Magic-Users With Swords

Michael Whelan's cover for Stormbringer

Most older editions of D&D restrict the Magic-User class in its use of weapons other than daggers and staffs. These restrictions are in place for game balance and make sense for the archetype of the scholarly magician, but what about players who want to play the archetype of the sword-wielding Magic-User?

The two main examples of this archetype are Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné, and J. R. R. Tolkien's Gandalf. People like to say that Gandalf doesn't count as a player character because he's one of the Maiar in human form and is essentially a supernatural being, but that doesn't make people want to play a character like him any less -- and fantasy roleplaying is all about playing the kinds of characters who inspire you to want to walk in their worlds.

Here's a way of allowing Magic-Users to wield swords in your old school game while still preserving the balance between Fighters and Magic-Users.

Magic Swords

If looking at these two characters as the main representatives of the archetype of the sword-wielding Magic-User, you will notice that neither Elric nor Gandalf are interested in the mundane swords of soldiers. Both of them come into contact with magic swords. As Magic-Users, they are inherently interested in magical artifacts. In the case of Elric, his sword Stormbringer is obviously intelligent and exerts some influence over him. No such relationship is explicitly described between Gandalf and Glamdring, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be some form of intelligence in that sword as well, and therefore some sort of inferred connection between the wizard and the blade.

For the purposes of furthering this archetype, based on the above, I will posit that Magic-Users are only interested in magic swords, as the result of their unique magical capabilities and their intelligence.

Magic swords, however, are most interested in Fighters, who represent the archetype of the brave warrior. Magic swords want to be used, and they know they will be used in the hands of a Fighter. But they are also artifacts of magic, and so Magic-Users do interest them to some extent; they are perhaps willing to make deals with them.

The Bargain 

Magic-Users cannot offer magic swords nearly as much melee action and spilled blood as Fighters, but they can offer them something else: the unique resource Magic-Users have at their disposal, which is spells.

In exchange for a store of magical energy (a spell slot), a magic sword might be persuaded to lend its strength to the Magic-User.

Magic-Users are not trained combatants. They spend their time studying books and scrolls, not gaining skill with body and weapon. Both Elric and Gandalf are Magic-Users who were capable of powerful magic long before they come upon their respective magic swords. Stormbringer lends Elric almost the entirety of his strength and ability to fight; without the blade's magic, he's a feeble albino, albeit still a powerful sorcerer. Gandalf's relationship with Glamdring is not explicit, nor implicit, but a similar lending of strength and fighting ability is something that could make sense in the context of a fantasy roleplaying game, given that Gandalf never wields another weapon and that there must be some special reason for his taking up Glamdring.

New Spell: Commune With Sword

This is a 2nd-level spell. Once this spell is cast, the Referee should make a Reaction Roll for the magic sword when first grasped by the Magic-User. If the result is positive, the sword will allow itself to be carried and drawn by the Magic-User. Going forward, it will lend its strength and fighting ability to the Magic-User in exchange for a spell slot, determined randomly by rolling a die equal to the maximum level of spell the Magic-User is able cast and adding a modifier of +1 (a magic sword will not accept a 1st-level spell slot as adequate recompense).* If the Magic-User is out of spell slots of the rolled spell level, re-roll.

After the spell slot is consumed, the Magic-User fights as a Fighter of equal level to the Magic-User. The duration of the boon is a number of turns equal to the level of the spell slot consumed. After the duration has passed, the Magic-User no longer has the strength or skill to wield the sword in combat, but can still make use of its passive magical abilities.

This spell can be cast in advance, before preparing spells, and only activated after the sword is drawn.

This spell must be cast each time the Magic-User wishes to wield the magic sword in combat. It only requires a single spell slot, whichever one has been consumed in the casting.

If the magic sword is not used in combat with occasional frequency, the Referee should make another Reaction Roll to determine whether the sword will continue to allow the Magic-User to wield it.

