I mentioned previously that I had some Swords & Wizardry Whitebox house rules, so I thought I would share them. One of the reasons I like the game so much is that it’s a lightweight rules system that is very amenable to house-ruling. I’ve had tons of fun playing and tweaking it. These were informed by lots of different sources, including Holmes Basic, Philotomy’s Musings, the Delving Deeper rules, and the OD&D FAQ from Strategic Review magazine (last modified: 2017-08-06).
Character Creation
- Referee rolls ability scores, 3d6 in order
- 3d6x10 starting gold, again rolled by referee.
Attributes
UAB as modified with carrying bonus or penalty:
- 3-6: -1 (-20lbs)
- 7-14: 0
- 15-18: +1 (+20lbs)
- STR: Fighters only get a damage bonus (all classes get penalty) on melee and hand-hurled weapons. All classes get adjustment to open doors, and +/-20lbs carry weight for purposes of movement.
- DEX: All classes get a bonus to-hit with missile weapons.
- CON: All classes get a bonus to hit-points per hit-die.
Classes
Fighter (FM)
- Fighters are the only class to get a bonus to damage from strength.
- Fighters can parry in lieu of an attack – This effects a defensive bonus of the fighter’s STR+DEX UAB, or +1 at a minimum (so +1 or +2).
Magic-User (MU)
- MUs can use the dagger or staff as a weapon.
- At first level MUs get a spell book with all first level spells, at subsequent levels they gain spells automatically in their spell books as per the spells-per-day progression chart (a different spell book is used for each level of spells). They must acquire anything else through spellbooks, scrolls, tutelage or research. Example: A 7th-level M-U advancing to 8th-level would add one 3rd level spell and one 4th level spell to his spellbooks.
- Scrolls can be penned by a MU of any level, for 100GP per level of the spell and one week’s labor, as long as he or she knows the spell to be transcribed.
- When rested, a MU can re-memorize a spell after one turn of study per spell level.
- MUs can parry with a staff only for a +1 defensive bonus, in lieu of an attack.
Cleric
- Same rules for spell recovery as for MUs.
- Clerics do not have spellbooks, rather they have access to the entire list of spells at each level, and pray/meditate for what spells they will memorize each day.
All classes
- Bind wounds: Any character can bind wounds of another after a combat. This cures 1d4 HP, but can only be done once per day per PC.
- Hit points are rolled fresh at each level gain, with a minimum gain of +1.
Races
Non-humans
- Halflings and Dwarves cannot use two-handed swords, long bows or polearms.
Dwarves
- Dwarves can be Clerics of up to 7th level.
- Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet, assuming no other light source brighter than moonlight is nearby.
Halflings
- Halflings of average or higher intelligence can speak Gnome and Elvish.
- Interpret a Halfling’s ‘Near Invisibility’ to mean a 1-5/d6 chance of moving silently or hiding, adjusted down if needed based on circumstances, and never while wearing metal armor.
Elves
- Elves get +1 to-hit with any bow, and do not incur any penalties for moving on foot and firing a bow in the same round.
- Elves can be Fighters, MUs, or a Fighter/MU multi-class. In the case of the latter, experience is earned for one or the other class during any given adventure. Hit points are calculated as noted abovel – when an Elf gains a level, HP are rolled anew for the class in question, with a minimum gain of +1. When multiclassed, they can use any armor or weapons, but can only cast spells in magical armor or Elven chain.
Misc
- Non-human races hear noise 1-2/d6, humans 1/d6.
- Humans and Elves of average strength force open doors on 1-2/d6, Dwarves/Halfings 1/d6. Strength bonus will modify this +/-1.
Encumbrance
Note: 20 GP = 1lb.
Standard adventuring equipment weighs 20lbs. To that, add weapon and armor weight, then add any treasure at 20 coins to the pound to calculate encumbrance.
Combat
- The ascending AC combat table is used, with the minor change that FM get a +1 BHB at first level (rather than no hit bonus).
- There is a 50% chance of any fired arrow or quarrel breaking, getting lost, or otherwise becoming unusable.
- Players must give a statement of intent prior to the initiative roll.
- There is a 25% chance that any character surprised by a monster (or vice-versa) will drop any one item they are holding.
- Initiative is d6 per combatant or side, adjusted for dexterity in the case of individual initiative.
- Combatants are normally allowed one action per round, i.e. full move, cast spell, missile or melee attack.
- A half-move can be taken before or after melee or missile attacks. Such missile attacks are at -2 to-hit, but Elves on foot can half-move and fire bows with no penalty.
- Spells can be interrupted by a successful attack on the M-U and are lost in such cases.
- Six man-sized creatures can attack a single opponent in a 10-foot space, shields have no effect on AC in the three “rear” attack positions.
- Rear attacks or attacks on retreating enemies are at +2 to-hit, and shields are not factored into AC.
- Death is at 0 HP.
- Humanoid monsters or FM with initiative or surprise can charge into melee at twice normal move rate for first attack only and gain +2 to-hit. If they miss, they suffer a +2 to the next attack(s) against them.
- Spears do 2d6 damage when set against an initial charge from an opponent.
- Spears and polearms can attack from the second rank.
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Very interesting. No thief class?
Hey Mike, yes there is one – I just do not have it mentioned in the house rules. I’m perfectly OK with descriptive trap-finding and sneaking, although if someone asks for a thief they can play it. You can find the rogue/thief variant for S&W WB here on the site.
