I recommend changing it from Picklock to Locksmith. Im also just not a huge fan of percentile based thief abilities. I am looking for other methods to implement them leveraging a mechanism that includes pass, pass with complications, & fail. maybe if you are within 10% of success you pass with complications - not sure yet
I hear you on the percentile-based thief abilities, but here I was trying to come up with a system that can be layered on top of the existing Holmes rulebook, rather than replacing anything.
Specialists! (I like this rule.)That sounds familiar... wasn't specialist rules from Warlock rules? As for the demi-human adjustments from Greyhawk, well - its from Greyhawk, so I already use 'em, and the Dexterity adjustments are also from Greyhawk, albeit in a slightly different form, yeah?
I have to admit to being a lil weirded out by the comments on the blog post condemning this as being "un-Holmes-ian". Hm. I suppose I cannot noodle out in words as to why I disagree, but suffice it to say: I disagree. Twisting and doing things in tandem/concert with but at once slightly against the grain of the spirit of the rules is itself pretty darn Holmes-ian I'd say....
Nice set of thief house rules! I like that they are independent of each other, so one could use one, some or all as they wish. One suggestion for specialists, if one allows demi human thieves - you might want to restrict specialists to humans only, which would add some incentive for playing a human thief (back in the AD&D 1e days, there was literally zero incentive to play human thieves since there were no level limits and demihumans got both infravision and snazzy bonuses).
Couple of other observations.. I've been much happier with the thief since I stumbled upon the mention somewhere that thieves in Warlock treated thief abilities similarly to spellcasting; ever since then, thief "skills" are now paranormal abilities granted by the dark gods who thieves hold as patrons (which patrons are also why thieves cannot be Lawful, as I go with the three-alignment system). re: percentiles for thief skills - never bothered me back in the day, but I am less enthused these days for percentile thief skills; still use 'em though, though mainly when it is a binary situation (a test like turning on a light switch - either the light is on, or it's not), but in cases where the result might be more of a grey area I replace the percentile check for a 2d6 roll, modified by the appropriate stat (ie. +1 for high, -1 for low).
I recommend changing it from Picklock to Locksmith. Im also just not a huge fan of percentile based thief abilities. I am looking for other methods to implement them leveraging a mechanism that includes pass, pass with complications, & fail. maybe if you are within 10% of success you pass with complications - not sure yet
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the percentile-based thief abilities, but here I was trying to come up with a system that can be layered on top of the existing Holmes rulebook, rather than replacing anything.
ReplyDeleteSpecialists! (I like this rule.)That sounds familiar... wasn't specialist rules from Warlock rules? As for the demi-human adjustments from Greyhawk, well - its from Greyhawk, so I already use 'em, and the Dexterity adjustments are also from Greyhawk, albeit in a slightly different form, yeah?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to being a lil weirded out by the comments on the blog post condemning this as being "un-Holmes-ian". Hm. I suppose I cannot noodle out in words as to why I disagree, but suffice it to say: I disagree. Twisting and doing things in tandem/concert with but at once slightly against the grain of the spirit of the rules is itself pretty darn Holmes-ian I'd say....
ReplyDeleteNice set of thief house rules! I like that they are independent of each other, so one could use one, some or all as they wish. One suggestion for specialists, if one allows demi human thieves - you might want to restrict specialists to humans only, which would add some incentive for playing a human thief (back in the AD&D 1e days, there was literally zero incentive to play human thieves since there were no level limits and demihumans got both infravision and snazzy bonuses).
ReplyDeleteCouple of other observations.. I've been much happier with the thief since I stumbled upon the mention somewhere that thieves in Warlock treated thief abilities similarly to spellcasting; ever since then, thief "skills" are now paranormal abilities granted by the dark gods who thieves hold as patrons (which patrons are also why thieves cannot be Lawful, as I go with the three-alignment system). re: percentiles for thief skills - never bothered me back in the day, but I am less enthused these days for percentile thief skills; still use 'em though, though mainly when it is a binary situation (a test like turning on a light switch - either the light is on, or it's not), but in cases where the result might be more of a grey area I replace the percentile check for a 2d6 roll, modified by the appropriate stat (ie. +1 for high, -1 for low).