*Alternatively, the Referee may allow the Magic-User to decide the level of the spell slot to be consumed, thus giving the Magic-User control over the duration of the spell. Some Referees may find this flexibility too powerful, as it further infringes on the Fighter's precedence in regard to magic swords.

On Balance

The important thing to note here is the Reaction Roll: the magic sword must accept the Magic-User as its bearer, and Commune With Sword must be cast before the Reaction Roll is made. In addition, the desires of the magic sword and its influence over the Magic-User should be role-played during the game. These restrictions protect the Fighter's role as sole master over magic swords, but allow the lucky, clever, and sacrificing Magic-User to benefit from wielding such special blades of intelligence and magic, which may well be better understood by the Magic-User than the Fighter; after all, it isn't a Fighter who crafts these artifacts in the first place, but a high-level Magic-User.

OD&D: Balancing Demi-humans (Dwarves)

The Dwarf from Swords & Wizardry Core Rules

Dwarves in OD&D/S&W are fairly competent characters with no real drawbacks aside from being limited to 6th level Fighters. As the majority of my play happens in the levels 1-4 range, level limits are usually irrelevant at character creation.

Using the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules as a base, I developed the following house rules in order to balance low level Dwarves against humans in my OD&D/S&W game:

Dwarf

Prime Attribute: Strength, 13+ (+5% experience bonus)

Hit Dice: 1d8/level

Armor/Shield Permitted: Any

Weapons Permitted: Any except large two-handed weapons, specifically two-handed swords, polearms, or longbows. When wielding a battleaxe, longsword, or bastard sword, Dwarves must use two hands and therefore cannot also carry a shield.

The player-character Dwarf has a +4 on saving throws against any magic, and easily takes note of certain features of stonework: sloping corridors, moving walls, and traps made of stone -- in particular: falling blocks, rigged ceilings, and tiny arrow slits designed to release poison gas or darts. They can also identify whether stonework is recent or not. There is no established die roll for using these abilities; exactly what a Dwarf does or doesn't perceive is up to the Referee. Dwarves only take 1/2 damage from ogres, trolls, and giants. Dwarves can see in the dark (darkvision), to a limit of 60 feet.

Dwarven player characters must be Fighters.* They may advance beyond 6th level only if the warrior has a Strength of 17 (maximum 7th level) or 18 (maximum 8th level).

Dwarves use the class abilities and advancement table of the Fighter, however, Dwarves may not make use of the Fighter's Parrying ability.

Dwarves with a Constitution of 14+ may choose to brace themselves instead of attacking, giving enemies a -2 penalty to attacks against the Dwarf.

Rationale

The main change I made in balancing the Dwarf against the human Fighter was to limit the Dwarf's use of weapons. Specifically, keeping the Dwarf from wielding a longsword one-handed means that out of the two, only the human Fighter can deal 1d8 damage and carry a shield; Dwarves with a shield are only able to do a maximum of 1d6 damage with the weapons available to them. And only the human Fighter has access to the highest-damage weapon, the two-handed sword (1d10 damage). Therefore the best choices a Dwarf has for two-handed weapons are the battleaxe and bastard sword, due to their +1 to damage when wielded two-handed. I like the archetype reinforcement these rules encourage.

Removing the Dwarf's ability to Parry as a Fighter keeps the integrity of the skill and speed humans have over Dwarves in tact.  

For the bracing ability, I wanted to give Dwarves some feature which represents their sturdiness without giving permanent bonuses to hit points or Armour Class. Incorporating the 1/2 damage from ogres, trolls, and giants helps with this too, though the Referee needs to include those monsters in the campaign in order for it to be useful.

*I do not use the Thief class in my game. Therefore, all Dwarves are Fighters.

OD&D: Balancing Demi-humans (Elves)

The Elf from Swords & Wizardry Core Rules

The concept of level limits, hotly debated in old school circles, does little to dissuade my players from choosing to play demi-humans at low levels. As the majority of my play happens in the levels 1-4 range, level limits aren't really relevant, and demi-humans end up being the obvious choice due to their myriad advantages over humans.

