Knave 2e Alternate Attributes

Sometimes, I'm exactly in the mood for the classic simplicity of defining characters entirely by D&D's six attributes, as Knave does. But sometimes, I want the players have have just a little smidge more to fiddle with.

Repeated rounds of Covid have kept the group from meeting for awhile. So, my idle thoughts have strayed into GM solipsism: home brewing finnicky little preference into a perfectly fine system just because you can.

This approach pairs a few ability scores with a short list of broad skills. It is mostly drawn from Microlite20. I think it adds some more nuance to character mechanics without straying from Knave's philosophy of playing the world, not the character sheet.

Attributes & Skills

3 Attributes

STRength

DEXterity

WILl

5 Skills

Awareness

Communication

Coordination

Knowledge

Subterfuge

Expertise: If you roll a natural 20 on a non-combat, skill-based check, you can gain an expertise bonus of +1 in that specific activity (e.g. blacksmithing, pickpocketing, history, etc.). A character can have a number of expertises equal to half their level (minimum of 1). A player can choose to not take a new expertise if they would rather keep an existing one. Expertise never stacks.

The Rule of Specificty: I don't know if this would ever come up, but it seems like a good idea for when you let folks define skills on the fly: If two expertises are ever competing, the more specifically stated one gets the bonus. F'rinstance, if two rivals were competing to brew a new vaccine and one had an expertise in "Science" and the other in "Immunology," the Immunologist gets the bonus.

Base Mechanic

d20 + 1 Attribute + 1 Skill (+ 1 Expertise, if applicable) ≥ Target Number = Success

Combat Checks

Melee attack bonus = STR

Missile attack bonus = DEX

Magic attack bonus = WIL

Item Slots

STR + 10

Character Creation

+1 to one Attribute

+2 to divide among skills (you can stack)

1 Expertise

Advancement

+1 to one Attribute

+2 to divide among skills

Mixing and Matching Attributes & Skills

Several combinations of attributes and skills may apply to the same challenge. In climbing a cliff face, one player might rely on STR + Coordination, but another, who has studied how others have climbed similar surfaces, might use DEX + Knowledge. The referee may adjust target numbers to reflect the aptness of a particular combination.

Some Typical Recipes for 5e Skill Equivalents

Athletics = STR + Coordination

Acrobatics = DEX + Coordination

Sleight of Hand = DEX + Subterfuge

Stealth = DEX + Subterfuge

Arcana = WIL + Knowledge

History = WIL + Knowledge

Investigation = DEX + Awareness

Nature = WIL + Knowledge

Religion = WIL + Knowledge

Animal Handling = WIL + Communication

Insight = WIL + Awareness

Medicine = WIL + Knowledge

Perception = WIL + Awareness (but, of course, there are no Perception checks in Knave!)

Survival = STR + Knowledge

Deception = WIL + Subterfuge

Intimidation = STR + Communication

Performance = WIL + Communication

Persuasion = WIL + Communication

Remembering Microlite20

Back in the day, Microlite20 was the darling of the homebrew scene. Created by Robin V. Stacey from the d20 OGL, it boiled down D&D into a very simple game that made a great springboard for lots of folks to build from. Hundreds of variants sprung forth, including one or two on this blog.

It was also a little undercooked in ways that made it very hard to actually play at the table. But I've long admired it's simple pairing of 3 attributes + 4 skills to model a wide range of character behaviors. This is from Microlite20 Pureset Essence, the first variant of Microlite I saw, and the one linked above.

An addition lots of folks made to the skill list for Microlite20 was "Survival." This is campaign-dependent, but I might add it in.

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I've prepared a new layout document of Ben Milton's Knaves . Knaves is a great, light rules set that has an extremely elegant core mechanic while retaining total compatibility with OSR material. It's pretty much the rpg of my dreams. This document contains the complete rules, plus a bunch of useful hacks from the community, plus a few of my invention, plus some useful resources from Ben Milton's previous effort, Maze Rats . EDIT: I've updated the layout to fix errata and make a few tweaks. Further, I've made 3 variations: KNAVES TABLET LAYOUT The Tablet Layout is meant for scrolling on screens, and contains hyperlinks. KNAVES SPREAD LAYOUT The Spread Layout is set up to print on Letter-sized paper. KNAVES A4 LAYOUT The A4 Layout is set up to print on A4 paper, and is probably the most elegant of the three versions. This is presented with generous permission from Ben Milton, and should in no way be an excuse for not purchasing a copy of Knav

JosephSeptember 6, 2024 at 1:49 PM
Must be something in the air. I was just dusting off my Microlite house rules to start a science fantasy campaign. For some reason, whenever sci-fi is involved to any degree (even ridiculously cartoonish sci-fi), I start to think the game I'm running needs skills. (Also, I use your ASE house rules document as the jumping off point!) I guess I haven't played it enough to bump up against the quirks that make it hard to run, but I've read a lot of comments that it's underdeveloped. I like the addition of the expertise trait!

An Abominable Fancy

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