5.  CHARACTERS

   
    This chapter is concerned with aspects of Plynck which directly affect the roll-up and maintenance of characters.  Since a lot of what is here constitutes additional (to Chapter Three's) rule changes (or tweaks)  from AD&D; it might have made sense to put those parts under there.  But I think it's better to have all of these aspects together.
 

     There are several new or changed spells discussed in this chapter.   There is a <<<forthcoming>>> list of those spells, laid out in standard AD&D Chapter 11 format.

     {March, 2023}   Still need to generate this list.

    This chapter contains the following sections:

5.1  Gaining Experience Points and Leveling Up
5.2  All Types of Damage Can Be Cured
5.3  Initial Ability Rolls
5.4  Initial Supplies and Money
5.5  Starting Out at First Level
5.6  Rapid Advancement at Low Levels
5.7  Some Notes on Running

5.1  Gaining Experience Points and Leveling Up

    One of the strongest points, not only from the survey, but from actual running, is that people want their characters to stay as close to even (I almost said 'level') in levels as possible.  We've been getting closer to this ideal: in fact for both the Huge Dungeon and Shared World runs, we could just as easily have kept a single, group-wide XP record, instead of having each player / character keep it separately.  But there are things out there that neither of those groups have run into yet, which according to the AD&D books will drain experience or levels from individual characters.  Also, some spell casting, and much magic item crafting have a cost, per the AD&D books, to the spell-caster in XP.  These, as well as other, rarer, events, could create discrepencies in XP, and eventually in levels, between the group members.     
    Therefore, to meet a goal of having all characters always at the same level, it will be necessary to make more changes: beyond just those of gaining XP evenly.  Various sections in this chapter will address changes that will allow that goal to be met.

5.1.1  Earning XP

    Just a spot of history, back in the original D&D, before the Advanced (the "A" in AD&D) changes, even before Greyhawk, one of the aspects used to create a balance between different classes was to assign different amounts of XP required for each class to go up a level.  It wasn't a very good balancing methodology, which has a lot to do with why it isn't around any more.  For example, because Wizards became so powerful at higher levels, they were "slowed down" by needing almost twice as many XP as Fighters, in order to advance to each next level.  This neither prevented them from being way overpowerful at the highest levels, nor kept them from being way underpar at the lowest levels.  It was an interesting concept, however.  And it could have been made to work, if the designers hadn't been trying to simplify things by overadherence to a simplistic mathetical model.
     It also points out that "balance" needs to be an overall concept, and not an attempt to make every aspect equal across every class, race, level, etc.  Otherwise all the characters would end up in lockstep with each other; and be mostly indistinguishable from each other.

    We will continue to award XP to all members of the group, reguardless of who participated in any individual encounter; and also without any tracking about some characters being more or less effective during that encounter.  XP will thereby continue to be awarded at the same rate to all group members, who will thus go up levels together.
    In fact, if the group wishes, the chronicler can keep track of the accumulating XP, instead of each member doing so in parallel.

5.1.2  Losing XP
   
    Now, to consider the cases of negative XP.  There are, in straight AD&D, two kinds: temporary and permanent; and both apply to an individual character, not to the group as a whole.  Which only makes sense in that context: a wraith is draining the single character it touches; a mage casting a spell with XP cost is not sharing that cost with anyone else; a dead character, brought back to life and losing a level to the shock, did go through that death and shock alone.
    However, we are now going to apply some changes to the AD&D rules, to overcome those difficulties.
    All temporary damage to XP will be covered in the next section.
    Permanent damage we'll take care of here.