Using the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules as a base, I developed the following house rules in order to balance low level Elves against humans in my OD&D/S&W game:

Elf

Prime Attribute: Strength and Intelligence, 13+ (+5% experience bonus)

Hit Dice: Elves roll a d6 for their hit points, as opposed to the average of a d4 and a d8 that S&W uses. (This isn't so much a balancing mechanic as it is me finding the combined hit dice too clunky.)

Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather, ring, chain; shields

Weapons Permitted: Dagger, staff, longsword, and longbow

Elves can see in the dark (darkvision) to a range of 60 feet and generally have a 4-in-6 chance to find secret doors when searching, unlike the other races, which have a 2-in6 chance. Elves also have a 1-in-6 chance to notice a secret door even when they are not searching. They also cannot be paralyzed by ghouls.

Player-character Elves are Fighter/Magic-Users.* Elves are limited to 4th level Fighter (5th level with Strength of 17, 6th level with Strength of 18) and 8th level Magic-User (9th with an Intelligence of 18). Regardless of any further progression in levels as a Magic-User, Elves are able to cast magic spells only as high as 5th-level spells.

An Elf cannot cast spells while wearing non-magical armor, although magical armor does not inhibit spell casting.

Elves cannot make use of magical scrolls other than protection scrolls.

Elves are exceptional archers and do not suffer any penalties to hit for shooting beyond range when using a longbow. The weapon still cannot reach farther than twice its range.

Elf Advancement Table

				Number of Spells (by level)
Level	Experience Points Required for Level* (Fighter / Magic-User)	Hit Dice (d6)**	Saving Throw	1	2	3	4	5
1	0	1	14	1	–	–	–	–
2	1,500 / 1,875	2	13	2	–	–	–	–
3	3,000 / 3,750	3	12	2	1	–	–	–
4	6,000 / 7,500	4	11	3	2	–	–	–
5	12,000 / 15,000	5	10	4	2	1	–	–
6	24,000 / 26,250	6	9	4	2	2	–	–
7	– / 37,500	7	8	4	3	2	1	–
8	– / 56,250	8	7	4	3	3	2	–
9	– / 75,000	9	6	4	3	3	2	1

  *Any experience points received are divided evenly among both of the Elf’s classes, even when the character can no longer advance as a Fighter (in which case, those XP are simply lost). You still need to keep track, though, because it may be important for when you gain more hit dice (see below).

 ** A new hit die is not gained until the Elf has advanced a level in both classes. If an Elf reaches the point where the Fighter class is "capped," and the character cannot advance in that class any more, the character still only gains a new hit die when both levels would have been reached.

Rationale

These rules give the Elf immediate trade-offs for their versatility out of the gate at 1st level. Being restricted to chain, an Elf can never have a higher AC than a human Fighter in plate. Limiting access to the larger and heavier weapons ensures the Elf will never be able to do as much damage in melee as a human Fighter potentially could. Giving the Elf a d6 hit die keeps the human Fighter well ahead in hit points. I did however remove the range penalties for an Elf using a longbow to represent the archetype of the Elven archer.

Balancing the Elf against the Magic-User was a bit trickier. The Elf has a better hit die, is able to use melee weapons, and is able to cast in magical armor. To offset these advantages, I allow human Magic-Users in my game to create scrolls beginning at 1st level as in Holmes Basic (100gp per level of spell and 1 week of game time per level of spell); I do not allow Elves to use scrolls at all.

Elves use a magic that resides within; they spend their time honing the natural magical energies that flow in their fae blood. They do not prepare spells by memorizing gestures and incantations by rote as humans do, but rather attune themselves to inner thoughts and feelings which bring about the magical effects of their spells. Thus, magical scrolls are useless to an Elf.

The XP chart is simply the separate requirements of the Fighter and Magic-User classes, multiplied by .75 to give the Elf a bit of a break in lieu of these limitations. I otherwise use the advancement rules for multi-classed characters in the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules.

 *I do not use the Thief class in my game. Therefore, all Elves are Fighter/Magic-Users.