Design Theory

Glaive came about because certain people believed that Skills and Powers was not balanced. As a result, we started trying to design a modification to make it balanced and give greater flexibility in creation (without increasing complexity in play).

Glaive is designed to ensure a balance between races and classes. Demi-humans are no longer restricted by level, but their special abilities are now more more expensive. All classes use the same number of points to purchase abilities. Members of one class may spend points to buy abilities from other classes, although this is more expensive.

All races also receive the same number of points. These points may be spent on racial abilities, or transferred to class. Some of the more powerful races will require taking experience penalties if they want to enjoy all of the abilities that a normal member of that race will have.

It is expected that races are not designed by players, but by the DM. The DM will make up any races, including any spare points available. The player then decides on the race and sub-race(/region) that their character comes from.

Class and race points are mostly a reflection of utility, rather than rarity. While the onus then falls to the GM to ensure rare abilites are not overly common, it avoids characters with unsual abilities not being particularly powerful.

Priests

In 2nd edition AD&D, priests are based on the crusaders (of history, not the kit). They are decent fighters and decent spellcasters. Compared to a, say, thief, they rocked. Skills and powers, plus Spells and Magic, made the problem worse. A lot of clerics had so many points they didn't know what to do with them all. An example is the crusader kit, which is almost as good as a paladin, but with full priest spells and none of the paladin's restrictions.

With Glaive, we decided that the traditional priest was more the home body, not the warrior. Priestly spells are the main stock in trade. Those priests who wish to be both devout and combative are best taking some fighter abilities.

Rogues

Thieves in 2nd edition AD&D are poor combatants, relying mostly on their thief skills. However, they tend to be in combat almost as much as the fighters. As a result, we have allowed rogues to have better thief abilities or combat abilities by decreasing the cost of thief abilities. Thus a thief could be the master thief who doesn't fight at all, or your more typical ADnD thief, who also fights.

Bards work well, since they can now really be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Glaive allows for the norse skald, who doesn't know spells, to exist. The bard's player simply has to choose warrior abilities instead of spell casting.

Mages

We considered a mages main skill to be spells. Other abilties included researching and school selection. Not all mages will have enough knowledge to research or know all schools, instead they speak their spells by rote. In such situations, the mage may have come from a primitive culture, and possibly know other skills as well (having thus spent some points on other classes).


Made with
vi! Glenn Butcher / knight