    First, a philosophical digression.  What are Experience Points?  As the history lesson above tells us, in one sense they are just counters: used to know when to advance a character up a level.  But in another, more roleplaying sense, they are a measure of actual experiences on the part of the character, and their growth in knowledge, understanding, and ability to deal with the world as a result of those experiences. 
    In fact -- more history -- there are systems where the XP are awarded on a highly individual basis: not only would a group member need to be present at an encounter in order to gain XP from it -- to have experienced it -- but also they would have to actively and effectively participate in the encounter.  Based on the level of the beast, Fighters would be awarded so many XP per hit point of damage they individually did to the beast, because fighting is their primary aspect.  Spell users who cast spells would receive XP for the actual spell casting.  If the spell did damage directly to the foes, they also would receive XP per HP damage done.  If the spell didn't do direct damage, but did help the group (e.g., an Aid spell for +1 ToHit), they would receive a percentage (additional, not taken away from) of the XP from HP damage.  Thieves (which tells you that this is a long ago system) would receive XP for picking locks, finding traps, etc.  And so forth for other classes.  As you can see, this is a highly individualized view of XP, where each character's experience points are tied directly to that character's individual experiences within the group.  But just imagine the bookkeeping required.
    What we're going to aim for, here in Plynck, is something that feels like a good balance between these two historical extremes.  And part of that (we're still working on philosophy here) is that losing experience is an oxymoron.  However much chocolate you've eaten thus far in your life, henceforth you can either stay the same (a pity) or have eaten more.  You can never, hereafter, have eaten less.  Likewise, characters can not go forward and somehow have experienced less than they have experienced at the present. 

    Therefore, we do not want XP to be an individualized tracking of how much an individual character has experienced.  Nor do we want XP to be a purely mathematical concept open to manipulation - additions, subtractions, ratios - as a means of fudging other aspects into a balance.  What we are going to have, instead, is XP as a tracking of how much experience the group as a whole has participated in, and shared with each other.  And as a consequence of that, there will be no way to actually lose XP.

    Basically, in AD&D there are three ways to permanently lose XP.  One is to be drained -- of either XP or entire levels -- by monsters or spells.  The second is for the character to expend them him- or her- -self, as in the creation of a magical item.  The third is by dying, recovery from which usually requires either a level loss or else a Constitution Point loss.
    And by permanent, the rules mean that there is no way of regaining those lost XP: only the regular ways of gaining new XP.

    So here's what is going to change:

    Monsters dealing level damage: on a case by case basis, this damage will either be turned into temporary negative levels (see next section), or else some other kind of damage altogether (see also next section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into said monster; and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular monster instance.

    Monsters dealing XP damage:  on a case by case basis, this damage will be turned into some other kind of damage altogether (see next section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into said monster; and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular monster instance.

    Spells dealing level damage:  on a case by case basis, this damage will either be turned into temporary negative levels (see next section), or else some other kind of damage altogether (see also next section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into a foe with said spell (or until one of you selects it); and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular foe.

    Spells dealing XP damage:  on a case by case basis, this damage will be turned into some other kind of damage altogether (see next section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into a foe with said spell (or until one of you selects it); and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular foe.

    Spells with an XP cost to cast:  on a case by case basis, this will be turned into some other cost - usually an (expensive) used-up item.  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until one of you selects that spell (or asks after the costs as part of deciding whether or not to take it).

    Crafting Magical Items with an XP cost:  on a case by case basis, this will be turned into some other cost - usually an (expensive) used-up item.  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until  one of you selects that Feat (or asks after the costs as part of deciding whether or not to take it).

    For these last four (but not for the monsters), as I make these decisions, I'll record them into a living <<<forthcoming>>> Replacement Costs Instead of XP Table.  So that once the decision has been made, anyone can look it up.

    {March, 2023}   Still need to start writing up this Table.

5.1.3  New Characters

     From time to time, people will decide to retire an existing character and bring a new one into the group.  Outside of the social dynamics involved, any such new character will come in at exactly the same level and XP count as the existing group.  [The leaving character will cease to gain XP with the group, of course.]  And once they become a member of the group, will share in the XP awards exactly the same as the other members.

