S&W WhiteBox House Rules (4): Attribute Tests

This is the fourth in a series of posts detailing the house rules I use for Swords & Wizardy: WhiteBox. Today we deal with Attribute Tests. Cheers!

REFEREE NOTES
Attribute Tests: The test roll I use is based on the "roll 2d6" NPC reaction table found on page 12 of Men & Magic. Rolling 2d6 for general tests or checks has been a commonly used house rule for ages. For my games, I simply wanted to make use of the attribute modifiers to place increased importance upon attribute scores during character creation and game play.

Pardon the digression ... My first exposure to roll 2d6 was actually through Holmes Basic (page 11) and Moldvay Basic (pages B21 and B24) circa 1981, as I did not discover original D&D until later in my gaming travels. At any rate, plenty of folks smarter than I have talked about 2d6 rolls in detail from many different perspectives, including P_Armstrong here (way back in 2009), Delta here, JDJarvis here, Peter Fröhlich here, Eric Diaz here, and JB here. JB references my (rather silly and not very serious) thoughts on the matter, which are found here.

There you go. Probably more than you ever wanted to read about 2d6 rolls. Now on to the attribute show...

ATTRIBUTE TESTS
An “attribute test” is a dice roll influenced by one of a character’s six attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma. The Referee determines when a character makes an attribute test, and which attribute applies (use common sense). Sometimes the Referee rolls the test secretly—when the outcome of a situation isn’t immediately obvious to the character, for example—but most often the player rolls the test.

To make an attribute test, roll 2d6 and add the character’s appropriate attribute modifier. The higher the result, the better the character performs the action. The Referee looks up the result on a test resolution table applicable to the test. For extremely risky or outrageous—but possibly achievable—actions, the Referee might want to penalize the test by -1 or -2 to reduce the odds of success.

The Referee should call for an attribute test only when there is a need to resolve the outcome of an important action or situation involving a character that is not already explicitly covered by the rules. An easily achievable or plainly impossible action doesn’t warrant an attribute test—just decide what happens, logically, based on the circumstances, and inform the player of the result.

Table 32: Generic Attribute Tests

2d6 +/- Modifier	Result
2 or less	Catastrophic Failure. Character fails so badly that a -1 penalty applies to the next attribute test made that day.
3-5	Failure. Character fails or is otherwise thwarted, stymied, hindered, or prevented from performing the task.
6-8	Uncertain Success. Character thinks he succeeds—doubtfully confident, if you will. Referee rolls 1d6 in secret: 1-2 = failure, 3-6 = success. Alternatively, the character succeeds, but with some mitigating factor applied by the Referee.
9-11	Success. Character succeeds at the task.
12 or more	Exceptional Success. Character succeeds so greatly that a +1 bonus applies to the next attribute test made that day.

I also use attribute tests for learning spells, casting spells off of scrolls, and a few other situations. I will detail these specific tests in future posts. My house-ruled wizard's Arcane Study class ability also employs an attribute test (discussed here).

S&W WhiteBox House Rules (1): Attributes

Today is the first in a series of posts over the next couple of weeks detailing the house rules which I use for Swords & Wizardy: WhiteBox. Some of these rules hacks are commonly used, others not so much, some are lifted or modified from S&W Core or Complete. I'm not sure how many are truly unique, probably none. :-)

Today I deal with attributes. Cheers!

ATTRIBUTE GENERATION
1. Roll 3d6, in order of Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma.
2. Pick your class as you see fit based on the rolls. Available classes: Cleric, Fighter, Wizard.
3. Determine your attribute modifiers according to Table 1: Universal Attribute Modifiers.

Attribute Modifiers Note: I add a -2 and +2 modifier at the bottom and top ends of the score range, and the -1 and +1 modifiers kick in at 8 and 13 respectively.

Table 1: Universal Attribute Modifiers

Score	Modifier
3	-2 penalty
4-8	-1 penalty
9-12	None
13-17	+1 bonus
18	+2 bonus

Swap Prime Attribute: If the Prime Attribute you roll is terrible for the type of character class you want to play—you roll a 6 Strength for your fighter, for example—you may swap the low Prime Attribute with one other score. Thus, if you rolled 14 for your fighter's Wisdom, you could swap the 6 and 14, winding up with 14 Strength and 6 Wisdom instead. This is the only change you may make to your character's attribute scores.

ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTIONS

The six attributes and their most important game rule effects are described below. Whenever you see the words “low” or “high” applied to an attribute in this section—low means a score of 8 or less, and high means a score of 13 or higher. Refer above to Table 1: Universal Attribute Modifiers for attribute bonuses and penalties.

Attribute Description Notes: Topics such as insanity, reactions, loyalty, and system shock saving throws will be dealt with in future posts.

STRENGTH

• All characters with low Strength take a penalty to melee attack and damage rolls. 
• Fighters only gain a bonus to melee attack and damage rolls for high Strength. 
• Fighters only gain a bonus to damage rolls made with muscle-powered missile weapons—such as slings, bows, thrown daggers, spears—for high Strength.
• All characters have a Carry Modifier based on their Strength score. This affects how much weight a character can carry before slowing down. Those with a Strength score of 3-5 have a -20 pound modifier; Strength 6-8 have a -10 pound modifier; Strength 9-12 have no modifier; Strength 13-15 have a +10 pound modifier; Strength 16-17 have a +20 pound modifier; and those with Strength 18 have a +30 pound modifier.
• Strength is the Prime Attribute for fighters. Fighters with high Strength gain a 5% bonus on XP earned.

INTELLIGENCE

• All characters use their Intelligence score to determine their literacy and known languages. Characters with low Intelligence are illiterate and speak only their native languages. Characters with 10 or higher Intelligence are literate, and each point their Intelligence is above 10, they know one extra language.
• For wizards only, high Intelligence gains them one extra 1st level spell known in their spellbook (not to cast each day), and a penalty to the saving throws required to overcome their spells.
• Intelligence is the Prime Attribute for wizards. Wizards with high Intelligence gain a 5% bonus on XP earned.

WISDOM

• High Wisdom gains all characters a bonus to saving throws against mental attacks (including spells such as Charm Person, Confusion or Feeblemind) and Insanity (typically caused by horrific monsters). Low Wisdom does the opposite (penalty to these saving throws).
• For clerics only, high Wisdom gains them one extra 1st level spell to cast each day, and a penalty to the saving throws required to overcome their spells.
• All characters with high Wisdom gain a 5% bonus to XP earned. 
• Wisdom is the Prime Attribute for clerics. Clerics with high Wisdom gain an additional 5% bonus on XP earned.

DEXTERITY

• High Dexterity gains all characters a bonus to attack rolls with missile weapons.  Low Dexterity does the opposite (penalty to such attacks).
• Low and high Dexterity modifies the Armor Class (AC) of all characters, making it easier or harder to attack them. High Dexterity makes AC 1 or 2 points better, low Dexterity makes AC 1 or 2 points worse. 
• High Dexterity gains all characters a bonus to saving throws against dodgeable spells (such as Fireball and Lightning Bolt) and magical attacks (like dragon breath). Low Dexterity does the opposite (penalty to these saving throws).
• Dexterity resolves any ties in the combat round when combatants act at the same time—the combatant with higher Dexterity score goes first.

CONSTITUTION

• All characters with high Constitution gain bonus Hit Points (HP) on each Hit Die (HD) when they gain a new level in their class. 
• High Constitution gains all characters a bonus to “system shock” saving throws (to survive being turned into stone by a basilisk or medusa, for example). Low Constitution does the opposite (penalty to system shock saving throws).

CHARISMA

• All characters use their Charisma score to see how many “special hirelings” they can acquire. These include NPCs with classes and any monsters tricked, charmed, or otherwise brought into the character’s service. They do not include “basic hirelings” like guards, beast trainers, torchbearers, sages, servants, and so forth (these are limited only by a character’s wealth).
• Charisma modifies the Loyalty of all types of hirelings—basic and special—as well as their Morale when fighting in combat.
• All characters use their Reaction Modifier to affect the initial reactions of monsters and NPCs to them.
• All characters with 13 or higher Charisma gain a 5% bonus on XP earned.

Table 2: Charisma

Score	Maximum Number of Special Hirelings	Reaction Modifier	Loyalty/Morale Modifier
3-4	1	+2	-2
5-6	2	+1	-2
7-8	3	+1	-1
9-12	4	0	0
13-15	5	-1	+1
16-17	6	-1	+2
18	7	-2	+2