Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Halloween Game Teaser

I'll be posting a copy of my Halloween adventure notes on here probably by tomorrow in case other DMs wish to use it as well. Buuuuut, as a teaser to both readers and to instill a possible sense of dread in my players, here's the plot outline in as cryptic a manner as possible :D

Act I: Get your banjos
  • Scene 1: Southern Hospitality
  • Scene 2: If she weighs as much as a duck
  • Scene 3: Quick! Somebody call Samuel Jackson!
Act 2: Swamp Gas
  • Scene 1: Madmen tell the best bedtime stories
  • Scene 2: in search of weather balloons
  • Scene 3: Sloughing off the mortal coils
  • Scene 4: A full set of teeth
Act 3: This is what all those horror flicks prepared you for
  • Scene 1: Not a social call
  • Scene 2: With time so short I'll say so long, and go, so soon, goodbye
  • Scene 3: A journey of a thousand miles usually doesn't involve this much screaming.
  • Scene 4: Like you weren't expecting this?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A little warcraft

I've mentioned before that I play World of Warcraft, and today I felt inspired to write up some spells and a magic item based on my main character, Reandanis Highcomet, Blood Elf(Gray Elf) Frost Mage(who has recently also Dual specced into Arcane so he can actually get into raids since Frost is not a viable raiding spec[also because Arcane/Frost were the schools taught by Dalaran, and part of his backstory was that he trained in Dal while serving Kael'thas).

Frostbolt I
(Evocation/Invocation)
Level 2 Wizard Spell
Range: 36 yards
Components: Vocal, Somatic
Duration
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: 1 target
Saving Throw: None

This spell creates a bolt of frost energy that streaks out and hits the target for 1d4+Caster level for damage and the target is slowed for 1-4 rounds. Character's with free movement are immune to this slow effect.

Frostbolt II
(Evocation/Invocation)
Level 3 Wizard Spell
Range: 36 yards
Components: Vocal, Somatic
Duration
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: 1 target
Saving Throw: Special
This spell creates a bolt of frost energy that streaks out and hits the target for 1d8+Caster level for damage and the target is slowed for 1-4 rounds. If the target fails a save versus spell, he is instead slowed for an additional 1-2 rounds and rooted into place for 1-4 rounds as his legs have been frozen to the ground. Any frost spells that hit the target while rooted do 2-5 times more damage than normal. Character's with free movement are immune to this effect. There is a 1% non-cumulative chance that the casting of this spell does not erase the spell from memory.

Frostbolt III
(Evocation/Invocation)
Level 4 Wizard Spell
Range: 36 yards
Components: Vocal, Somatic
Duration
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: 1 target
Saving Throw: Special
This spell creates a bolt of frost energy that streaks out and hits the target for 1d6/caster level(max 10d6) for damage and the target is slowed for 1-4 rounds. If the target fails a save versus spell, he is instead slowed for an additional 1-2 rounds and rooted into place for 1-4 rounds as his legs have been frozen to the ground. Any frost spells that hit the target while rooted do 2-5 times more damage than normal. Character's with free movement are immune to this effect. There is a 1% non-cumulative chance that the casting of this spell does not erase the spell from memory.

Ice barrier
(Evocation/Invocation, Abjuration)
Level 2 Wizard Spell
Range: personal
Components: Vocal, Somatic
Duration: 1 round/lvl
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: The Caster
Saving Throw: Special
The caster gains a frosty aura from which icicles perpetually seem to hang down. All Ice related spells gain a +1 caster level bonus when cast while this spell is active. This spell absorbs 1d8/level damage(max 10d8), determined when the spell is first cast. It blocks all attacks including magic missiles from hitting the caster. When the damage capacity is reached, the Ice barrier shatters, and any creature within 10 yards of the caster must make a save vs. spell or become rooted, just like with the frostbolt spell.

Ice Block
(Evocation/Invocation, Abjuration)
Level 3 Wizard Spell
Range: personal
Components: Vocal, Somatic
Duration: 1 round/lvl
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: The Caster
Saving Throw: Special
By means of this spell, the caster encases himself in a block of solid ice taking no damage but becomes unable to do anything or move in any way(He can see out of his icy prison however). No damage may be done to him while so encased. The caster may dismiss the spell at any time. If this spell is used more than 1/hour the caster must make a save vs. spell or take 2d6 damage per used beyond 1/hour from hypothermia.

Mana Gem
(Conjuration/Summoning, Enchantment/Charm)
Level 3 Wizard Spell
Range: personal
Components: Vocal, Somatic, Material
Duration: permanent
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: 1 gem
Saving Throw: None
By means of this spell, the caster is able to convert a precious stone into spellpower. For every 100 gp of the spell's value, the gem returns 1 cast spell level to the caster. Mana Gems are only usable by the mage who cast the spell. For instance, a 400 gp gem could allow a caster to regain 4 1st level spells already cast that day, 1 4th level spell, or any combination of spells so long as the total number of spell levels is less than or equal to the gp value of the gem. When the gp value of the gem reaches 0, the gem dissolves into nothingness. The caster is limited as to the value of the gems he may use. No more than 100 gp x caster level