5.2  All Types of Damage Can Be Cured

    This was another strong set of points from the survey: some types of damage were more upsetting - more "never want to happen" - than others; but which varied from person to person.  Overall, however, there was a strong desire that no damage be permanent to the Character, without any way of recovering from it. 
    Therefore, that will be true in Plynck.
    Caveat: some types of recovery are going to exist, without being available to the group.  Especially at low levels, when the group has neither the internal spell capability to effect the recovery, nor the accumulated wealth to pay for others to (most likely) cast those spells on the afflicted group member. 

5.2.1  Hit Points

     Hit Point damage can be cured by the standard ways that have existed in AD&D: getting eight hours of sleep overnight will restore one HP per level;  use of the Healing Feat by someone else can double that (or triple it: see the writeup, PHB p.69); and of course all the Cure spells, plus some other healing spells, can restore HP immediately.

5.2.2  Limb Amputation

    There is an existing spell, Regenerate, Cleric 7th, which can reattach a severed limb immediately, or create a replacement limb in a couple of minutes.  
    In addition to this, there are now two new spells which operate in similar ways, but take longer. 

Lesser Regenerate, Cleric 5th, Healing 5th: same as Regenerate except that the reattached or created limb is not functional for twenty-five hours.  Ruined organs and broken bones are restored immediately.  Also, the spell cures 1d8 + caster level (up to +15) of hit points.

Minor Regenerate, Cleric 3rd, Healing 3rd: same as Regeneate except that the reattached or created limb is not functional for one month.  Ruined organs and broken bones are restored immediately.  Also, the spell cures 1d8 + caster level (up to +10) of hit points.

5.2.3  Skill Points

    I'm not actually aware of anything which can cause loss of Skill Points.  But there was a passing reference to such a damage in the PHB, so perhaps some monster or spell does cause this.  Also, Skill Point loss may become a substitute for XP or Level draining.
    Reguardless of the cause, Skill Points are never actually lost or diminished.  Instead, a negative modifier, of some magnitude, is applied to that skill.  Negative Skill Points are recovered from at the rate of  'losing' - recovering from - one Negative Skill Point per day, at dawn.  If the character has Negative Skill Points in more than one skill, each such skill will recover from one Negative Skill Point at dawn.
    Additionally, the spell Lesser Restoration is being changed as follows: it now restores 1d4 points of Negative Ability, Negative Saving Throw, or Negative Skill Point immediately (well, after the three rounds of casting time).  The caster may use all of the restoration on one Ability, Save, or Skill, or may spread them across multiple Abilities, Saves, and Skills.  The original writeup's distinction between temporary and permanent draining is no longer applicable.  
    The spell Restoration (in addition to its other uses) can be used to remove all Negative Skill Point, Negative Saving Throw, and Negative Ability damage to one creature.

5.2.4  Skill Ranks

    It is never possible to lose Skill Ranks.

5.2.5  Feats

     I don't think anything in the existing AD&D can take away Feats.  However, Feat loss is likely to become a substitute for XP or Level draining.
    If a Feat is lost, so would be any other Feat for which the first was a prerequisite.  To circumvent that, no Feat may be lost if the character has an existing, non-lost Feat which is dependent on the first feat.
    A lost Feat will return in 1d8 days.  If multiple Feats are lost, they return one at a time; and a Feat may not begin returning unless all of its prerequisites have returned (or were never lost).
    The spell Restoration (in addition to its other uses) can be used to immediately return one Feat (within the prerequisite restrictions discussed above).

5.2.6  Saving Throws

    I'm not actually aware of anything which can cause loss of Saving Throws.  But there was a passing reference to such a damage in the PHB, so perhaps some monster or spell does cause this.  Also, Saving Throw loss may become a substitute for XP or Level draining.
    Reguardless of the cause, Saving Throws are never actually lost or diminished.  Instead, a negative modifier, of some magnitude, is applied to that skill.  Negative Saving Points are recovered from at the rate of  'losing' - recovering from - one Negative Saving Point  per day, at dawn.  If the character has Negative Saving Point in more than one Save, each such Save will recover from one Negative Saving Point at dawn.
    Additionally, the spell Lesser Restoration is being changed as follows: it now restores 1d4 points of Negative Ability, Negative Saving Throw, or Negative Skill Point immediately (well, after the three rounds of casting time).  The caster may use all of the restoration on one Ability, Save, or Skill, or may spread them across multiple Abilities, Saves, and Skills.  The original writeup's distinction between temporary and permanent draining is no longer applicable.  
    The spell Restoration (in addition to its other uses) can be used to remove all Negative Skill Point, Negative Saving Throw, and Negative Ability damage to one creature.

