Target 20 (Variant) for Swords & Wizardry

This post is inspired by my current Swords & Wizardry campaign.

One of the features of Swords & Wizardry Complete is that it features both the traditional descending Armor Class of pre-2000 D&D as well as the more modern, ascending armor class of 3E and subsequent editions. This allows a S&W GM to choose whichever system they want to use in their home campaign.

I’d like to offer a third variant, one that uses classical descending AC without having to rely on to-hit tables: Swords & Wizardry Target 20.

Swords & Wizardry Complete Boxed Set
First introduced by Delta’s D&D Hotspot, Target 20 is a means to replace attack charts with an easy-to-remember system that uses math even an English major such as myself can easily do in my head. Delta explains the reasoning behind the system in a great blog post here (seriously, check it out, it’s worth reading). He uses Target 20 not just for attack rolls, but for saving throws and thief skills as well.

For our purposes, we’re going to use it to as a replacement for to-hit charts when using descending AC in Swords & Wizardry.

S&W Target 20

When a player makes an attack roll, they add a bonus “to-hit” based on their character’s class and level, and add the target’s AC as an additional bonus. If the total is at least 20, the attack hits.

Let’s look at a pair of examples, using both systems:

Standard Rules: A 1st-level fighter with a +1 strength bonus is attacking a kobold with an AC 7[12]. According to the attack table on page 38 of Swords & Wizardry complete, the fighter needs a 12 to hit. The player rolls an 11 and adds their +1 strength bonus, bringing the total to 12. A hit!

Target 20: A 1st-level fighter under this system gains a +1 “to-hit” bonus based on class and level (see below). They also gain the +1 strength bonus as above. The player once again rolls an 11 and adds +2 (+1 class bonus, +1 strength bonus), for a total of 13. The player also adds the kobold’s descending AC of 7, for a total of 20. Since the total is at least 20, it’s also a hit.

Note that either player would have missed had they rolled a 10 or less. In other words, the math between the two systems is identical.

Full Rules

Here's the full rules, including Target 20 to-hit bonuses for all PC classes, as a one-page document and as a version that's the perfect size to print out as a bookmark.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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