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H ERO ES
Hers was a hero, destin’d to command
A martial race, and rule the Latian land,
Who should his ancient line from Teucer draw,
And on the conquer’d world impose the law.
- THE AENEID, BOOK IV (VIRGIL)
 AB I LITY S CORES / H IT P O I N TS

ABI LITY SCORES H IT PO I NTS

By default, the Adventurer Conqueror King System assumes that
adventurers are no more or less gifted than the average person. If
they become great, it is because of their achievements in play, not
because of special advantages during character generation. As a
H ERO ES
Hit points are a measure of a character’s ability to survive in
combat. Hit points are not a direct representation of the character’s
capacity to receive physical injury. A character with 40 hp cannot
survive eight sword stabs to the stomach! Rather, they represent a

result, the ability scores for ACKS adventurers are generated by holistic combination of fighting skill, stamina, luck, and the favor
rolling 3d6 in order. If the optional Generating Multiple Characters of the gods, all of which contribute to helping the character roll
rule is in effect, where players roll up five characters and select the with blows and survive attacks that would have killed a lesser
best to play with, then adventurers are perhaps among the top 20% combatant. Therefore, the amount of damage a weapon deals must
most talented people, but still drawn from the common stock. In be understood relative to the hit points of the character struck. It
some heroic campaign settings, however, the adventurers are men is the percentage of hit points lost, not the raw number lost, that
and women of extraordinary gifts – protagonists such as Achilles, indicates how physically wounded a character or monster is.
Aeneas, Aragorn, Beowulf, Conan, Elric, and Red Sonja are gifted
However, in virtually every retro-clone (including ACKS), the
with might, confidence, and power far beyond the norm.
elegant abstraction of hit points is marred by an asymmetry
To account for this, the Heroic Fantasy Handbook offers the between damage and healing. Consider two characters, a normal
following optional methods for rolling up characters with better man with 5 hp and an epic hero with 40 hp. When the normal man
ability scores. is dealt 4 points of damage by a sword, this is a grievous blow (80%
of his hit points); when the epic hero is dealt the same 4 points
• Heroic: Roll 4d6 for each ability score in order. Drop the
of damage, this is merely a flesh wound (10% of his hp). This is
lowest die, tally the remaining dice, and record that result.
exactly as it should be. Yet when the epic hero is treated with cure
• Legendary: Roll 5d6 for each ability score in order. Drop the light wounds, he recovers 1d6+1 points of damage – enough to
lowest 2 dice, tally the remaining dice, and record that result. repair a light wound, as the spell suggests; while when the normal
man is treated with cure light wounds, he is likely to recover from
Heroic characters will have ability scores in approximately
what we just said was a grievous blow that brought him near death.
the same range as the top fifth of normal characters (11-14,
To fix this asymmetry, The Heroic Fantasy Handbook offers rules
averaging 12.24). Legendary characters will have ability scores in
for proportional healing.
approximately the same range as the top fifth of heroic characters
(12-16, averaging 13.43). If desired the Judge can have players roll
up five characters when using either method. HEALING
All beings recover hit points through rest. For each full day of
EXAMPLE: complete rest in reasonably sanitary conditions, a creature will
Newton is creating an adventurer for use in a heroic recover its base healing rate (BHR). If its rest is interrupted, the
campaign. The Judge has decided to use the optional creature will not heal that day. A creature’s base healing rate is
“Legendary Ability Scores” and “Generating Multiple based on its maximum hit points, as shown on the Base Healing
Characters” rules. Newton therefore will generate five Rate table. A character’s BHR should be recorded on its character
characters; for each character, he will generate six ability sheet, and updated each time the character gains additional hit
scores, rolling 5d6 for each in order and dropping the points.
lowest 2 dice. This combination of optional rules creates
very powerful characters! Newton’s results are, in order for Max HP BHR (hp/day)
STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, and CHA: #1 STR 13, INT 17, 1-3 1d2
WIS 11, DEX 15, CON 13, CHA 13; #2 STR 13, INT 11, WIS 4-9 1d3
15, DEX 16, CON 11, CHA 15; #3 STR 6, INT 14, WIS 16, DEX 10-16 1d4
12, CON 12, CHA 13; #4 STR 14, INT 9, WIS 16, DEX 14, 17-23 1d6
CON 17, CHA 14; #5 STR 15, INT 15, WIS 16, DEX 13, CON
24-29 1d8
14, CHA 17. He decides to select character #5. He selects
Elven Spellsinger as his character class, reducing STR to 30-36 1d10
13 to increase CHA to 18. His final character has STR 13, 37-49 2d6
INT 15, WIS 16, DEX 13, CON 14, CHA 18. 50-63 2d8
64-76 2d10
WISDOM MODIFIER 77-89 2d12
In heroic fantasy campaigns, a character’s WIS modifier should be 90-110 3d10
applied to all saving throws, not just saving throws versus magic.
111-140 4d10
141-170 5d10
171+ 6d10, plus 1d10 per 30hp past 170
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ACKS FULL COLOUR LAYOUT TEST #3

