ACKS v27 Rules Update

Hello everyone! We’ve discussed lots of changes, and reached a sufficient volume we thought it made sense to upload a new draft. You can find ACKS v27 on the downloads page.
Let the copy-griefing begin!

Copy-Griefing? Why, it’s almost as if you mock our attempts to find your typos :wink:
BLESS spell (re: holy water)
One casting of bless will transform 1 pint of ordinary water into holy water.
Once created, holy water will retain its potency indefinitely so long as it is kept in the vial it was blessed in.
Is a vial a 1 pint container? In my head a vial is a very small bottle, but the inference here is that it will hold a pint. Is this my misinterpretation of what a vial is, or is there some mismatch in the language? (And I’m more than happy if it’s a misinterpretation on my part… I’ve learned quite a few choice things from Alex during this process… let my education continue so long as he has the patience to put up with my copy-griefing ;-))
Page 101 - Rations and Foraging
It says ‘mandering monster’ instead of wandering.

Duskreign’s Minion here.
The new Bard has the old d4 HP. Is this supposed to be d6, or did you change your mind?
Under Hijinks, last sentence
“The available hijinks, required rolls, benefits, and success fees are summarized below.”
The reference to success fees should be removed.
The example of Reingo the Ruthless has him being fined 500gp (the value of goods stolen). This should be 300gp.
Under “Experience from Hijinks”
“Syndicate members earn XP equal [to] the success fee they receive.”
This should be rewritten to reflect the fact that there are no success fees and to replace the XP lost.

Is there a list of Version changes?

BLESS spell (re: holy water)
One casting of bless will transform 1 pint of ordinary water into holy water.
Once created, holy water will retain its potency indefinitely so long as it is kept in the vial it was blessed in.
Is a vial a 1 pint container? In my head a vial is a very small bottle, but the inference here is that it will hold a pint. Is this my misinterpretation of what a vial is, or is there some mismatch in the language? (And I’m more than happy if it’s a misinterpretation on my part… I’ve learned quite a few choice things from Alex during this process… let my education continue so long as he has the patience to put up with my copy-griefing ;-))
APM: A vial is a 1 pint container in ACKS. We define Holy Water as being 1 pint in the Equipment Descriptions. :slight_smile:
Page 101 - Rations and Foraging
It says ‘mandering monster’ instead of wandering.
APM: That’s supposed to be Meandering Monsters. We like the idea of monsters who sort of listlessly gallivant about the land. Just kidding.

//APM: That’s supposed to be Meandering Monsters. We like the idea of monsters who sort of listlessly gallivant about the land. Just kidding.//
Added to my campaign.

The new Bard has the old d4 HP. Is this supposed to be d6, or did you change your mind?
APM: It’s supposed to be d6. I just am bad at attention to detail sometimes.
Under Hijinks, last sentence
“The available hijinks, required rolls, benefits, and success fees are summarized below.” The reference to success fees should be removed.
APM: Thanks, good catch!
The example of Reingo the Ruthless has him being fined 500gp (the value of goods stolen). This should be 300gp.
AMP: Thanks!
Under “Experience from Hijinks”
“Syndicate members earn XP equal [to] the success fee they receive.”
This should be rewritten to reflect the fact that there are no success fees and to replace the XP lost.
APM: Thanks!

EXPERIENCE FROM HIJINKS
A syndicate boss may earn XP from his monthly hijink income. Monthly hijink income is the total gp value earned from hijinks by the boss, less the cost of wages, attorneys, bribes, fines, and magical healing for his members. (Income can be rolled and calculated manually, or the Monthly Hijink Income table in the Managing Criminal Guilds section can be used for faster calculation.) If monthly hijink income exceeds the character’s gp threshold, he earns XP equal to the difference.
Syndicate members earn XP equal to 50% of the gp value of hijinks they perpetrate successfully. On average, 1st level followers will earn 50XP per month from hijinks. Assuming that their leader manages to bail them out of trouble everytime they get caught, followers will reach 2nd level in about 25 months (two years). Most ruffians do not, in practice, live that long.
0TH LEVEL CHARACTERS AND EXPERIENCE FROM CAMPAIGNS
Hijinks: A 0th level character may earn XP from perpetrating hijinks. In most cases, the only hijink available to 0th level characters is carousing (Hear Noises 18+). When the 0th level character earns 100xp from carousing, he may become a 1st level assassin, nightblade, or thief. Which class will depend on his race (only elves may be nightblades) and the sort of company the character is keeping. On average, it takes 0th level characters 6 months of consorting with unsavory sorts in dimly-lit taverns to advance.

