NEW PROFICIENCY OPTIONS! VG!

        **** NEW PROFICIENCY OPTIONS

Going along with the guidelines set by the Complete Fighter's Handbook, 
I will be incorporating a few extra proficiency rules into the game. 
THIS APPLIES TO >EVERYONE<, WARRIORS AND NON-WARRIORS ALIKE!! I 
realize that you have already selected your weapon and nonweapon 
proficiencies, but since hey haven't been used yet, I'm allowing you 
the option to change them if desired. I think many of you will choose to 
do so after you read this. You're welcome to ignore this message but I 
HIGHLY recommend you do not!

First of all, any "bonus language" gained by your intelligence score 
may be spent on EITHER weapon or nonweapon proficiencies. That would 
mean a character with 14 intelligence would be able to have as many as 4 
extra weapon proficiency slots!


WEAPON PROFICIENCIES
-------------------
I'd like to give a brief overview of how weapon proficiencies are 
normally dealt with in the AD&D game. If you're already familiar with 
them, you may want to skip this paragraph. What it all boils down to is 
that a character MUST have a proficiency with a weapon to be able to use 
it normally. To become proficient, the character "spends" one of the 
weapon proficiency slots he has on that weapon. If he uses a weapon he's 
not proficient in, he suffers a -2 attack penalty for weapons which are 
completely unfamiliar, or -1 for weapons which are similar to those 
which he already has a proficiency (these penalties are worse for 
non-warriors).                                                

WEAPON SPECIALIZATION (warrior only)
-----------------------------------
To SPECIALIZE in a particular weapon, a character must devote TWO slots 
to that weapon (three for bows and crossbows). When using his 
specialized weapon, he gets a +1 to hit and +2 to damage. Only warriors 
(fighters, rangers, and paladins) can take weapon specialties. Such a 
character may only take one when he is first created, but may specialize 
in new weapons as he gains new slots (all characters receive new weapon 
and nonweapon proficiency slots every 3 to 6 levels, depending on class). 

WEAPON-GROUP PROFICIENCY (warrior only)
---------------------------------------
By spending just TWO weapon proficiency slots, a warrior may select a 
weapon GROUP to become proficient in. When fighting with any weapon in 
the group he is proficient in,he does NOT suffer any penalties. This is 
normally a far better way to spend your proficiencies. Why would you 
spend one slot on a harpoon and one slot on a javelin, when you can just 
spend two slots on the "Spears" group and become proficient with 
harpoons, javelins, long spears, spears, and tridents?

Your warrior can choose to specialize in the following groups:
AXES, BOWS, CLUBBING WEAPONS, CROSSBOWS, FENCING BLADES, FLAILS, LANCES, 
LONG BLADES, MEDIUM BLADES, PICKS, POLEARMS, SHORT BLADES, SICKLES, 
SLINGS, SPEARS, and WHIPS. If you are interested in any of these groups, 
leave me a message and I will tell you which weapons each group 
incorporates.

BROAD WEAPON GROUP PROFICIENCY (warrior only)
---------------------------------------------
This is essentially the same thing as weapon group proficiencies, except 
that you can become proficient in a much broader range of weapons. To 
become proficient in a broad weapon group, it costs three slots. The 
following groups are available: BLADES, CLEAVING/CRUSHING WEAPONS, POLE 
WEAPONS, SMALL THROWING WEAPONS. Again, let me know if you desire more 
information on these groups.

AMBEDEXTERITY
-------------
It costs ONE proficiency slot to become ambidextrous. Becoming 
ambidextrous eliminates a few of he penalties that come with fighting 
with two weapons at once, and totally eliminates any penalties from 
"off-hand weapon use", since both hands are equally functional. Rangers 
are NOT automatically considered to be ambidextrous (sorry, Carideth), 
but they still keep their two-weapon attack bonuses.

FIGHTING STYLE SPECIALIZATION
-----------------------------
There are four standard fighting styles employed by anyone using a melee 
weapon. They are SINGLE WEAPON, TWO-HANDED, WEAPON AND SHIELD, and 
TWO-WEAPON. All warriors are assumed to be proficient in all fighting 
styles. Priests know single weapon, two-handed, and weapon and shield. 
Thieves know single weapon, two-handed, and two-weapon. Wizards know 
single-weapon and two-handed styles.

ANY character may specialize in a fighting style. Warriors may 
eventually specialize in all fighting styles, but other classes are 
confined to specializing in one style ever. All players may begin play 
with a MAXIMUM of one style specialization, just as warriors are only 
allowed to begin play with a maximum of one weapon specialization. It 
costs one slot to specialize in a fighting style. They are described 
below:

SINGLE WEAPON STYLE (all classes)
---------------------------------
The advantage to the singe weapon style is that the character keeps a 
free hand for grappling, switching weapons, surprise maneuvers, or 
whatever comes along in the course of combat. If you specialize, then
whenever using a one-handed weapon and keeping the other hand free, you get a
+1 AC bonus. Additionally, if you devote an EXTRA proficiency to
this style (thus spending 2 on it), you receive a +2 AC bonus.

TWO-HANDED STYLE (all classes)
------------------------------
Advantages to wielding a two handed weapon include increased damage and 
the fact that it is harder to disarm you in combat. By devoting a 
proficiency slot to the two-handed style, your weapon's speed factor is 
reduced by 3, thus giving you a much better opportunity to attack 
earlier in the round before anyone can hurt you.

WEAPON AND SHIELD STYLE (warrior & priest classes)
--------------------------------------------------
A weapon and shield style is good because you get bonus armor class 
benefits from the shield, plus you are able to perform the shield-punch 
and shield-rush maneuvers. By specializing, you receive one extra attack 
per round, which must be devoted to either the shield-punch or parry 
maneuver. If you opt to use this extra attack, you will receive a 
penalty of -2 to hit with your weapon ad -4 to hit with your shield (-2 
and -2 for ambidextrous characters). By devoting an EXTRA proficiency to 
this style, the penalties drop to 0 with the weapon and -2 with the 
shield (0 and 0 for ambidextrous people). You do not get the shield's AC 
bonu when performing this double attack.

TWO-WEAPON STYLE (warrior & thief classes)
------------------------------------------
One great advantage to this style is that you have a weapon in each 
hand. By style specialization, you are able to use two weapon of equal 
length as opposed to unequal length, so you CAN wield two long swords, 
for example. Your attack penalty also drops from -2 with one weapon and
-4 with the other to 0 with one weapon and -2 with the other (0 and 0
for ambidexterity). You may alo perform two maneuvers in the same 
round (for example, two strikes, or two disarms), or two different 
maneuvers (one strike and one parry, or one pin and one strike, for 
example). If the two maneuvers are different, there is a -1 to hit 
penalty. Though rangers don't suffer from the off-hand penalties for 
two-weapons use, they do not get a bonus to hit if they specialize. They 
do, however, get the other benefit of being able to wield two weapons of 
the same length.

I certainly hope this will help you all. I will be mailing you all 
private mail containing how many weapon and/or nonweapon proficiencies 
you may have should you wish to change how they are already set up (and 
I strongly advise that you do).

Again, my most sincere apologies if I have confused anyone with extensive use
of jargon and numbers, but you SHOULD be able to understand the benefits and
restrictions of weapon proficiencies and specializations regardless whether
you know what the numbers mean or not.

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|/ungeon |  |aster

Sage's Desk AD&D