House Rules

Use the Advanced Labyrinth Lord rules (or the free, no-art rules), with the exceptions noted below.

Character Creations

Roll 3d6 for each ability score. Arrange the scores as desired.

New first-level characters start with maximum hit points.

Fighters

When rolling hit dice for single-class fighters, roll two dice and keep the higher result.

Single-class fighters deal d10 damage with a single-handed weapon or d12 with a two-handed weapon.

Elves

A classic/basic elf character may wear armor while casting spells. However, they use the attack bonus of a magic-user, not a fighter.

Single-class, advanced-style elves follow the attack bonus and armor restrictions of their class.

Magic-Users

When magic-users gain a level, they may choose one new spell and select another by random roll. A magic-user only learns other spells by adventuring (pilfering enemy spell books or discovering dusty scrolls) or from a non-player character.

Weapons and Damage

Use class-based damage. When wielding a single-handed weapon, a character causes damage equal to their class hit die.

Single-class fighters deal better damage: d10 with a single-handed weapon or d12 with a two-handed weapon.

For unarmed combat or improvised weapons, use one die smaller. A cleric engaged in fisticuffs deals d4 damage, for example.

Attack Rolls

d20 + Attack Bonus + Other Modifiers ≥ ascending AC hits

i.e.:

d20 + Attack Bonus + Other Modifiers ≥ 20 - descending AC hits

Fighter (and Monster) Attack Bonus

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Attack	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9	+10

Level	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Attack	+11	+12	+13	+14	+15	+16	+17	+18	+19	+20

Clerics, Magic-Users, Thieves, Etc. Attack Bonus

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Attack	+0	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4

Level	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Attack	+5	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+7	+7	+8	+8

Critical Hits and Misses

On a natural attack roll of 20, the attack causes double damage and triggers a morale check for the opponent.

On a natural attack roll of 1, non-magical weapons break. For magical weapons, roll another d20; the weapon breaks only on another result of 1.

Encumbrance

Armor determines movement rate. For a reasonable amount of gear, don’t otherwise track encumbrance, except that every 500 coins carried drops movement by one tier.

Armor	AC	AAC	Movement
Naked	9	11	180′
Shield only	8	12	180′
Leather armor	8	12	120′
Leather & shield	7	13	120′
Chain mail	5	15	90′
Chain & shield	4	14	90′
Plate mail	3	17	60′
Plate & shield	2	18	60′
+Encumbered			30′

Evasion and pursuit

If PC’s run from slower monsters, they escape to a known place on the map.
If PC’s run from faster monsters, they escape but get get lost.
If monsters run from slower PC’s, they get away.
If monsters run from faster PC’s, the PC’s catch them.

Scroll Scribing and Potion Brewing

In a week, assuming they do not ceaselessly adventure or travel, a spell caster of any level can create a scroll of a spell they know, or a potion of a spell they know that targets the caster/imbiber.

Spell Lvl	Potion/Scroll Cost
1	100 gp
2	200 gp
3	400 gp
4	800 gp
5	1,600 gp
6	3,200 gp
7	6,400 gp
8	12,800 gp
9	25,600 gp

Experience Awards

Characters earn 1 XP for each gold piece worth of treasure recovered.

These are things likely lead to a treasure:

kill, capture, or route all the monsters in a challenging combat
get a treasure (without killing a monster guarding it)
talk to a monster they haven’t met before without fighting it
exchange important information or aid with an NPC
discover a new dungeon level, wilderness lair, or hidden area
overcome an environmental obstacle (bridge a chasm, disarm a trap, navigate a trick maze)
engage with a new Weird thing (“What’s up with the glowing water in this pool? Let’s drink some!”)

Retainers, Linkboys and Porters

Since retainers attach to a particular player character, all the retainers of a player character share a fraction of the XP equal to that awarded to a player character — up to half. This XP is not deducted from the total awarded to the player character; it’s additional XP for the retainer.

Between all a player character’s retainers, divide a full XP share by the number of retainers plus one.

No. Retainers	XP multiplier
1	0.5
2	0.333
3	0.25
4	0.2
5	0.166
6	0.142
7	0.125

For example, a player character has two retainers. The character earns 910 XP, and each retainer receives 300 XP (910 × 0.333).

If a player designates one retainer as the party’s linkboy, and the linkboy forgoes participating in combats, the party will always (circumstances permitting) have light.

If a player designates one retainer as the party’s porter, and the porter forgoes participating in combat, assume the porter carries a reasonable amount of any routine equipment costing less than 10 gp. The party may forgo tracking ammunition.

See also adventures, monsters, spells, treasure, and ref sheet.

Paul Gorman, 2019–2020.