As mentioned in the previous post, I've been using Old School Essentials to run playtests of The Blades of Gixa, as OSE is largely a "restatement" of the classic B/X D&D that much of contemporary old-school role-play is based on.

While OSE isn't the system I usually run, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get back to some of the OSR's roots, and I'm a big fan of its clean and clear reformulation and presentation of this classic rule set. I find the official OSE books to be the gold standard for usability and presentation among fantasy RPGs, alongside the official Mothership books for sci-fi RPGs.

I also really appreciate the Carcass Crawler zine that accompanies OSE, which applies that same presentation style to expanded materials, house rules, and other supplemental bric-a-brac that doesn't fit in the core books. One of these house rules is for the Thief, which traditionally has a set of specialized skills (Climb Sheer Surfaces, Hide In Shadows, etc.) that each have a percentile (d100-based) chance of success, which improve at fixed rates as the character levels up. This is commonly house-ruled, as it doesn't give the player any real agency over how they want their thief character to progress.

The "d6 Thief Skills" house rule suggested in Carcass Crawler #1, p.29, swaps out the fixed-progression percentile-based skills for a point-buy d6 system, in which all skills start with a 1-in-6 chance of success, and at each level, the player is allotted a number of points to distribute among skills, each raising chances of success by 1-in-6. This is a nice rule, as it simplifies the rolls and gives the player the ability to improve their character in the ways they want.

Compared to the original system, this rules change trades power for flexibility: in the d6 system, the player has control over how to advance skills but they can only be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6 chance of success (about 83%), while most of the skills in the traditional percentile system go all the way up to 99% chance of success. Pick Pockets goes all the way to 125%! I think this is generally a fair trade-off, but it does really nerf Pick Pockets quite a bit.

So I did what I tend to do and house-ruled the house rule. I also opened up many of the classes from OSE Advanced Fantasy as options for players to pick from at character creation, and certain classes from Carcass Crawler will become unlocked as they progress through the dungeon. Many of these have their own percentile-based skills, and so I figured if I'm offering a more flexible system for the Thief, why not do the same for the rest? And that's how we got here.

So far, this set of rules seems to be working pretty well, so I now present to you:

Flexible d6 Skills for OSE Classes

These are alternate rules for using Skills with various classes from Old-School Essentials:

• Thieves from OSE Basic Fantasy.
• Acrobats, Assassins, & Barbarians from OSE Advanced Fantasy.
• Acolytes, Mages, Mutoids, Tieflings, Halfling Hearthsingers, Arcane Bards, Ratlings, & Changelings from Carcass Crawler.

These rules may be offered to players as alternatives to the traditional percentile skills systems for the listed classes. Players should understand that these systems trade some of the reliability of skills (especially at higher levels) for the flexibility and control in choosing how your character advances.

• Skills only: These rules only describe rules for class skills. Refer to the relevant OSE books and zines for the full rules on each class.
• Starting skills: All skills start at a 1-in-6 chance of success unless otherwise noted.
• Raising skills: To assign points to a skill, raise the skill by 1-in-6 per point added. Skills can only be raised to a maximum 5-in-6 unless otherwise noted.
• Using skills: To use most skills, roll a d6. If the roll is equal to or less than the x-in-6 chance of success, the action succeeds. Otherwise, it fails. Skills that work differently are noted as such.
• Exceptional skills: Certain skills can be raised to 6-in-6 or higher. When using a skill at 6-in-6 or higher, roll 2d6. Your attempt only fails if you roll boxcars (both come up 6es). This represents approximately a 97% chance of success.

d6 Thief Skills

• Rules reference: OSE Basic Fantasy, Carcass Crawler #1 p.29.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6, except Pick Pockets, which can be raised to a maximum of 7-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 4 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, distribute 2 points among skills.
• Skills Rules: Skills other than Pick Pockets & Read Languages work as described in the Thief rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Pick pockets (PP): Roll to pick a victim's pockets. Your roll is penalized by 1-in-6 for every 3 levels your victim has.
  • Read Languages (RL): Available from 1st level, instead of 4th.

