Old-School Reduction: Character Profiles

This is part of a series describing my efforts to apply reductionism to OSE. My aim is to boil down some of the basic rules to something that can be easily transplanted into other systems.

Last time I went on a bit about how ability scores could be encoded as a string of digits along with the character's class and level (e.g., F3-A389B6). Doing so de-emphasises these numbers and saves room on the character sheet. Hopefully today's post will make it a little clearer where I'm going with this.

Baseline

First, consider a bog-standard normal human (no armour).

• NH-777777 AC9 HD1-2 AT3 TH20 MV4 SV18 ML6

What do these values mean?

• Armour class: 9 (Yes, descending AC. Bear with me.)
• Hit dice: 1 with -2 modifier (What happened to hit points? Bear with me.)
• Attacks: maximum 3 "hit points" once per round (Bear with me.)
• To hit target: 20 (Please bear with me.)
• Movement: 4 (Encounter movement rate in "spaces" rather than feet.)
• Saving throw: 18 (The highest of the 5 target values; apply modifiers by type if necessary.)
• Morale: 6 (For PCs, this is base retainer morale… though PC morale is interesting, too.)

Each number has a specific meaning that should be fairly clear to anyone familiar with OSE, with the possible exception of AT. I'll elaborate on all of this in due time.

Now consider the four traditional human classes at first level (no armour).

• C1-777777 AC9 HD1+0 AT3 TH19 MV4 SV16 ML7
• F1-777777 AC9 HD1+0 AT3 TH19 MV4 SV16 ML7
• M1-777777 AC9 HD1+0 AT3 TH19 MV4 SV16 ML7
• T1-777777 AC9 HD1+0 AT3 TH19 MV4 SV16 ML7

Interestingly, their base combat stats are all exactly the same. I consider this to be a good thing.

Ability modifiers

To keep things as simple as possible, each ability score modifies exactly one aspect of a character.

• Strength modifies maximum "hit points" per attack (AT): stronger characters strike harder.
• Intelligence modifies the cost of experience points (XP): smart characters learn quicker.
• Wisdom modifies saving throws (SV): wary characters are more likely to evade danger.
• Dexterity modifies the "to hit" target value (TH): skilful characters are more likely to strike true.
• Constitution modifies hit dice rolls (HD): tougher characters are more likely to survive a hit.
• Charisma modifies morale (ML): personable characters inspire greater loyalty in followers.

For levels 1 to 3, this works out to the following for all human classes.

	STR	INT	WIS	DEX	CON	CHA
0-2	AT1	120cp/XP	SV18	TH21	HDn-2	ML5
3-5	AT2	110cp/XP	SV17	TH20	HDn-1	ML6
6-9	AT3	100cp/XP	SV16	TH19	HDn+0	ML7
A-C	AT4	95cp/XP	SV15	TH18	HDn+1	ML8
D-F	AT5	90cp/XP	SV14	TH17	HDn+2	ML9

There are some obvious deviations from the original system here.

• No ability modifies armour class (AC), only armour worn or shields carried. This side-steps the need to remember another modifier and avoids conflating hand-eye coordination with agility.
• Strength influences the impact of melee attacks and certain missile attacks (AT), but it mainly establishes an upper limit in relation to the weapon wielded. [EDIT: Keep it simple. Only self-propelled weapons like crossbows have their own attack rating.]
  
• Dexterity influences the accuracy of both melee and missile attacks (TH). This side-steps the need to remember another modifier.
• The term "hit points" refers to the magnitude of a successful hit rather than a character's capacity to absorb a hit.
• Instead of having a different "prime requisite" for each class, Intelligence has a clear mechanical effect for any character.

Any of these might be deal-breakers for some, but I am determined to see this through to the bitter end!

Example

Let's roll up a basic adventuring party with some rudimentary equipment.

• F3-928871 AC4 HD3+0 AT3 TH19 MV2 SV16 ML5 chain, shield, sword
• M1-86673B AC9 HD1-1 AT3 TH19 MV4 SV16 ML8 dagger
• F2-86B8FA AC2 HD2+2 AT3 TH19 MV2 SV15 ML8 plate, shield, maul
• F2-CA7A76 AC5 HD2+0 AT4 TH18 MV2 SV16 ML7 chain, polearm
• F3-814C64 AC5 HD3+0 AT3 TH18 MV2 SV17 ML6 chain, crossbow
• M3-A33688 AC9 HD2+0 AT4 TH19 MV4 SV17 ML7 dagger
• T1-735B91 AC7 HD1+0 AT3 TH18 MV3 SV17 ML5 leather, shortsword

Note that light armour reduces MV to 3 and heavy armour reduces it to 2, in line with basic encumbrance.

If some of the ability scores above seem unlikely for a given type of adventurer, that's because each class was chosen at random. Doing so might not produce "optimal" characters, but that's kind of the point.

Next time I'll delve into how these numbers are actually used in a combat encounter.