Hi Doug – this is “sparc_spread” from the forums. I’m almost done with the supplement that I was asking all those rules questions for. You & this site will be featured very prominently in the acknowledgements :-) (If that’s OK w/ you.)
One more question: do I have your permission to use your no 2-hand sword / polearms for halfings and dwarves rule in it? It will be properly cited in both end notes and bibliography. Wanted to check with you first.
Hi Noah, yes that is fine thank you! That rule is of course based on similar rules in B/X and clones (Basic Fantasy probably has the most consistent rules in that regard), so I can’t take total credit for it, apart from trying to make it work with WB.
Awesome, thanks! I will credit you. First of all, you helped me on a ton of other stuff. Second of all, I might get in trouble for citing B/X, anyway :-)
Hey I just looked at the Basic Fantasy rules, it restricts dwarves and halflings from using 2-hand swords, polearms, AND long bows, the last of which is not in your house rules. Was this intentional? If yes, I will follow your lead (am curious to hear your thoughts.) If you just missed it, do you mind adding it in? This way I can acknowledge you for it instead of Basic Fantasy. I know it seems like a small thing but this supplement I’m putting together is very detailed and carefully sourced (probably too much so, but that’s the kinda guy I am :-) ). Thanks!
No, I think that was just an oversight on my part, thanks for catching it. I was not considering missile weapons, just melee. I’ve added it.
Awesome, thanks! Another few days of wrestling with InDesign and I should be posting it to RPGNow.com. I will send you a PDF once it’s ready!
Thanks again. BTW I forgot to ask, is it OK for me to use your first and last name in acknowledgement/citation or just “Merias” or something else? Also is it OK if I include links to this page, the blog, and the forums? (wanted to get the word out.)
First/last name is fine, links are good, too. Thanks!
Well, it took quite a bit longer than I thought, but I should be releasing on RPGNow.com in the next few weeks! Just waiting for some print proofs. However, the PDF is ready right now and I’d love to get a copy to you. If you have an rpgnow.com account, I can send you a free watermarked copy. I would need your email address, which I realize you may not be comfortable posting here on a web page. Are you on any other social media, or is there a way to email you via the blog? Looking forward to sharing this with you – you are actually at the very top of the acknowledgments!
Thanks, happy holidays, and all the best,
-Noah
Hi Noah- That’s great news, I look forward to reading this! You could PM me at the forum, or my G+ page is here: https://plus.google.com/b/102875499523629615380/+Smolderingwizard.
Thanks and Happy Holidays to you!
Doug
p.s. I am already starting work on a similar supplement for Labyrinth Lord. You’ve already helped me there too: I had a question about the LL OEC book, and before I could ask it on the Goblinoid forums, I found you had answered it for someone else there already! In fact I have a follow-up question there as well, will post now.
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Hi I just stumbled upon your website and it’s a fantastic resource. I’ve really been enjoying all the articles and session reports. I just recently decided to give White Box a try. So far I love it’s simplicity. But there is one thing I’m a bit iffy on: Rate of Fire for Bows. Am I understanding this correctly that bows get 2 attacks? That seems pretty powerful in the White Box world. Would love to get your thoughts. Thanks again.
Hi Charles- Thanks and I’m glad you enjoy the blog! You are correct that in WB bows get two attacks per combat round, this comes from Chainmail where stationary archers were allowed two shots per turn – the original three OD&D books did not mention rate of fire at all so S&W used the Chainmail rule. So with the range bonuses, a bow can be quite deadly at short range, and my players have used them to their advantage. However, I think this is mitigated by the fact that bows can’t be used to safely fire into melee. I go by the book and don’t allow someone firing into melee to choose a target. So they basically become a “shoot twice then run into melee” type of weapon, at least in my experience. As a ref if you want to annoy your players, you can also beef up the armor of your opponents, or have them partially under cover (-2 to -4 to hit), or there is always an evil Magic-User with protection from normal missiles. And of course bad guys like to use bows also. Some more discussion: https://snw.smolderingwizard.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=106 and http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/9182/rate-fire-minute-turn-round.
Thanks for those links. That really helps. I’m new to White Box so excuse my next question which might be a bit dumb…lol. In combat, can you move AND attack? So you’re an Elf with 40′ combat movement. Can you move the full 40′ and attack? From reading the rules it seems like you have one action. You’re only in melee if the opponent is within 10′. So say the goblin is 50′ away. Could the Elf move his 40′ and then attack? I hope that makes sense. Movement in White Box seems very vague to me for some odd reason. I noticed even on some of the module adventures that there isn’t any scaling listed like 1 square=10′. There’s no grid at all. So how is distance calculated? Is it just improvising and making it up as you go? Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
Yes, generally you can move up to your combat move rate and attack in the same round, as long as your move puts you within the 10-foot melee distance (but I can see how that might be seen as two actions, really it’s up to you – some people only allow a half-move and attack in the same round). I tend to eyeball it if the map does not have a grid. Once you are engaged in combat the movement gets a bit trickier, for that I tend to fall back to a B/X-style (see Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord if you don’t have B/X handy) rule that allows PCs either a full-blown retreat at double movement (but allows a free parting attack on the PC), or a fighting withdrawal that is slower but allows your opponent to keep you engaged in melee if they choose to follow.