Exceptional Ability Scores for AD&D 2E

Exceptional Strength is one of those iconic rules of D&D. I thought that it was something created for AD&D 1E, but I discovered that it first showed up on OD&D Greyhawk. Basically, if you are a Fighter (Warrior Group in AD&D2E) and you have Strength 18, you can roll 1d100 to access a special chart with additional progressions for to hit, damage, encumbrance and feats of might stuff.

 

The idea behind Exceptional Strength is beautiful: Warriors can achieve degrees of strength unreachable by other classes. The execution of that idea: sorry Gygax, but quite “meh”.  C’mon: if you are rolling 3d6 in order (like we are), the chances of getting a 18 are – I think – lower than 1%. To create a class feature that less than 1% of its members can use sounds absurd (but 100% pure Gygaxian I guess). No wonders basically ALL Fighters in the 90s had Strength 18 on the Brazilian groups that I frequented.

 

In other words, I would love to keep Exceptional Strength in my AD&D 2E game, but I wanted to de-couple it from Strength 18. Thankfully, the fine gentlemen of the Dragonsfoot forums went ahead and did all the work.

 

So, basically, in my current campaign, ALL Warriors (usually Fighters, Rangers and Paladins… but I might also add Barbarians) have Exceptional Strength, no matter their true Strength Ability Score (which, following AD&D 2E rules, must be 9+ if you are a Fighter).

 

Here is the EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH table (again, inspired by Dragonsfoot):

 

Exceptional Strength	Hit Probability	Damage	Weight Allowance	Maximum Press	Open Doors	Bend Bars/Lift Gates
0-50	+0	+1	+25	+25	+1	+4
51-75	+1	+1	+50	+50	+2	+9
76-90	+1	+2	+75	+75	+3	+14
91-99	+1	+3	+125	+125	+4(3)	+19
00	+2	+4	+225	+225	+5(6)	+24

I really liked this approach, and my table so far has enjoyed it too.

 

But that opened new questions for me.

 

AD&D 2E mentions that Halflings can never have Exceptional Strength, even if they rolled 18. While, on one side, I love the byzantine requirements and restrictions of AD&D 2E, I also like to provide alternatives. So, if you are a Halfling Warrior, you still can’t have Exceptional Strength, but you can have Exceptional Dexterity or Exceptional Constitution (other Warriors can choose freely).

 

Here is my first take on EXCEPTIONAL DEXTERITY (it is still under playtesting, as just one player has used it so far): 

Exceptional Dexterity	Reaction Adj.	Missile Att. Adj.	AC Adj.	Saving Throws Adj.	Special
0-50	+1	+0	+0	+1	+1 ranged dmg*
51-75	+1	+1	+0	+1	+1 ranged dmg, +1 AC vs ranged att
76-90	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2 ranged dmg, +1 AC vs ranged att
91-99	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2 ranged dmg, +2 called shots, +2 AC vs ranged att
00	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2 called shots, +2 ranged dmg +2 AC vs ranged att, +1 RoF

  *DM can rule that this damage operates under the same limitations of backstab and critical hits (i.e., if a creature has no discernible anatomy and is immune to backstabs/critical hits, then it should be immune to this precision damage too). However, DMs using Combat & Tactics are welcome to ignore this if the player provide a proper justification and, for example, ask for a called shot (after all, a magic arrow in a vampire’s eye might hurt more).

Here is EXTRAORDINARY CONSTITUTION (no one has used it yet). And this one requires some explanation.

 

Hit Point Adjustment, System Shock, Resurrection Survival and Regeneration: those stay as they are. I don’t want to inflate AD&D 2E’s hit points (and I like how Warriors gain extra hit points on 17) . Also, both System Shock and Resurrection Survival are already clearly bounded in the 1-25 scale.

 

Poison Save: as in the current table.

 

Disease and Fatigue Save: same logic as Poison Save but applying to these categories.

 

Resist Lethal Wound: the most radical departure. This presupposes that you’re using the Hovering at the Death’s Door (from the Dungeon Master’s Guide). Basically, you can keep fighting at that amount of hit points, but you must make a System Shock roll after your action or suffer 1d6 points of damage due to exertion.

 

Exceptional Constitution	Poison Save	Disease Save	Fatigue Save	Resist Lethal Wounds	Special
0-50	+0	+1	+2	-	Flesh Wound: Recover 1 hps after an encounter if you lost hps in that encounter.
51-75	+1	+2	+2	0 hit point	As above, but it is 2 hps.
76-90	+2	+2	+3	-1 hit point	As above, but it is 3 hps.
91-99	+2	+3	+3	-2 hit point	As above, but it is 4 hps.
00	+3	+3	+3	-3 hit point	As above. 1/day you can make one saving throw vs death to negate one critical hit, one energy drain attack or to reduce to half an attack that doesn’t allow a saving throw.

 

And YES! Tinkering with rules above, made me want to create Exceptional Intelligence, Exceptional Wisdom, and Exceptional Charisma. I’m ironically aware that I might be going “full Hackmaster”. But let us leave that for another post 😊