5.2.7  Abilities

    In addition to existing ways to damage Abilities, Ability loss may become a substitute for XP or Level draining.
    Reguardless of the cause, Abilities are never actually lost or diminished.  Instead, a negative modifier, of some magnitude, is applied to that skill.  Negative Ability Points are recovered from at the rate of  'losing' - recovering from - one Negative Ability Point per day, at dawn.  If the character has Negative Ability Points in more than one Ability, each such Ability will recover from one Negative Ability Point at dawn.
    Additionally, the spell Lesser Restoration is being changed as follows: it now restores 1d4 points of Negative Ability, Negative Saving Throw, or Negative Skill Point immediately (well, after the three rounds of casting time).  The caster may use all of the restoration on one Ability, Save, or Skill, or may spread them across multiple Abilities, Saves, and Skills.  The original writeup's distinction between temporary and permanent draining is no longer applicable.  
    The spell Restoration (in addition to its other uses) can be used to remove all Negative Skill Point, Negative Saving Throw, and Negative Ability damage to one creature.
     The spell Heal, as part of its curing damage to the character, will remove all Negative Ability damage to one creature.  Mass Heal will work on multiple characters.  Both of these spells act exactly as written in the PHB.

5.2.8  Experience Points

    As discussed in more detail in the first section, it is no longer possible to 'lose' experience points.  Instead, such damage will be turned into damage of some other kind.  In particular:

    Monsters dealing XP damage:  on a case by case basis, this damage will be turned into some other kind of damage altogether (see other parts of this section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into said monster; and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular monster instance.

    Spells dealing XP damage:  on a case by case basis, this damage will be turned into some other kind of damage altogether (see other parts of this section for possible candidate damages).  Most likely, I won't worry about making that decision until youall are about to run into a foe with said spell (or until one of you selects it); and then I'll figure it out as part of rolling up that particular foe.

5.2.9  Levels

    As discussed in more detail in the first section, it is no longer possible to lose levels.  Instead, this damage will either be turned into temporary negative levels, or else some other kind of damage altogether (see other parts of this section for possible candidate damages). 

    A Negative Energy Level works in exactly the way described in the PHB: causing cumulative negatives to most of the character's rolls with each additional Negative Level.  Also, if the number of Negative Energy Levels (NELs) equals or exceeds the number of Character Levels, then the character is dead.

    Recovering from NELs is somewhat different from the PHB writeup.  Some NELs go away with time, with no further harm: that is still true.
    Some NELs had to be recovered from with a save.  In AD&D, failing that save meant that the NEL went away, but that the character also lost a level.  As noted above, this is no longer possible.  Instead, a fail on that save roll means that the NEL stays around for another day, with all its minuses.
    In both cases, the PHB discussion of restoration to the minimum XP for the recovered-to level should be ignored.  As above, those XP were never lost, thus do not need to be recovered.  Any character afflicted with NEL damage still maintains the same number of XP - and the same Character Level - as the rest of the group, but is temporarily working with minuses on all level-related attributes.

    The spell Restoration (in addition to its other uses) can be used to remove 1d4 NEL damage to one creature.

5.2.10  Death

    There are various ways of 'curing' this 'damage' using existing PHB spells.  However, given the new rules on (not) losing XP, most of those spells require tweaking.

Reincarnate - Druid 4th:  There is no loss of one level (or one CON point).  Otherwise, the spell works as written.

Raise Dead - Cleric 5th:  There is no loss of one level (or one CON point).  Otherwise, the spell works as written.

