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I am starting to think that encumbrance should directly and significantly penalize combat stats like attack bonus and saving throws. This is drawn a little out of the 2nd AD&D rules. My thought runs thus: hit players with a penalty in an area they really care about (combat) and they will immediately respond by carrying less gear and making harder choices about what to carry... which is the whole point of encumbrance rules anyway, right?

I think an optional skills section, with a discussion about different skills that could be added to the game and how they might affect the game, would be more useful than just outright adding new skills.

Witch-Hunter concept sounds very interesting. Would you adjust the saving throws or create a subsystem around magic-resistance?

I don't quite see what the Conquistador concept offers that a Bushcraft and Stealth Specialist build wouldn't already offer.

Have you thought about moving demi-humans to the appendix and then using the extra space in the core rules section for a few of these new classes?

What about adding an option for Specialists to increase attack bonus by spending skill points? That allows you to cover all sorts of fighter/specialist hybrids without adding new classes. Fighters would still be unique in having more hit points, better saving throws, and combat options.

There are not rules in the Rules & Magic book on how to play monsters as the Referee. Those rules are in the Referee Guide.

I cannot remember what the exact rules from the Grindhouse Referee Guide are, but here is a good option for any old-school RPG: monsters have attack bonus (or THACO, or whatever) and saving throws the same as a Fighter of level equal to a monster's hit dice.

So a 2 HD monster in LotFP would save like a level 2 Fighter and have an attack bonus of +3.

The scarab would have an attack bonus of +6 but only have 1d8 hit points and save like a level 1 Fighter.

I don't think there is anything in the book about ability checks in general, though Strength checks are used in the grappling rules. There might be something in the Referee book, but I don't own the Grindhouse edition, so I cannot tell you precisely.

In general, OSR games tend to handle ability checks in one of several ways:

1. Roll 1d20; if you roll under the ability score you are checking, then you succeed.
2. Roll 3d6; if you roll under the ability score you are checking, then you succeed.
3. Two characters roll 1d20 and add the relevant ability score modifier; higher total wins.
4. Roll a saving throw instead if it makes sense (example: save vs. Breath Weapon to duck away from a passing swarm of insects).

You can use whichever makes sense to you.

I suppose after I typed all that... I could more directly answer your question.

I would say that Better Than Any Man is appropriate for PCs of any level. Higher level PCs will have more options available to them for handling some situations, and they might be able to outright defeat some enemies that lower level PCs will need to deal with through other means (running, negotiation, etc.). However, none of the areas are impossible for lower level PCs.

If you run this module with 1st level characters, then the story that develops will probably look very different compared to running the module with 3rd or 5th level characters... it should be fun either way.

It is no longer a special ability, but it is part of the Cleric spell list.

Elves and Dwarves can use the Press and Defensive fighting maneuvers like a Fighter.  In addition, Elves will have more hit points than Magic-users.

Lastly, the statement is an artifact from older editions of the game, where Elves did increase in fighting ability and could use swords and armor (which Magic-users could not use). LotFP does away with some of those elements in favor of more focused classes, but the result is Elves which are more Magic-user and less Fighter.

Clerics are often suspected of heresy. As adventurers, they operate outside the normal channels of ecclesiastical authority. A cleric's ability to perform miracles might make her popular with common folk, but bishops will be suspicious of the challenge to their authority.

Large gifts of treasure to the church will encourage most priests to look the other way...

Therefore, clerics and magic-users are both outcasts. They might not agree with how the world works, but neither can deny the powers of their companions. They can survive better together.

At the end of the day, they are both adventurers and treasure-hunters, which matters more than philosophical perspective.

Calcidius would be very alert for any chance to break free from his prison. If the players unintentionally release him, then he should probably receive a surprise round. If they are all prepared to jump him when the barrier is broken, then let the contests 1d6 roll determine whether they stop him or he kills them all.

Some elements of "Better Than Any Man" are very non-magical, especially the backdrop of the the Swedish army marching on Wurtzburg. However, I think the problem with such a request is: 1) most people play adventure games to experience weird and supernatural things and 2) normal-world stuff is a little easier to think up on your own than mind-bending horrors.

However, a "normal adventures" product that focuses on providing small adventure sites and situations to make the campaign world feel more "normal" overall would be welcome, and it would make sense regarding of the ideas presented in LotFP about how the weird needs to be juxtaposed against the normal.

It could be one or two large random encounters tables with lots of normal Early Modern European situations that could easily be dropped into any country or any campaign, giving the Referee a nice resource for making sure that not every encounter ends with tentacled horrors.

It sounds like you just have crafty players.

My only thought would be this: did the wizard know how many were in their group? Would he have realized that one of their number was missing and might be sneaking up behind him?

That seems to be the main wrinkle... was he too easy to jump from behind? How distracted from looking for threats can a mad, paranoid wizard be?