when things animate is nice.

You will notice that the higher level the spell goes, the less tinkering I've done - due to having little experience running high level characters. This does mean that the Clone vibe is in no way mine. smile

But point taken on the Polymorph. I'll revisit it for sure.

Some of these will probably be rewritten, but for this go-round I was just wanting the spells all in there with the changes I was going to make to the important ones that get used a lot in pretty much every campaign.

>>did you intend Jalo’s AA to be able to re-create a specific person?

I suppose it could, but it's for a limited time and the art would have to be magnificent for the person to be recreated exactly. Although, now that I think of it, wizards with this spell are going to become quite the collectors and patrons of fine art, aren't they?

Feather Fall: A leve 1 MU can float 400 pounds. If they're fatter than that, they have to wait until level 2. tongue

>>Interesting that you went w/ increasing dmg done by a missile rather than # of missiles.

Every version and edition has its own quirk of when the caster gets additional missiles. To hell with remembering that. One missile, escalating power, no fuss, no muss.

>>Silence 15' radius: I seem to recall a controversy as to whether the original intent was a means of being sneaky, or a way for clerics to neutralize MUs.

Both. Casters do need to speak out to cast spells.

>>Can we once & for all change continual light to continuous light? It's not a bloody strobe.

How do you know? tongue

>>3 things unclear w/ Dispel Magic: 1. "any spell-casting class" Does this mean that spells cast by, e.g., a dragon or demon are unaffected by dispel magic? 2. "scrolls are permanently nullified." Does this mean only that they can't be read out loud to cast whatever spell is on them, but can still be copied into a spellbook, or does the writing go away too? 3. "negates magical cures or diseases for only 2d6 turns." 1st level fighting woman has 5 hit points. She takes 3, the cleric cures her for 2, bringing her to 4. Next round she takes 3 more dmg, bringing her down to 1. Round after that, some smart-ass MU dispels the cure, temporarily taking her to -1. Is she alive, dead, undead, temporarily dead, mostly dead, grateful dead, or what?

1- If it memorizes/prepares spells, they're affected. If it has innate powers, I'd say not. I should think on this and clarify... 2- Scroll all gone. Can't be used for anything. Well, maybe mapping at that point. 3- That should be "curses or diseases." This is one of those typos that's important at this stage. smile

>>While I imagine I'm in the minority, I'd recommend against the whole organize-spells-alphabetically (instead of by class & level) thing. Never been a fan.

AD&D's spell organization has always been a pain in the ass to look things up in play. Even Labyrinth Lord, which has all the spells alphabetically but split between Cleric and MU, has given me problems. I find that in play the one large list makes things easy.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

JimLotFP wrote:

>>3- That should be "curses or diseases." This is one of those typos that's important at this stage. :)

(context: response to comment on dispel magic spell)

It wasn't your typo, it was my read-o. You do have "curses or diseases," I just read it wrongly. When the proofreading contest comes along, I'd better not participate, yes? 8^)

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Is Dimension Door a save-or-die spell on purpose now? is level 4 low enough for that kind of stuff?

We used it this way in my old campaign, but YMMV. Beside that, it would be nicer with a range longer than 10', to be used to fetch things as well smile

Re:halflings: i'd make the thrown weapons attack roll rise as fighters. Move silently would also fit the kind of "i'm just good at sneaking into places" character. Personally i used halfling progression (with thief ST and no level limit) for pygmies and human rangers.

Last edited by tsojcanth (2010-01-27 20:17:40)

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

I just tried to download the game but it shows a 404 error. Can you re-post the link for the download? I finally have time to hav a long look at it.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Tharen the Damned wrote:

I just tried to download the game but it shows a 404 error. Can you re-post the link for the download? I finally have time to hav a long look at it.

I made some mistakes concerning the OGL and Open Game Content with the previous files that needs to be fixed. I hope to have an updated version up by the end of the week, head cold permitting.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

http://www.lotfp.com/images/dump/LotFPGameWorking.pdf

Version 0.03 is up.

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

I am thinking about your decision that only Fighters/Dwarves and Elves advance in their "to hit" abilty.
In most other games, the Cleric was able to shoulder some of the burden of the Fighter as meatshield and constant damage dealer. they could wear heavy armor and were able to hit enemies often enough to make a difference.
Once in a while the Thief/rogue could jump in and deal some damage in melee or whittle away with ranged combat.

This still holds true for LotFPG in lower levels.

In higher levels though this concept breaks down.
The Cleric has no reason to go melee fighting instead of casting spells full-time.
The Specialist is next to usesless ubut at the beginning of the fight if he manages a surprise.
This also means that more hp damage is directly concentrated on the Fighter.

I am not sure how this will work out in a real game, but I think that many Cleric and Thief/Specialist players might not like their inability to contribute standard damage to an encounter.
Of course there are many non-standard ways (flaming oil, booby traps etc.) to contribute "damage".
I will have to draft my group to do a few high-ish level encounters, just to see how it will play out.

BtW, what was you design reason not to go the other way and provide the fighter with special perks (e.g like AD&D weapon spezialisation)?

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Your game is designed as a beginner's roleplaying game, accessable to complete newbees.
These gamers are free of all "edition" baggage most of us carry aorund. That is, do not have any special ties to "Old School" or old school design ethics.
But imagine a prospective gamer who wants to play a Halfling.
It will be all fun for the first 2-3 levels. But then it becomes clear that all other Character Classes are better at what they do then the Halfling.
Instead of an asset, the character becomes a liability.
Why not either make the Halfling worthwhile or delete the Race/Class from the game?

The Dwarf is a variant Fighter
The Elf is a variant Magic User/Fighter
The Halfling could be a variant Specialist

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Tharen the Damned wrote:

Why not either make the Halfling worthwhile or delete the Race/Class from the game?

I made a change from the last document - did you notice the halfling saving throws this time around?

Re: LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Tharen the Damned wrote:

In higher levels though this concept breaks down.

It comes down to the fact that in a fight, the fighter needs to be far and away the best. There shouldn't be any competition there, as that's the class' whole "special thing." Now dwarfs are basically fighters with their knees cut off, and elves have the big XP requirement difference, but the other human classes all have their things, which shouldn't involve competing with the fighter for the ability to fight.

It also makes the normal human a more formidable opponent, and stabilizes the game world I think, if not every single character on Earth can fearlessly go toe-to-toe with a 0 level well equipped soldier.

Tharen the Damned wrote:

BtW, what was you design reason not to go the other way and provide the fighter with special perks (e.g like AD&D weapon spezialisation)?

Adding more stuff increases complication, I think. It was easier to just do away with any weapon restrictions and give the fighters a combat edge using the standard system. I think the next steps of revision will be to make the rules leaner, to take away and whittle down.