Resurrection - Cleric 7th:  There is no loss of one level (or one CON point).  Otherwise the spell works as written.

True Resurrection - Cleric 9th:  The spell works as written.

5.3  Initial Ability Rolls

    Methodology.  Giving all characters the same pool of initial stats to work from is another level of balancing that the group as a whole wants to continue doing. 
     Rather than using a straight "roll four keep three" six times, I tried for a different curve by using "roll five keep three" for two stats, "roll four keep three" for two stats, and "roll three keep three" for two stats.  With the additional restriction that if the roll was less than the average for that number of dice (round down) then I rerolled (those minimums being 16 for five dice, 13 for four dice, and 10 for three dice).  Then, if the total for all the dice rolled met the minimum, the top three were used to define the stat number.
    The numbers thusly produced were:

18,  16,  14,  13,  12,  10

5.4  Initial Supplies and Money

    There's a table on PHB p. 95 giving Random Starting Gold by class.  Mostly, we're going to ignore the table.  Or, rather, we're going to assume that each random roll came up "4" on the indicated number of d4s.  Also, do pick a free clothing outfit, as offered in the paragraph above that table.
    In addition, each of you will have been given some supplies by the school, organization, temple, apprenticeship master, secret society, or whoever has been training you up in your class.  The following table shows all this:

CLASS
 GP
 ITEMS
Barbarian
 160
 any armor up through chainmail, masterwork on weapon,  Cure Light potion
Bard
 160
 masterwork instrument, masterwork on armor, Everburning Torch, two 50gp potions
Cleric
 200
 deity's holy stone, 3rd level scroll
Druid
 80
 masterwork on armor, 3rd level scroll
Fighter
 240
 any armor up through chainmail, masterwork on weapon,  Cure Light potion
Monk
 200
 masterwork kama, nunchaku, or siangham, Everburning Torch, Cure Light potion
Paladin
 240
 any armor up through chainmail, masterwork on weapon,  Cure Light potion
Ranger
 240
 any armor up through chainmail, masterwork on weapon,  Cure Light potion
Rogue
 200
 masterwork on armor, Everburning Torch, Dust of Tracelessness (10 shots)
Sorcerer
 120
 1st level spell wand with 25 shots, three 50gp potions
Wizard
 120
 3rd level scroll, three 50gp potions
 
    The 3rd level scroll may be of any 3rd level spell which the character can use (that is: within class, alignment, and school restrictions).  Note that use of 3rd level scrolls by spellcasters who are less than 5th level carries some risk of a backfire.
    The 1st level spell wand may be of any 1st level spell which the sorcerer has access to, but has not personally selected.
    The 50gp potions are: (a) Jump; (b) Spider Climb;  and (c) Cure Light Wounds.

5.5  Starting Out at First Level

    Stronger characters are more fun, I completely agree.  So why, then, are we starting with all characters at first level?  There are three main reasons.
    The first is that there are, in Plynck, a number of differences in the rules from AD&D 3.0 (and even more so from AD&D 3.5).  Hopefully, adapting to this ruleset will will require little effort - but it will certainly require somewhat more than zero effort.  By starting out at first level, and working up through the lower levels sequentially, everyone -- including the DM [especially the DM] -- will have an opportunity to get used to the different rules gradually, instead of immediately being in situations where multiple new rules all need to be considered together, all for their individual first times.
    Second, I am hoping that -- half through role-playing, half through player interaction -- having the group come together at the earliest its members could all meet each other: such that the learning how to best divvy up the tasks, and coordinate the actions, during encounters, will actually be happening, will speed the "cooking" of the individual characters into a cohesive team.  As opposed to starting everyone at a higher level, and simply declaring that "the group has learned to work together" -- elegant words, but not so likely to translate into truly coordinated actions, without the shared-by-players experience to back it up.
    Third, and this one is the least important of the three, I think that there is a discernable difference between a character who selects each level's advancements, one at a time, and has experiences inbetween each leveling up -- and a character who starts at a higher level, and decides on several levels' worth of advances all at once.  And I think that the first "career advancement path" results in a better (which is not the same as stronger) character.