EXAMPLE:
Athelstan has 12 hp. His base healing rate is 1d4 hp per day.
With a full day of complete rest in sanitary conditions,
Athelstan will recover between 1 and 4 hp. If his rest is
interrupted, he will not heal.
Characters with the Healing proficiency can shorten their patient’s
recovery time. A patient under treatment of Healing recovers
twice his base healing rate in hp each day of rest.
EXAMPLE:
If Athelstan were the patient of a character with Healing
proficiency, he would recover twice his base healing rate of
1d4 hp per day of rest, i.e. 2d4 hp per day of rest.
Healing also occurs through magic, such as potions or spells. This
kind of healing is instantaneous and will typically be equal to
one or more days of rest, as shown on the Magical Healing table.
Magical healing and natural healing can be combined.
EXAMPLE:
Athelstan (with 12 hp and a base healing rate of 1d4 hp)
has sustained 9 points of damage, leaving him with 3 hp. A
cleric treats him with comfrey. Comfrey heals its target by
half as much as if he had rested for one day, rounded up.
Athelstan’s base healing rate is 1d4 hp per day, so he will heal
1d4/2 hp. The result of the roll is a 3, so Athelstan is healed
(3 / 2) 1.5 hp, rounded up to 2 hp. The cleric then casts cure
moderate wounds on Athelstan. Cure moderate wounds
heals its target as if he had rested for two days, so Athelstan
will heal 2d4 hp. The result of the roll is a 5, so Athelstan is
healed 5 points. He now has 10 hp of his maximum of 12.
ACKS FULL COLOUR LAYOUT TEST #3
H IT P O I N TS
H ERO ES
Heroic Breakfast Memorial Rule (Optional): Once per day a
character can recover his base healing rate in hp by consuming
a meal accompanied by alcohol, coffee, or tea. This recovery is
in addition to any hit points gained from complete rest. Halfling
characters may consume a second breakfast for an additional
recovery of hp.
MORTAL WOUNDS
When a creature’s hit points drop to 0 or fewer, the creature is
unconscious and possibly dead. The creature’s condition will
not be determined until an ally treats its wounds. When this
occurs, the unconscious creature must roll 1d20+1d6 on the
Mortal Wounds table and apply any appropriate modifiers listed.
The modified 1d20 roll determines the unconscious creature’s
condition while the modified 1d6 roll determines whether any
permanent wounds are suffered. Characters not treated within 24
hours of being unconscious must roll, with no bonus for treatment
and at the full -10 penalty for being treated 1 day later.
Heroic Survival: In heroic fantasy campaigns, heroes are
considerably more likely to survive mortal wounds than ordinary
men. Adventurers with d6 HD add +2 to their 1d20 roll on
the Mortal Wounds table. Adventurers with d8 HD add +4,
adventurers with d10 HD add +6, and adventurers with d12 HD
add +8.
Some results on the Mortal Wounds table will indicate that a
character needs a period of bed rest to recover. During this time,
the character cannot recover to more than 1 hp and cannot take
any action other than speaking and moving at half speed. The
period of bed rest can be shortened with magical healing – simply
count the days of rest from the magical healing towards the
recovery period. However, a character cannot benefit from more
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