Microlite20: Advances Overview

One of the cool things about the Advances I've been working on is how easy they are to make.

Each Race and Class gets 5 Advances, and I've been following a formula:

• +1 to-hit with a weapon iconic to the Race or Class (Fighters get a few of these, to represent their broader martial training).
• +1 to a Skill that typifies the Class
• +2 to a skill in certain situations (like the Assassin's bonus to Subterfuge for Disguise, or the Dwarf's bonus to resisting poisons).
• A Spell-like Ability (like the Elf's Detect Magic, or the Tiefling's Darkness) - these are either 0-th Level or situational, for at-will abilities, or tied to an ability bonus, for 1st level spells (other might be too powerful).
• Another ability (the Tiefling's Prehensile Tail, or the Druid's Elemental Wildshape).

Unless noted, these bonuses stack - so a Dwarf Fighter, who takes the Weapon Focus (Hammer) and Smith at Heart Advances could gain a +2 to-hit with hammers. The DM is the final arbitrator of what stacks and what doesn't.

This is just a guideline - add whichever abilities you wish when making an Advance scheme, although be careful not to make them too powerful. They can be used to represent Feats, Class Features, whatever you want - just try and make sure they are in-keeping with the Class.

Next, I'll be looking at tailoring an Advance Scheme to a certain specialisation of a Class - in this case, making a Cleric who specialises in hunting down Undead.