5.6  Rapid Advancement at Low Levels

     But while I want the charcters to all start at first level, I have no great interest in spending run after run down in the low levels.  Accordingly, I'm going to be applying an accelerant to gaining XP, and thus levels, while the group is working their way up. 
    Normally, each encounter is worth so many XP, and that is then divided by the number of group members, and then apportioned to those group members.  For encounters at lower levels, that "divided by number" will be skewed.  Reduced.  A lower divisor will mean greater totals of XP rewarded, and shorter times going through each level.  [When I tried this experiment while DMing for my nieces (and boyfriends) over Christmas, by the end of one long, 20 hour run they were all fourth level.]
    The divisors will be as follows:
    Levels 1 through 4:  Divisor = 1.
    Level 5:  Divisor = 2.
    Level 6:  Divisor = 3.
    Level 7:  Divisor = 5.
    Level 8+:  Divisor = 7  [Actually = <group size>].

    The D&D books suggest that it should take an average of fourteen encounters, in order for a character to go up a level.  They've worked to set up the Challenge Ratings (for selecting monsters) and XP tables, with that in mind as an ideal for advancement at every level.  Obviously, we are going to be providing a massive twist on that, especially at the lowest levels.  I do not think we will have any "go up a level, have one encounter, go up a level" sequences.  However, I do feel sure that it will take a lot less than fourteen encounters to reach each next level for the first few.  It would not surprise me if we leveled-up twice in a single run, early on. 
    As a consideration based on that, it would be a good idea to have some plan for your character - in how you want them to advance, so that when we do level up, you won't be going into that activity cold.

5.7  Some Notes on Running

    Thoughts off the top of my head -- with at least some tangental relationship to how I intend to DM in Plynck.   Most of these translate into ideas for the group to toss around -- work with, expand upon, or reject -- concerning group dynamics.

5.7.1  Selecting a Leader

     At the player level, this needs to be someone who is willing to take on the extra work
     At the character level, the leader will be the main point of interaction with many of the NPCs, and will thus benefit from having a high charisma and otherwise coopeative attitude.  The leader will also be making strategic decisions outside of and prior to encounters, and tactical direction during encounters.
    [Note that the leader is not a Den Mother, and is not responsible for picking up after the other characters, nor for making them play nice with each other.]

5.7.2  Makeup of Group

     As discussed elsewhere, Plynck's physical makeup gives it a heavier than normal (for D&D worlds) number of undead.  While this won't be all that apparent, or relevant, at encounters during the early levels, the greater number of undead encounters will become a factor at some point. Accordingly, it would be useful to consider having a second Cleric in the group (not to mention the additional healing thus provided).
    Most likely all the low level activity will be in a city.  And even after the group starts adventuring, in-town encounters will tend to predominate until they reach a wilderness.  Accordingly, Druids would not be a good fit for what this group will be doing.  Barbarians may also be at a disadvantage, or end up as a liability to the group.  Rangers are not as out of place as either Druids or Barbarians; and their outdoor skills will become quite useful outside the city, even before the wilderness is reached.  A rogue will certainly be in demand for a lot of the in-town activities. 
    When the group is large enough to include one, a Bard is an excellent all-round means of enhancing all the other characters' abilities.
     As for the physical classes -- Fighters, Monks, Paladins (and Rangers again) -- and the mage classes -- Sorcerers, Wizards -- some of each are necessary to round the group out and provide it with the variety of 'tools' to meet different encounters; but the exact makeup, which ones and how many, isn't as important as having them at all.

    Most importantly, overriding all the above, every player needs to be selecting a character and class which they will enjoy running.

5.7.3  Intra-Group Guidelines

     These are topics for which I think any group is better off, if they've been discussed and resolved in advance. Since I don't have a character in the group, I'm not going to express any opinions on the topics.  And I'm certainly not going to try and dictate a decision from outside.

