▶ Level One Hit Points: We give all level 1 characters max hitpoints. This is done "only" for level One. This gives the characters a fighting chance, especially the Wizard who could easily have 1-2 hit points. Yea I know, it is babying them at level 1. We try to make sure our players have a good time and not worry about tripping and taking lethal damage from a pebble. From level Two and higher, hit points are rolled normal.
▶ Death's Door: A character that is reduced to -1 or fewer hit points (no more than -10) is unconscious, bleeding out, and at risk of dying. They will continue to lose 1 hit point per round and if they reach -10, they dead. If a character is brought back up to 1+ hit points before dying, they will still require 1d10 rounds to regain consciousness and recover their footing before they can once again function normally. A PC who dies and is later Raised or Resurrected loses 1 point of CON permanently. This will also result in losing any bonus hit points previously acquired due to having an exceptionally high CON.
▶ Wizard Starting Spellbook: The way we handle a Wizard's starting spellbook at character creation is, the player chooses one spell (any spell) from the 1st level list of Magic-User spells in the B/X books as the starting spell for that character. Their spellbook does have a cap on the number of spells it can hold. As the DM, I also "gift" the following spells to the Wizards spellbook―Read Languages, Identify, Write & Detect Magic.
▶ Spell Recovery: We use the spell recovery rules located here.
▶ Post Combat Arrow Recovery: 1, 2, or 3: The arrow is lost or broken. 4, 5, or 6: The arrow is found and put back in the quiver.
▶ Critical Hits & Fumbles: On a critical hit (nat20) that character does max weapon damage "then adds whatever modifiers it has to that max damage", on a fumble (nat1) that character automatically misses "that player rolls a d100, 50% or less something happens (DM's choice, character drops his weapon, he slips and falls . . . that sort of thing).
▶ Clerics & Level One Spells: In B/X, Clerics do not normally start out with an opening spell at level One which I find a bit harsh so we have house ruled in that Clerics will gain one level One spell at level One. Level two and beyond the Cleric follows the spell chart as it is written. Basically, to put it in simple terms, I have a kind heart . . . "occasionally".
▶ Initiative: For Initiative, each side uses 1d10 instead of 1d6. This reduces the chances of a tie and more easily allows for the implementation of the Dexterity Initiative Adjustment.
▶ Spell Casting During Combat: Spells interrupted during casting due to damage received, being accidentally jostled, etc. are lost, regardless of which side won initiative. Spells voluntarily aborted while being cast are not lost. Once casting begins, the caster may not perform any other actions during that round, whether the spell is completed or not.
▶ Elves Resistances: In AD&D Elves have a 90% resistance to spells/abilities that charm or unnaturally cause sleep, and Half-Elves have 30%. We use this rule in our modified system.
▶ Ranger Highlander Rule: Where a Ranger is concerned in a group, we use the highlander rule where only a single Ranger may be in the group at the same time.
▶ Armor (Putting On): See this ruling.
▶ Critical Hits & Fumbles: Critical Hit or Nat20 (Double Damage) + Modifiers. Fumble or Nat1 (Automatic miss and loss of rest of the round), some minor thing happens, they trip and fall, lose balance or some other similar thing.
▶ Exceeding Level 14: In our modified Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy system, human character classes have a maximum level of 14 & demihuman characters have specific level limits according to a specific race. For our system, we use an optional rule requiring characters to earn double experience points to advance beyond their maximum racial limits.
▶ Alignments: We use the 5 alignment system that was used briefly in B/X in 1977. You can view those alignments at this link.
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