Update Monday: Changes to the Game

A quick summary of obvious changes from the base S&W ruleset:

Abilities:  I've toyed with changing Wisdom to "Spirit" and Charisma to "Presence", but have not done so here. 

• Strength gives a bonus to damage.  Only fighters (and maybe soldiers) get a to-hit bonus right now.
• Constitution gives a bonus to hit points.
• Dexterity gives a bonus to armor class.
• Intelligence gives bonus skills and languages.
• Wisdom gives a bonus to saves vs magic.  I think.
• Charisma gives a bonus to reaction checks and the number of henchmen and/or hirelings a character can have.

Ability Scores bonuses: 9-12 +0, 13-15 +1, 16-17 +2, 18 +3

Rolling Ability Scores: I'm going to try a hybrid approach.  Players will have a set of bonuses (+3 or +4) to distribute, and then will roll to determine their exact score within that range.  For instance, a player with a +0 modifier in Strength will roll a d6.  A roll of 1 means a score of 9, 2-3 means a score of 10, 4-5 means a score of 11, and 6 means a score of 12. 

Experience: I don't do it.  I do my best to balance the classes, and leave it at that.  There are so many experience schemes out there, use whatever one appeals to you.

Prime Requisite: So without XP, what does PR do?  Every character will have two Prime Requisites, one from class and one from race.  Characters get full modifier effects of their PRs, and a +1 in anything that qualifies for a bonus but isn't a Prime Requisite.  Yes, right now this means that PR only affects scores of 16 or higher.  I'm still working this out.

Example: Abilard the Dwarf (PR: Con) Thief (PR: Dex) has a 16 Con, 16 Dex, and 16 Strength.  (just go with it).  He gets a +2 bonus to hit points, a +2 bonus to AC, but only a +1 bonus to weapon damage.

Levels: I stop at 12th level.  Some high-level spells will be moved down.  If I do a 12+ level game, it'll move into divine territory and I'll figure it out then.

Advantage: Means a +2 bonus.

Knack: Succeeds on a roll of 16 or higher.

Skilled: Succeeds on a saving throw.

Skills: I'm winging them, more or less.

Feats of...: Catch-all category for bending bars, lifting gates, sundering doors, forced marches,starvation,   puzzles, and stuff like that.

Boons: Feats.

Recharging:  Some abilities will have a "recharge" feature.  This usually isn't a full recovery, it means the effect can be pushed for another round by making a save.  And another round after that with another save.  Exact details will depend on the ability.