B/X Krull: Player Characters of Krull

Not all of the standard B/X classes are available in the Krull game setting. Players are confined to the following choices of character:

Fighter

Wise One

Magic-User

Thief

Cyclops

FIGHTER – Although great fighters do not make great husbands, they’re excellent for killing slayers. The fighter class is the same as in B/X with the following additional abilities:

Dual wield: instead of using a shield or two-handed weapon, a fighter may wield a dagger or short blade in his or her off-hand. Only one attack is rolled, but damage is rolled for both weapons if a “hit” is scored. Only the higher damage roll is used (damage is not added together).

Lightly armored: a fighter wearing leather armor or no armor may double their normal dexterity bonus to Armor Class. For example, a character in leather armor with a 16 dexterity would have a total bonus of -4 (Armor Class 3). This bonus is lost if the fighter wears a shield or armor heavier than leather.

WISE ONE -- The wise one draws his power from the divine spirit and his knowledge of the natural world. A mystic of the wilderness, the wise one is similar to a cleric in most regards with the following exceptions:

Freedom of movement: the wise one may not wear armor heavier than leather and will not carry a shield. He must be unburdened to walk the wilds.

Freedom of spell use: no meditation or study period is needed to perform his spells; he chooses the spells he wishes to use based on daily ability (determined as if a cleric of the same level). The wise one may require the use of certain herbs, totems, or magic stones to perform magic, but in general the DM should assume the wise one has a full stock of such items.

Limits of wisdom: the following spells are not available to the wise one: light, silence 15’ radius, continual light, growth of animals, create water, sticks to snakes, create food, insect plague. If a spell is unavailable, neither is its reverse spell.

MAGIC-USER -- The wandering wizard is no easy role. Magic is hard come-by in Krull and training scarce indeed. The following special exceptions apply to the normal magic-user class:

Knowledge is power: a magic-user learns one new spell per level. The level of the spell learned can be from any level, though no higher level spell may be learned than the level of the magic-user himself (so a magic-user could learn a 4^th level spell upon achieving 4^th level, but not a 5^th level spell). All spells learned are known and need not be memorized on a daily basis.

Power limits: a magic-user can only cast a total number of spell levels per day equal to his level of experience. Thus a 5^th level magic-user could cast five 1^st level spells, OR one 3^rd level and one 2^nd level spell, OR one 5^th level spell.

Mishaps: a magic-user must succeed at a percentage roll to successfully cast a spell from memory. The percentage chance of success is equal to his Intelligence x5%. Failure to cast the spell correctly may result in an amusing or dangerous mishap (as determined by the DM). Mishaps do NOT count against the total number of spells a magic-user may cast per day…in other words, a magic-user could cast any number of mishaps per day!

THIEF -- These scoundrels are the exact same as thieves described in the B/X rule sets.

CYCLOPS -- The only non-human class available to PCs in the Krull game setting. Cyclops characters are large (generally over 6’) humanoids with the ability to see their own death. A character must have a minimum Constitution of 9 to play a Cyclops; Strength is their prime requisite and a high strength gives them a bonus to earned experience. Cyclops are treated as HALFLINGS in all regards with the following exceptions:

Exceptionally hearty and strong: Cyclops roll D12 for hit points instead of D6. All Cyclops weapons do 1D10 damage plus strength bonuses if any and they do not lose initiative for using a two-handed weapon. A Cyclops wishing to purchase armor must pay 3 times its normal cost to size it to their bulk (note: because of their size and the amount of metal used in their armor Cyclops in chain or plate armor may not use their stealth abilities in the wilderness). Cyclops do NOT gain a bonus to AC when fighting large monsters.

Exceptional throwers: Cyclops’ great strength allows them a +1 bonus for throwing weapons and allows them to add their strength bonus to damage.

Poor depth perception: while their strength allows them to be exceptional throwers, Cyclops are unable to use missile devices (bows, crossbows, and slings) accurately and avoid them.

Know their time: Cyclops know when it is their time to die. A the beginning of each game session roll an 8 sided die; if the roll is LESS THAN the character’s level, they know they will die at some point during the session. The DM should allow the player to choose the time and place of his death. NOTE: even though the die roll may indicate it is NOT the Cyclops time to die, the Cyclops may still be killed through normal misadventure like any other PC; in such a case the Cyclops was either blind-sided or simply refused to admit to himself that it was his time to go.