Another Optional LL: Save or Die Poisons

So I'm not a fan of "Save or Die" poisons, for two reasons.

1. Save or Die effects remove any player agency or chance to survive certain encounters and generally make a player feel arbitrarily hosed simply for one poor roll.
2. The number of poisons in the real world that kill you in a minute or less are extraordinarily rare. Granted, getting bitten by a spider the size of a pony will likely inject someone with enough poison to kill them, it's just odd for them to just drop dead on the spot.

Debbie is a fan of Save or Die Poisons

So, here's my house rule:

Save or Die Poisons: If my players fail their save to resist a "Save or Die" poison, then they're definitely going to die - but not instantly. They've got a number of turns equal to their Constitution score before death. While poisoned, they suffer a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, and -2 to all ability checks related to Strength and Dexterity.

That way they have (hopefully) at least an hour to solve the problem - whether that's lopping a limb off or rushing to find a cure - well, that's up to them.

Spicing Up My Fighters

So one of the problems I've always had with B/X and Labyrinth Lord fighters is that they're a touch dull. Their special abilities lay in their high hit points and diverse choices for weapons and armor. They're an awesome, sold class and ease to play. However, these benefits aren't particularly engaging at the table. So I'm adding an optional rule for fighters. Based a bit on the Rules Cyclopedia and a bit on AD&D, here are my thoughts.

• 1st Level: Fighters may select a single weapon as their specialized weapon. They recieve a +1 to all attack rolls and +2 to all damage rolls when wielding this weapon.
• 5th Level: The fighter may make two attacks per round when wielding the weapon in which they've specialized.
• 10th Level: The Fighter's bonus to hit with their specialized weapon increases to +3 and their damage bonus increases to +3 as well.