Specialists suck, scoundrels rule, everyone else dies

The specialist was sitting there looking a bit poorly ever since wizards and fighters got a fresh coat of paint, so now it's their turn.

Very simple. A specialist may spend 2 skill points at creation or on levelling up to gain +1 attack bonus or 1 spell "slot", i.e. you may memorise a single spell and cast it without blowing everyone up or turning them into piles of eyeballs.

Yes, you could get a better attack bonus than a fighter. Just remember you have no HP, no skills, and why on earth would you pick a specialist to do this? Sort it out.

Since the specialist is now anything but, and there is a long tradition of arbitrarily renaming the sneaky-guy, I will now call them Scoundrels. It is not restrictive in scope, somewhat adorable, and suggestive of being a vagabond, a happy-go-lucky rapscallion, or a downright shitbag.


This seemingly small change will allow the scoundrels to be whatever the players want them to be without slapping a huge and alien system on top.




Save vs. Death

And another thing: sometimes I don't know what save to have people roll, but I know that there definitely should be dying going on here. For those situations, for the times when it's just bare faced luck resulting in certain death, have a Save vs. Death.

	Fighter	Magic-User	Scoundrel
0	15	17	12
1-4	13	15	10
5-8	9	11	8
9-12	7	9	6
13-16	5	7	4
17+	3	5	2

Saves tell you a lot about how the characters are perceived. Go look at the lists now, they're a little bit interesting.

Anyway, this table tells you that scoundrels are lucky, fighters stare death in the face, and magic-users had it coming.

Symmetry Between Stabber and Stabee

We can all agree that symmetry is objectively the best thing, in all things, and anything that isn't symmetrical is only interesting because of its refusal to admit that it's wrong.

With that out of the way, rolling for armour.

It comes in three tiers for simplicity and parity with Lamentation's own ideas of how weapons work. When struck by an assailant one need only roll the number of d6 associated with the armour worn and reduce incoming damage by that amount, as follows:

Light - Great coats, gambesons - 1d6

Medium - Chain armour, brigandines - 1d8

Heavy, fully articulated, rigid nonsense - 1d10

To compensate for the addition, a subtraction must be made (symmetry must be done). Therefore, armour no longer changes AC. Now AC represents something more akin to good footwork and parrying, rather than taking it on the chin. Rename it to "defence" if it makes you feel better.

Shields work by allowing the wielder to add 1d4 vs. any one blow. This may be chosen at the time of rolling, but before the dice are thrown. 

Anyone in defensive stance can add a shield's 1d4 against all strikes in addition to the usual bonus. Parrying also gains this benefit.

Reasons that this is The Best Thing: Other than forming a fearful symmetry, it allows a shade of active participation in blocking and a touch of randomness. Also, high ACs are incredibly boring and create long periods of not much happening. Rolling for armour will allow there to be little victories scattered along the winding road to popping that tin can open.