Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox Reference

Exploration

Dungeon Doors

Dungeon doors are large, heavy and even unlocked are hard to open.

Opening Doors:

• Humans and Elves: 1-2 on d6
• Dwarves and Halflings: 1 on d6
• At Referee's option, apply Strength bonus or penalty to this roll
• Most monsters can easily open doors
• Doors shut on their own once opened

Listening at Doors

Chance to hear noise:

• Humans: 1 on d6
• Non-humans (Elves, Dwarves, Halflings): 1-2 on d6
• Success indicates hearing something, but may not know what caused the sound
• At Referee's option, apply Wisdom bonus or penalty to this roll

Secret Doors

Detecting secret doors:

• All characters (when actively searching): 1-2 on d6
• Elves (when actively searching): 1-4 on d6
• Elves (passively, just passing by): 1-2 on d6 to sense something is amiss
• At Referee's option, apply Intelligence bonus or penalty to this roll

Attribute Bonuses

Universal Attribute Bonus (Alternate Rule)

Charisma Table

Ancestries (Races)

Dwarf

Class Limitations: Fighter only, max 6th level

Abilities:

• Weapons & Armor: No restrictions (as Fighter)
• Fighting Giants: Takes half damage from giants, ogres, trolls
• Keen Detection: Good at spotting traps, slanting passages, and construction underground
• Saving Throw: +4 vs. magic
• Languages: Can speak with gnomes, goblins, orcs, kobolds

Elf

Class Limitations: Fighter (max 4th level) or Magic-user (max 8th level). Choose which class at start of each adventure.

Abilities:

• Dual Advancement: Uses Fighter or Magic-user advancement, announced at start of adventure
• Weapons & Armor: As Magic-user when acting as Magic-user (except can wear magic armor). As Fighter when acting as Fighter.
• Hereditary Foes: +1 to-hit or damage vs. goblins, orcs, intelligent undead, lycanthropes. Immune to ghoul paralysis.
• Keen Detection: 1-4 on d6 when searching for hidden/concealed doors, 1-2 on d6 if just passing by
• Languages: Can speak with gnolls, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins

Halfling

Class Limitations: Fighter only, max 4th level

Abilities:

• Weapons & Armor: No restrictions (as Fighter)
• Fighting Giants: Takes half damage from giants, ogres, trolls
• Deadly Accuracy: +2 to-hit with missile weapons
• Near Invisibility: Stealthy when not in combat
• Saving Throw: +4 vs. magic
• Languages: Determined by Referee's campaign

Movement

Base Movement Rate

Base movement rate for all races is calculated on the table below in tens of feet per turn, allowing for two moves per turn.

Movement Types

Careful movement is used for exploring, checking for traps and hidden things.

Running movement is used when you are trying to get somewhere fast or get away from something wicked.

Normal movement is pretty much everything else.

Note: Careful, Normal, and Running movement rates apply to exploration turns (10 minutes) and allow for two moves per turn. Combat movement is per combat round (1 minute) and represents restricted movement during active fighting.

Example: A character with Movement Rate 12 can move 120 feet normally (or 240 feet using both moves in a turn), 60 feet carefully (120 feet with both moves), or 240 feet running (480 feet with both moves). In combat, the same character moves only 40 feet per round.

Time

• Turn: 10 minutes (used for tracking actions, movement, and resources in dangerous places)
• Combat Round: 1 minute (used for blow-by-blow combat)

Armor

Armor Class Systems

Descending AC (traditional):

• Unarmored AC: 9
• Lower AC is better
• Subtract armor bonuses from base AC 9

Ascending AC (modern):

• Unarmored AAC: [10]
• Higher AAC is better
• Add armor bonuses to base AAC [10]