I've mentioned before that, while there are a lot of nice features about Blueholme, it has some weakness in the combat department and perhaps needs free casting.
Settled Changes:
1--I am definitely going to use the Chainmail weapon length rules and variable weapon damage that's not open to debate. The rules "as-is" are the worst feature of the game (and were in Holmes Basic on which this was based).
2--Free Casting: definitely going to use free casting when you have access to spell book, and am going to let Level-1 magic-users have 1 free scroll as per Jason's suggestion.
3--+1 to hit and damage for charge, double damage for charging lance, spears/pikes do double damage against charging enemy. These are all old-school D&D things that fit with Blueholme nicely and give people more options.
Other Ideas:
1--Knockdown: I'm thinking that Heavy Weapons can be used to knock down enemies instead of doing damage--various rules to succeed and save of course. Polearms also can dismount riders
2--Fighter Rampage: give fighters 1 "cleave" per level, up to 8--bonus attack when they put someone down.
3--Over 20 bonus: if your modified "to hit" roll is 20 or more, you get to make a bonus attack. Since there are so few bonuses to hit in Blueholme this happens less often than you might think. This would be for all characters.
Consideration: Do we need Fighter Rampage and Over 20 both? Maybe so. They certainly aren't as mighty as a fireball.
No doubt about it, fighters are a little "dull" without special extras like magic gear and unusual steeds to liven them up. I tend to do it on a case-by-case basis, but there's no argument against formularising some options for them.
ReplyDelete