    Treasure Splits  --  When to hold them.  How to conduct them.  What to do with huge value items.  What to do with cursed or (assuming a mostly good tilt for the group) evil items.

     Group or Individual Possessions  --  What to do with, for instance, a magic ring, between the time it is found and the next treasure split.  Should there be a group pot.  Which expenses are paid for by the group, which by each individual. 

     When Characters Leave  --  Mostly a question of possessions.  Possibly there will be an issue based on the group's reputation, but in this case the DM would be involved.

     Admitting  New Members  --  Deciding whether a character should be admitted to the group or not.  For that matter, deciding that the group needs to find a new member.  Vesting (if there is a group pot).  Must the new character be the same, or a very closely related, class as the old character.  When to allow NPC Followers and Hirelings.

     Leadership Duties  --  Which kinds of decisions should be made by the leader (perhaps with advisement); which kinds require group votes; do any require full group consensus; which are up to each individual.

5.7.4  Teamwork

    I'm very much in favor of teamwork.  The single most useful subject in the AD&D 3.5 PHB II is the section on benefits from teamwork, and I appreciate that approach.  We're not going to do anything so formal here, however.  Instead, as the group settles in, and they develop methodologies and begin repeating some actions in the same way (e.g., checking and opening doors), I will respond by lowering the DC against which group members need to roll, to accomplish those actions successfully. 

5.7.5  Minions and Fellow Travelers

    There will be occasions when the group is helped out by NPCs, or is itself assisting in a much larger NPC orchestrated encounter.  Under those circumstances, the number of resulting XP will be lower for the group, than if they had dealt with the encounter entirely on their own.  How much lower will, of course, need to be determined on a case by case basis.
    If any of the group takes the Leadership Feat, and thereby gains Followers; or if anyone in the group, or the group as a whole, acquires hirelings; those NPCs will be rolled up by the DM.  So please give me some head's-up time so I won't be using runtime to do that.  However, once rolled up, all such NPCs will be run by the players.  [That does introduce a potential for abuse, so the DM reserves the right to declare that any action is contrary to the NPC's self-interest (e.g., acting as a Forlorn Hope rear guard), and determine some alternate activity on the NPC's part.]
    Followers and hirelings will earn XP, thus cutting into the XP earned by group PC members.  Exactly how much (it will not be full shares) will be determined once the need arises (that is, when someone starts investigating the acquisition of Hirelings or Followers, so that they can make an informed decision).

5.7.6  Roleplaying

    I like roleplaying.  I intend to reward roleplaying with XP.  Under the overriding spirit of group sharing, roleplaying XP will not be earned by, or rewarded to, individual characters.  Rather it will be a highly subjective decision on my part.  XP earned from roleplaying will be handed out at the beginning of each run, and will cover the entirity of the previous run.

5.7.7  Generating Backgrounds

     This is entirely optional.  I think having some backstory about your character -- where they're from, what they family life was like, how they got involved with whoever was  teaching them their class -- is useful for discovering how the character will react under various situations.  And thus for roleplaying in general. 
     But I'm certainly not going to force it on anyone.
     On the other hand, if anyone would like help in rolling up a family tree, or other semi-random (as opposed to purely made up) backgrounds, please ask.
     And reguardless of how they're generated, I would like to see any background you do come up with for your character.

5.7.8  Periodic Purchases

     There are two subjects here.  The first concerns the daily upkeep of the characters, plus any livestock they may have.  For the sake of simplicity, I would like to use John's rule (actually an alternative from a D&D sidebar) that room, meals, and stabling average out to 45gp per character per month.  Let's go with 35gp if the group has no lifestock.  [And excessive numbers of lifestock, like a muletrain, will require an upwards adjustment.]
     These 45 (or 35) gp "dues" are due on the first of each month.  [We'll worry about an inability to pay if it ever comes up.]  At the start of the game, everyone's next month's dues have already been paid.

