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
• It takes one turn for each 10'x10' area searched
• At Referee's option, apply Intelligence bonus or penalty to this roll

Traps and Pits

• Triggering traps: 1-2 on d6 when passing over the trigger
• Dwarves (when actively searching for stonework traps): 1-4 on d6
• Dwarves (passively, just passing by stonework traps): 1-2 on d6 (at careful speed)
• Identifying a trap does not reveal how to disarm it
• Falling into a pit trap deals 1d6 damage per 10 feet fallen

Light

• Torches and lanterns illuminate a 30-foot radius
• Torches: burn for 1 hour (6 turns)
• Lanterns: burn 1 pint of oil in 4 hours (24 turns)
• Characters using a light source cannot normally surprise monsters
• All monsters are assumed to see in the dark

Attribute Bonuses

Universal Attribute Bonus (Alternate Rule)

Charisma Table

Alignment

• Law: Civilization, order, goodness. Champions of Law fight the forces of Chaos.
• Chaos: Anarchy, destruction, evil. Servants of demonic powers and dissolution.
• Neutrality: Balance, self-interest, indifference between the two moral polarities.

Character Classes

Fighter

Trained warriors, best equipped to deal out and absorb damage.

• Prime Attribute: STR 15+ (+5% XP)
• Hit Dice: 1d6+1 at 1st level, then 1d6/level up to 10d6
• Armor/Weapons: Any
• Saving Throw Bonus: +2 vs death and poison
• Abilities: Combat Fury (one attack per level vs foes of 1 HD or less), Establish Stronghold (9th)
• Strength Bonus: Fighters with STR 15+ get +1 melee to-hit and damage

Cleric

Armored priests serving Law or Chaos. Must be Lawful or Chaotic.

• Prime Attribute: WIS 15+ (+5% XP; stacks with universal WIS 15+ bonus for +10%)
• Hit Dice: 1d6 (gains +1 at 4th and 8th instead of full die)
• Armor/Weapons: Any armor and shield. Blunt weapons only (club, flail, mace, warhammer). Only missile weapon is oil.
• Saving Throw Bonus: +2 vs poison and paralysis
• Abilities: Divine Spells (none at 1st level), Turn Undead (Lawful only; roll 3d6 vs table), Establish Temple (10th)
• Spell Effectiveness: WIS bonus improves spell effectiveness (target suffers loss on saving throw)

Cleric Spell Slots

Magic-User

Students of arcane powers. Devastating at higher levels, vulnerable at lower levels.

• Prime Attribute: INT 15+ (+5% XP)
• Hit Dice: 1d6 (gains +1 at even levels instead of full die)
• Armor/Weapons: No armor. Daggers and staves only.
• Saving Throw Bonus: +2 vs spells (including wands and staves)
• Abilities: Arcane Spells (from spellbook, starting at 1st level), Establish Tower (10th)
• Spell Effectiveness: INT bonus improves spell effectiveness (target suffers loss on saving throw)

Magic-User Spell Slots

Thief (Optional)

Experts in guile and stealth, recovering riches through cunning rather than combat.

• Prime Attribute: DEX 15+ (+5% XP)
• Hit Dice: 1d6 (gains +1 at 4th and 8th instead of full die)
• Armor/Weapons: Leather armor only. Any weapons.
• Saving Throw Bonus: +2 vs traps (magical or mundane)
• Abilities: Backstab (+2 to-hit, double damage on unaware opponents), Thievery skill (see table), Establish Guild (9th)

Thievery Skill

Roll 1d6; success if result is equal to or lower than the rating.

Elf Variant

Blend of Fighter and Magic-User with a single advancement track. Max level 8.

• Armor/Weapons: Chain mail maximum. No two-handed weapons or shields while casting spells.
• Spells: Magic-User spells, levels 1-3 only.

Elf Variant Advancement

Saving Throws

Roll d20, meet or exceed the target number. Each class has bonuses against specific threats.

Base Saving Throws by Class (Levels 1-10)

Class Saving Throw Bonuses

Ancestry Saving Throw Bonuses

Attack Tables

To-Hit bonus by class. THAC0 = 19 - Attack Bonus. In ascending AC: roll d20 + Attack Bonus >= target's AAC to hit.

Attack Bonus by Class (Levels 1-10)

Spell Lists

Cleric Spells

Magic-User Spells

Ancestries (Races)

Dwarf

Class Limitations: Fighter (max 6th level) or Thief (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 (max 4th level) or Thief (max 6th 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]

Melee Weapons

Missile Weapons

Ammunition

Adventuring Gear