As far as Old School D&D characters are concerned, you can have any flavor, as long as it’s vanilla. Old School characters are completely anonymous, expendable, and replaceable. Any personality that develops is purely accidental. 3e characters have the opposite problem; too many choices in creation and it takes forever. For a DM, it must be like having pretend tea party with a bunch of antique china dolls. You don’t dare play too rough with starting 3e characters.
I’d like to have a happy medium of characters that are easily differentiated from one another, but fairly simple to make up. AD&D and 3e got it right in this regard; having more classes is better. More character options and real differences between classes taken by different races is something Old School could benefit from. (As long as those class differences mean more than plusses to dice rolls (3e) or how many squares you can move in a round (4e).)
These listings of powers and rules are something of a mish-mash of several different versions of D&D. This list does not pretend to be all-inclusive, authoritative, or even test-played. It’s just meant to explore the concept of demi-human classes being different than the human classes in an Old School environment.
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Humans may be any class, up to any level, but may not multi-class. Their only advantage is a bonus to earned experience, so human characters should always advance the quickest.
The demi-human classes listed are the typical adventurer types. There are Elvish and Dwarvish Clerics and such, but their societies frown upon them making a habit of hanging out in dungeons. For multi-class characters, earned XP is split equally between both classes. The other classes posted here should advance in level at about half the rate of the human equivalent. I’m being vague on certain items because of the differences between different rules sets.
Elf base racial characteristics:
Infravision
Improved chance to detect secret doors
Resistance to sleep and charm spells, and Ghoul paralysis
Elven Sword Mage (Fighter/Mage): Can wear armor and cast spells, but that armor has to be Elven or magical (in other words, expensive, salvaged, or gifted), else they lose their spell casting ability. They may use any type of shield or weapon but must have a free hand to cast spells in combat. As a practical matter they will typically only use one-handed melee weapons without a shield. Hit Dice 1d6.
Elven Arcane Thief (Thief/Mage): Has the full range of thief skills and restrictions. They may cast spells in combat, as long as they are wearing Elvish leather armor or magic leather armor and have a free hand. Hit Dice 1d4.
After 8th level, Elves may no longer advance as a Mage, but can continue to advance as a fighter or thief at half the human rate. Note: if the elf character had the aptitude to reach the master Mage level, they wouldn’t be adventuring. They’re too valuable to Elvish society.
Half Elf base racial characteristics:
Infravision
Improved chance to detect secret doors
Resistance to sleep and charm spells, and Ghoul paralysis
Arcane Tracker (Ranger/Mage): Limited to leather armor (does not have to be magic) and one-handed melee weapons, no shields. Cannot advance past 6th level as Mage. Hit Dice 1d8 with two 1d8 at first level.
Sword Mage: Mage progress ends at 6th level, however they can wear any normal armor, up to chainmail. Still requires a free hand to work magic. A bit heartier than the Elf version, Hit Dice 1d8.
Arcane Thief: Mage progress ends at 6th level, however they can wear non-magical leather armor. Still requires a free hand to work magic. A bit heartier than a normal Thief or Mage, Hit Dice 1d6.
Dwarven Defender:
Infravision
Hit Dice 1d8.
Natural –1 (or +1) to AC due to small size.
Saving throw bonus
Detect changes in stonework/underground environment
They are restricted from using human-sized armor, large shields, longbows, and human two-handed melee weapons. They may use a human-sized longsword or axe as a two-handed weapon. (Essentially limited to 1d8 damage weapons.)
Dwarven Rage: May rage up to three times per day. This rage causes bonus damage on a single hit (the player may call on this ability after rolling the damage dice) +4 (levels 1 to 4), +6 (levels 5 to 10), +8 (level 11 and up).
Halfling Acquisitions Expert (Burglar):
Infravision
Natural –2 (or +2) to AC due to small size.
Hit Dice 1d6.
Ranged combat at one length lower. (Long range is medium range, medium range is short range, and short range is point blank to a Halfling.)
Fearless: Immune to fear based spells or effects.
Lucky: Halflings may make a reroll of any failed saving throw.
Charm: If not in combat, Halflings may attempt to distract intelligent creatures, essentially capturing all of their attention. (This is owing to Halflings being seen as inherently cute, harmless, and silly by other races.) The level of this effect is equal to the Halfling’s level. The victim is allowed a saving throw each round, as long as nothing hostile or startling happens. For a group, only roll for the being with the best saving throw and take that for the entire group. Halflings with high Charisma should get a bonus. (Again owing to differing rules, this is left to the DM to decide on.) Caution: This ability doesn’t work other Halflings.
Standard Thief abilities and restrictions. Any leather armor a Halfling uses must be cut down to their size. They are restricted from most human-sized melee weapons. Short swords, maces, etc. may be used as a two-handed weapon. (Essentially limited to 1d6 damage weapons.) Halflings are restricted from longbows, but may use short bows.
Halflings would also seem to merit a special Bard class. But then again, “Bards suck.” Why bother?
Half Orc Berserker:
Infravision
Natural –1 (or +1) to AC due to thick skin.
Hit Dice is 1d12.
Bonus damage: Natural +1 to all melee damage.
Conditionally Fearless: Immune to fear based spells or effects, but only in combat.
Fast healing: Half Orcs heal at twice the normal rate, regardless of Constitution. Magical healing and potions are twice as effective. (Note: I’m still thinking about quick natural healing rules. Call them healing surges if you must. In lieu of that, with every hour of rest, a Half Orc regenerates 1 hp plus any Con bonus)
Half Orcs may not wear any armor. They can use any type of shield. Half Orcs may use human-sized two-handed swords and axes one-handed.
Battle Frenzy: In melee combat only, a Berserker gets multiple attacks per round. Two attacks at levels one to four, three attacks at levels five to ten, and four attacks starting at level 11.
And I don’t care what even my own rules call for, I’m house-ruling my Half Orc Paladin, Smite, into the game, because he rocks.
“Hey, J. What about Gnomes?”
“They’re good eatin’. What about them?”
J.
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