    The other concerns items which wear out and must be replaced.  The most obvious, and one that everyone is already familiar with, has to do with bookkeeping:  how many arrows from this quiver have been used up?  How many shots does this wand have left?  Have I drunk all my Cure Light potions?  How many more Undead Turns can I do today?  Everyone is used to tracking these, so nothing new needs to be said about them.
    The other items that need to be tracked are various Tool and Skill Kits. 
    The following kits come with ten 'shots' each, and are then used up and must be replaced:  Disguise; Healer's.
    The following kits are partially depleted after a year's use, and must then be replaced / refilled:  Alchemist's Lab; Climber's Kit; Spell component Pouch.  This needs to be done on the first day of the year, or as soon thereafter as the character is in a location to purchase such a kit.  Refilling a kit costs 1/2 the original cost of the kit. 

5.7.9  A Note on Watches

    The twenty-five hour day in Plynck is one of the most noticable differences from other D&D worlds, and from our own.  The division of those, into five watches of five hours each, has some ramifications which the group and leader ought to consider.
    Typically, when a group is inside a dungeon, there will be one, rarely two, watches worth of time spent exploring and fighting, before the group holes up to wait for spells to come back: resting for four (rarely three) entire watches and part of another.  Also typically, when a group is outside, two watches of the day are spent in traveling, and the other three in chores and camping.
     The first suggestion this evokes is that the watch order for the group would benefit from having people assigned to every one of the five watches: so that whenever the group stops and sets up watches, everyone will know who is 'on' now, and how soon (because the initial watch is unlikely to be an entire five hours) the next watch starts.
    The second is that assignment to watches be staggered such that everyone has the opportunity to rest or sleep, reguardless of which three watches are used to camp.

    And the third relates to the new rules on Fatigue.  By spreading watch duty and sleeping across three five-hour watches (instead of the three four-hour watches of most D&D worlds), there is an increased availability of hours for avoiding any Fatigue penalties.
     Let me give an example:
    Thorg needs eight hours of sleep.  Or, according to the PHB, "The character does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period."
    Say he has Medium armor, and doesn't have the Endurance Feat, so now he needs nine hours.  He's on one watch out of the three, so that takes up five hours of the _fifteen_ typically dedicated to camping and chores.  Let's put him on  4th watch for hours 16-20.  He plans to rest and sleep for hours 11-15, and then from 21-24, for his total of nine.  Leaving hour 25 free for other activities.
    During hour 17 some orcs attack.  Thorg was on watch, thus already awake, thus loses no sleep over this. [Perhaps he doesn't even bother to wake the people who are sleeping.]  Then, in hour 22, an ancient red dragon swoops down.  The ensuing encounter takes less than a minute, before the entire group (everyone was woken up) finishes off the foolish wyrm, but Thorg has lost that entire hour of sleep.  To make up for it, he now sleeps (or rests) in for hour 25.
    So now he's had sleep during hours 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 24, and 25, for a total of nine, thus avoiding any Fatigue penalties.

5.7.10  The Passing of Time

     Thus far, in all of our runs in various worlds and with various groups, none of the AD&D age rules have been applicable.  [Well, Tarva came close to reaching Middle Age, but her time in Feyland had rolled back her clock enough that she didn't reach that birthday during our runs.]  And given the typical ratio of in-game time to real-world time, the chances of age ever becomming a factor are pretty small.
    Except that in Plynck, that ratio is likely to change.  Because  4.1.2, Expanded Skills Hierarchy, and 4.1.3, Expanded Weapons Learning, were voted in, then it is quite possible that calendar time in Plynck will run faster than calendar time out here in the real world.  And in that case, age may well become a relevant factor.

    Accordingly, I do need for every character to have an age and a birthdate. 
    For ages, use the Random Starting Ages table on PHB p.93.
    For birth dates, first roll a 1d12 and then count down in section 2.7.2 of the World chapter, to determine which month your character was born in.  Then roll percentiles until you get a 28 or less, to determine the day of that month.

    The Plynck adventure will begin on Plow 1, 5038, the first day of spring.  You can use your age to work backwards to see which year your character was born in.