Some one asked this recently, so I thought I would share my post here.
Why Fantastic Heroes and Witchery is my favorite OSR.
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It’s like BECMI but brought up to modern gaming standards. But blends some Old school into it to. So you have races and over 30 custom classes. Including race specific classes that are close to the original BECMI material. Each core class, fighter, religious, rouge, and mage has 3 classes that should tickle your fancy.
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Magic and Religion takes a more western medieval bend to it. There are colors of magic (white/grey/black), But illusionists, are still separate. There is no dedicated priest class. Because anyone can be a priest/follower. However there are a few religious classes. This is where I think it really shines. There’s no divine magic, it’s all magic regardless of it’s source.
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Level 13 is the new level 20. I love this change. However level 14+ are considered Epic levels of ability and skill
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Saves are simplified, but class, race, and ability scores can alter the chances.
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Fighters are no longer a rather bland class by introducing fighting styles that only true fighters can have. Id even play a Bard in this system, has more of a troubadour feeling to it.
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Your background determines the skills you learned growing up. This is a broad grouping of skills that are on par with professionally skilled npcs (lvl 4). You gain skills for your class as well, and you can learn more if using the optional talent system. Skills are a d20 vs. a target number like, DnD 3 + and above.
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Alignments are replaced with a personality trait system, adding a level of flexibility to the old alignment system. But better defined.
There’s a lot more to it, but these are my selling points.
You are welcome!