d6 Acrobat Skills

• Rules reference: OSE Advanced Fantasy.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6, except Tightrope Walking, which can be raised to a maximum of 6-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 7 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Falling & Tightrope Walking work as described in the Acrobat rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Falling (FA): This skill is not rolled. When able to tumble, take no damage from the first 10' of any fall. For each point in Falling, reduce additional damage by 1d6.
  • Tightrope Walking (TW): Roll to walk 60' across a narrow beam, tightrope, etc. Fall on fail. Windy conditions reduce chance of success by 1-in-6. Holding a balance pole increases chances of success by 1-in-6.

d6 Assassin Skills

• Rules reference: OSE Advanced Fantasy.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6 except Assassination, which starts at 0-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6 except Assassination, which can be raised to a maximum of 6-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 6 points among skills. You can only put up to 1 point into Assassination at level 1.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Assassination work as described in the Assassin rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Assassination (AS): This skill is not rolled. An assassin has +4 to hit an unaware humanoid with HD ≤ 4+1 from behind. On a successful hit, the target must Save vs. Death or they are killed. On a successful save, normal damage is dealt. Points assigned to the Assassination skill are subtracted from this Save vs. Death.

d6 Barbarian Skills

• Rules reference: OSE Advanced Fantasy.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 3 points among skills.
  • At every even-numbered level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: All skills work as described in the Barbarian rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.

d6 Acolyte Skills

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #1 p.6.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6, except Turn Undead, which may be raised to 8-in-6.
  • At level 1 and each time you gain a level, distribute 2 points among skills.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Turn Undead work as described in the Acolyte rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Turn Undead (TU): Affects undead of up to one HD higher than the acolyte's level. Chances of success are reduced by 1-in-6 for each 3 HD the targeted undead have. On success, 2d6 HD of undead are forced to leave the area, if possible. They will not harm or make contact with the acolyte. This may be used once per turn.

d6 Mage Skills

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #1 p.18.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 7 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: All skills work as described in the Mage rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.

d6 Mutoid Skills (Class Only)

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #3 p.10.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 5 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Pick Pockets work as described in the Mutoid rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Pick pockets (PP): Roll to pick a victim's pockets. Your roll is penalized by 1-in-6 for every 3 levels your victim has.

d6 Tiefling Skills (Class Only)

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #3 p.14.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 4 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Pick Pockets work as described in the Tiefling rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Pick pockets (PP): Roll to pick a victim's pockets. Your roll is penalized by 1-in-6 for every 3 levels your victim has.

d6 Halfling Hearthsinger Skills

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #4 p.4.
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 5 points among skills.
  • Each time you gain a level, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: All skills work as described in the Halfling Hearthsinger rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.

d6 Arcane Bard Skills

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #4 p.8
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6 except Pick Pockets, which can be raised to a maximum of 7-in-6.
  • At level 1, distribute 6 points among skills.
  • Each time you level up, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Pick Pockets work as described in the Arcane Bard rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Pick pockets (PP): Roll to pick a victim's pockets. Your roll is penalized by 1-in-6 for every 3 levels your victim has.

d6 Ratling Skills (Class Only)

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #5 p.4
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At first level, distribute 8 points among skills.
  • Each time you level up, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: Skills other than Detect Poison work as described in the Ratling rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.
  • Detect Poison (DP): Roll to detect poison mixed into food/drink or coating an object. For poisons with a defined % detection chance (as on Carcass Crawler #5 p.18), add 1-in-6 to this amount per 20% chance listed.

d6 Changeling Skills (Class Only)

• Rules reference: Carcass Crawler #5 p.6
• Starting skills: All skills start at 1-in-6.
• Raising skills: All skills can be raised to a maximum of 5-in-6.
  • At first level, distribute 4 points among skills.
  • Each time you level up, put 1 point into a skill.
• Skills rules: All skills work as described in the Changeling rules, except they use x-in-6 instead of % rolls.