Dervish is listed in the wandering tables in the Secrets chapter. But I can find no stats or anything for them.

Regarding minimum required attributes for a class, there seems to be an error.
Version 27, page 13, at the top (under Classes and Ability Scores):
“Once abilities have been determined, each player must choose a class. Each class has one or more prime requisite ability scores. A character must have an ability score of at least 9 in a class’s prime requisite(s) in order to choose a particular class. Some classes have additional minimum ability score requirements. A character must have the minimum required ability, if one is indicated, in order to choose a particular class.”
Note the third sentence there:
“A character must have an ability score of at least 9 in a class’s prime requisite(s) in order to choose a particular class.”
I’m pretty sure that’s wrong, and that the only requirements are the things listed under “requirements” …right? I’m going to assume so given Elven Nightblade is explicitly calling out the INT 9 requirement.

Its actually correct - in order to play a Mage you need Int 9, a Cleric, Wis 9 etc… Some of the classes (Vaultguard being a good example) have requirements that aren’t Prime Requisites.
However, you have spotted that both the Elven classes have got Int listed as a Prime Requisite and as a Requirement, so either the Prime Requisites for those classes should change or they should lose Int from the Requirements because it already needs to be 9. I suspect the latter is the right thing to do.

Good catch. James, you are spot on.

Pg 143, Common Merchandise Table - The base price for armor, weapons is listed as 225p. Everything else is listed as gp. I’m guessing a ‘g’ is missing?

Is there plans for a GM screen? If so (and if not there should be), I would like to suggest making them landscape (much like the current 4e ones). Landscape are fantastic - they aren’t so tall, and cover a wider area.

Duskreign, I just put together a landscape “GM screen” for myself. I’m basically planning to print and laminate these sheets and then tape or glue them to my 4E screen, which I also like.
You can download the file here. Might be useful until an official one releases.
https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/4fOzGxla2kM598
It’s mostly just the action oriented stuff. I don’t have domain management, treasure or anything like that. I tried to pack as much stuff as I could on 4 panels with the stuff I use most.

Sweet! Thanks MichaelPfaff. Once I am done work I will print these out and they will see use tonight! Thanks so much!

Actually, I /just/ uploaded a new version. For some reason the encumbrance table in the GM Reference Tables download had lbs. instead of stone as weight measurement.
I’ve updated the table to reflect the encumbrance table in version 27 of the rules and also added the encumbrance in stone table to help calculate that.
Just a small change if you’ve already printed. :slight_smile:

First post. Finally on the cusp of starting a game and after a thorough re-read, I wanted to post a few errors/questions I found/had:

Page 33, Equipment Availability example:
“There is only a 5% chance of a war galley being available, and the Judge rolls a 42; Marcus cannot find that type of ship in Arganos this month.”
However, in the example, Marcus is in a size III Market so, according to the table, the percentage should be 2%.
Page 43, Hireling Availability example:
"EXAMPLE: Marcus is in Arganos, a city of 20,000 (Class III market). He wants to hire a sage to decipher a strange book, and a company of heavy infantry. There is a 33% chance of 1 sage being present; unfortunately, the Judge rolls a 98, and Marcus can’t find one available. His search for the heavy infantry goes better, as the Judge’s roll of 3d10 yields 22. Marcus finds 11 of these in his first week of searching, 5 more in his second week, and the remaining 6 in his third week. "
However, according to the nearby table, there is a 65% chance of a sage being available in a Class III Market. Further, the table lists 3d8 for Heavy Infantry in a Class III Market, not 3d10.
Page 61, Learning New Spells:
“When they gain a level of experience, they may return to their masters and be out of play for one game week per spell while they are learning their new spells.”
Should that be “out of play for one game week per spell” or “out of play for one game week per spell level”?
Page 100/101, Initiative/Setting Against Charge:
Under the Initiative section it says: “A combatant using a weapon with a long reach (spears, for instance) may choose to attack a closing opponent on the closing opponent’s number and thus attack simultaneously with the opponent, even if the combatant rolled lower for initiative.”
However, under Set Weapon Against Charge, it says: “To set against charge, the combatant being charged must have equal or better Initiative”
So which is it? Can you do it regardless of Initiative or only if it’s equal or better?
Page 105, Nonlethal Damage:
“When the creature rolls on the Mortal Wounds table, modify the die roll by +1 per point of nonlethal damage dealt before the creature was knocked unconscious.”
This was not an error, so much as something I thought it would be helpful to have as a reminder with the others on the Mortal Wounds Table, assuming there’s room.
Page 107, Special Maneuvers:
I see that pretty much all of them involve saves against Paralysis. Is this intentional or perhaps too much emphasis on one Save?
Page 127, Paying Expenses, Stronghold Upkeep:
“In addition to maintaining a garrison, the adventurer must pay for the upkeep of his stronghold. Strongholds cost 0.5% of their total value in upkeep each month. For example, a 75,000gp keep costs 375gp per month to maintain.”
What happens if you neglect the upkeep of your stronghold? Most of the other expenses have consequences if you neglect them (Morale, unrest, etc), what about this?
Page 130, Keeping the Peace:
The table says “Garrison below normal last season: +1/gp/family increase” and “Garrison above normal last season: -1/gp/family decrease”, however, the examples and explanation go on to say the opposite, that having a bigger garrison makes the people happier. It appears that the table is reversed.
Page 144, Domain Income:
“Marcus earns no domain XP, as his gp threshold is 12,000gp. Marcus contemplates raising taxes…”
When I was reading the section on Income, I didn’t see anything mechanically on raising taxes/the corresponding effect on morale. Unless I missed it, I think this is something that would be beneficial to add.


Alright, that’s pretty much it (thank God, right?). Sorry there was so much, but hopefully some, if not all, of it will be helpful. Otherwise, keep up the good work.

Page 33, Equipment Availability example:
“There is only a 5% chance of a war galley being available, and the Judge rolls a 42; Marcus cannot find that type of ship in Arganos this month.”
However, in the example, Marcus is in a size III Market so, according to the table, the percentage should be 2%.
Page 43, Hireling Availability example:
"EXAMPLE: Marcus is in Arganos, a city of 20,000 (Class III market). He wants to hire a sage to decipher a strange book, and a company of heavy infantry. There is a 33% chance of 1 sage being present; unfortunately, the Judge rolls a 98, and Marcus can’t find one available. His search for the heavy infantry goes better, as the Judge’s roll of 3d10 yields 22. Marcus finds 11 of these in his first week of searching, 5 more in his second week, and the remaining 6 in his third week. "
However, according to the nearby table, there is a 65% chance of a sage being available in a Class III Market. Further, the table lists 3d8 for Heavy Infantry in a Class III Market, not 3d10
Thanks for catching these! In both cases the math was changed slightly after the examples were written. I’ll get these fixed. Thanks!

Page 61, Learning New Spells:
“When they gain a level of experience, they may return to their masters and be out of play for one game week per spell while they are learning their new spells.”
Should that be “out of play for one game week per spell” or “out of play for one game week per spell level”?
APM: It’s one week per spell, as written.
Page 100/101, Initiative/Setting Against Charge:
Under the Initiative section it says: “A combatant using a weapon with a long reach (spears, for instance) may choose to attack a closing opponent on the closing opponent’s number and thus attack simultaneously with the opponent, even if the combatant rolled lower for initiative.”
However, under Set Weapon Against Charge, it says: “To set against charge, the combatant being charged must have equal or better Initiative”
So which is it? Can you do it regardless of Initiative or only if it’s equal or better?
APM: They are referring to two different concepts. To set against charge means to have set the butt of the weapon in the ground and braced for the charge. This allows you to do double damage. To set for charge, you have to win the initiative. Even if you don’t win the initiative, though, you can still attack simultaneously with the opponent as he closes with you.