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Old School Stylish

Classless, Discovery-Based Advancement · By Heavy Pepper Games

d66/36 Starting Styles Table Sticky

A topic by Heavy Pepper Games created Dec 06, 2021 Views: 594 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 2
Developer (1 edit) (+3)

This is something I would have liked to include in the main PDF, but unfortunately did not have space for. Below is a list of 36 starting styles that you can roll on if you like your chargen to be more random. They are written as professions, so you can have them double as a quick indicator of what kind of vocational knowledge a character is bringing with them into their adventuring career. 

If you haven't used a d66 table before, you roll 2d6 and read the first die as the tens place and the second as the ones place. So rolling a 2 on one die and a 4 on the other could be read as rolling a Cutpurse (24). If your players like a smidgeon more choice, let them read the numbers in the order they choose. 

By the way, if you have ideas for your own starting styles (or your own tailored list you want to share), feel free to post them in here!

11 Academic Carrying a textbook gives access to relevant expert knowledge. 

12 Animal Trainer +1 on reaction rolls with non-humanoids

13 Bandit +1 on Move Silently and Hide in Shadows.

14 Bureaucrat  Can use their title to access low-security restricted areas, such as jails, records  rooms or a busy official’s office.

15 Burglar +1 chance to Open Locks and Find or Remove Treasure Traps.

16 Caver Can climb sheer surfaces.

21 Crafter Can repair non-magical objects. A turn for a simple one, an hour in other cases.

22 Cook Can turn two rations into a single meal that heals 1 HP.

23 Connoisseur Knows when a single object is worth more than 100 GP. 

24 Cutpurse +2 to Pick Pockets

25 Delinquent +1 damage to enemies laying on the ground or held in place by an ally.

26 Detective +1 to find hidden doors, can discern what killed something.

31 Farmer Heal +2 hit points on rest.

32 Fisherman Always succeed on hunting rolls near a body of water.

33 Herbalist Brings a satchel of herbs that heal 2 HP once. Refills in downtime or wilderness.

34 Hunter 1-in-6 chance to turn any corpse into a ration.

35 Laborer +2 HP.

36 Librarian Find anything in bookshelves, desks, or similar spaces without spending time.

41 Lookout +1 on Hear Noise and Move Silently.

42 Lumberjack Always succeed on rolls to destroy or cut objects with an axe or similar weapon.

43 Mediator +1 on reaction rolls with humanoids.

44 Mechanic Can use any item to repair an object given a semi-plausible explanation.

45 Merchant Recovered treasure is valued at 10% more gold (after awarding XP).

46 Minister If allowed to deliver a sermon for at least 20 minutes, can put listeners to sleep.

51 Noble Always departs with a retainer who does not demand payment nor test loyalty for dangerous tasks. They demand on-the-job training or similar opportunities.

52 Painter With access to the right pigments, can create convincing visual illusions on a wall or similar surface. 

53 Performer Retainers and Mercenaries add +1 to Loyalty when testing it.

54 Rebel +1 ATK when attacking during a surprise round. 

55 Sailor Can man and repair small vessels on their own, and can book passage on bigger  ones for free during an expedition.

56 Scout Wilderness encounters are always spotted from the maximum distance possible, including when surprised. 

61 Smuggler Has a hiding spot on their person no one can find, even with a thorough search.  Can  hold  an  extra  item  smaller  than  a  sword,  which  does  not  count  toward inventory space.

62 Socialite Can invite themselves to most parties, ceremonies, or similar functions.

63 Soldier +1 damage when outnumbering an enemy in melee.

64 Speechwriter +1 to morale of allies.

65 Traveler Starts with an extra language and a regional guide to (d6): 1) temples or shrines 2) all notable taverns and bars, 3) an adventure site (contains every rumor available for it), 4) local fauna, including monsters 5) officials and nobility, including a couple scandalous secrets 6) famous masters and their tutelage requirements.

66 Yogi Eat half as often as a normal character.

(+1)

Glad I found this! I just got my copy of Old School Stylish, and absolutely love it. Plan to use it in a game that combines Knave with OSE, and was just about to build my own starting style list. I'll go through this one and then see if I come up with anything to add or replace. Thank you so much for such a cool system!

Developer

That sounds cool! Very interested to see what this would be like if used with Knave. And I appreciate your feedback! :) 

This is in the very nascent stages, but I'm sort of a completionist, so it probably is pretty decent look at where I'm going. Keep in mind, zero of it is playtested at this point, so there may be massive holes that I haven't noticed yet. And for people that love OSR, they are going to HATE that I've ported in the 5e combat chapter, but I'm not sorry for loving that action economy! ;-P

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kD7HVGDatZI8Tr3PP8NkZGPKqCNOJerDnfWKJvHC16M/...

Developer (1 edit)

This looks cool! Man, there is something magical about seeing the style stuff get mixed with other people's ideas to make something entirely new. By the way, I like that you redid the Exhaustion table from 5e. That idea was close to being useful, but it just kinda funneled you into having to solve things with combat. Making the combat penalties come sooner in this version was very smart. 

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to trying my hand at creating some styles, but I want to play with what exists first a little bit before I start doing that.

Hats off. That looks really good.

Uhm so, is there an update on this? Because it's simply amazing and precisely what I've been looking for in the OSR. Not to mention your clean presentation and succinct writing is really great.

Thanks!

There's a variation on it over at my site: look for Treasures Just Beyond - Enter The Nerdom variant.

But the larger update is still in the works. It's undergone a lot of rework though, so it's not something I can share out for a while, unfortunately.