Reandanis' Richly Appointed Pipe of Magical Research
Reandanis has often been seen around Silvermoon and the Eversong Woods staring off into space while smoking this pipe, often with at least one attractive female at his side. For the most part, social interaction beyond blasting things into ice cubes bores him to tears, and he has long lamented that his time is better spent in his family compound or at the arcane tower researching new magic probably meant to eradicate gnomes or the scourge once and for all(he seems torn as to which is the greater menace to azeroth). A chance discovery by one of his family servants while ransacking New Avalon in the eastern plaguelands yielded this finely crafted pipe. After a few months of effort, Reandanis was able to enchant it. Any wizard who smokes one of these pipes for at least an hour, gains a +15% research bonus, or is only required to spend 4 hours each day doing research at the standard %. In order to use this pipe, very expensive tobacco must be used at a cost of 100 gp per dose. The effects last only for 1 day.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Paladin Class Revision, Part I

The paladin class is being broken down by alignment but here is the basic set-up for all Paladins

Ability Requirements: As standard for the PHB
Prime Requisites: As standard for the PHB
Races Allowed: Humans

A Paladin must choose between being a member of a Knightly Order or being a Knight-Errant at the time of character creation. A Paladin belonging to an order is subject to the dictates of the order, but gains access to additional wealth, contacts, hirelings, places to stay, etc. A Knight-Errant on the other hand has none of these things, but may found his own order in time.

Abilities:

Level 1:
- Immunities
- Enemy detection
- Saving throw bonuses
- Aura
- 1/day power
- Holy sword bonus
Level 3:
- Turn planar tied enemies.
Level 4:
- Quest for warhorse or planar servant
Level 9:
- Spellcasting
Level 10:
- Institutional Control

Restrictions
- Magic item limit
- Tithe and wealth limit
- Alignment restriction

Monday, October 12, 2009

Intro to Goblinoid, part I

back in 1995 I think it was, a KB toys opened right down the street from where I lived. Now, being all of 10 years old, I didn't have much in the way of income beyond the $0.50 a week allowance I was given, and the very rare $1 my grandfather gave me when we went to up Ballston Spa to visit him. So every few weeks I'd agonize over one of the boxed sets that little store carried(it was the closest thing my area had to a FLGS) and had to choose between one of the Dark Sun Adventures(it would be another 10 years before I got the Dark Sun Boxed Set, as it never occured to me to ask them to order anything) and one of the Mystara/Red Steel boxed sets. I already had Dawn of the Empires Gazeteer, Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure, and Glanti: Kingdom of Magic, so my choices were down to "The Road to Urik," The Red Steel campaign expansion, various D&D rip off board games, and a supplement for Red Steel called "The Savage Baronies." I ended up choosing the Savage Baronies(it had a picture of a dragon-headed-gun, a swashbuckler, and what I thought was a dragon at the time on the cover of the box[turned out to be a bulette using the flight legacy] so how could I possibly resist).
Inside I found out about a strange new place I hadn't heard of before. Heard of strange new creatures like Lupin, Rakasta, and Tortles. While the setting information was pretty cool(D&D meets the wild west), the real gem of supplement was in the front of the adventure booklet. It described the goblinoids of the Yazak steppes(Ogres, Hobgoblins, Orcs, and Goblins as living in a fashion similar to Native American tribes). More importantly, it offered the bare bones of what would become my on and off obsession with creating a viable goblinoid language. It was just 50 syllables that I later turned into a table.
The language did have a few issues however, and the racial names were incomplete(missing bugbears and kobolds and the goblinoid words for standard PC races such as Humans, Elves, and Dwarves). Having recently found my old word file I'll be posting parts of it on the blog from time to time.

Goblinoid Writing
Goblinoid writing is similar to that of japanese alphabets like Katakana or Hirigana in that they use a character for a syllable rather than for each sound like western languages. There are currently 56 characters in the goblinoid language, though most goblinoids only know enough of these characters to spell out their race name and tribal name(3-4 characters total)
At this point, the alphabet I have is still in physical form, and I'll try to get it scanned as soon as I can to post.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The differences between Clerics, Specialty Priests, and Paladins

As promised I'm finally getting around to this.

Cleric: A priest who adheres to the dictates of a religion(church) and not through strict adherence to the capricious whims of a deity. A cleric serves a church or flock. His powers come from faith and following the dictates of the faith.
- Crusaders: Crusaders gain power from the strength of their own "righteous" zeal in service to the church to which they belong.
- Monastics: A monastic follows the dictates of the church hierarchy, often through the use of written holy documents(though not all of them can read). These are a religion's scholars and tend to keep an eye on the holy relics and secrets that have been accumulated over the years
- Miracle Workers: Miracle workers draw their power from faith itself. They do not necessarily serve a god or church, but instead serve a community or an ideal.

Specialty Priest: A priest who obeys a god directly. While they sometimes do form priesthoods in organized lands, this isn't always the case. Traditionally, specialty priests only occur in religions with high populations.

Paladins: In effect, a paladin is basically a cleric who instead of being based in a religion, is loyal to a code of conduct. In my campaigns I usually have an ancient order of knights or something who created this code, and Paladins are merely the ones who carry it on. As such, I also normally allow for "Paladins" of other alignments who follow other codes of conduct, and I hope to present them in later blog postings.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Language Proficiency

Every character in my campaigns has access to their own language and is able to speak it fluently. Additionally, many characters have access to other languages thanks to high Int scores. The language rules as written are decent enough for both casual gaming and more simulationist gamers with very few changes, but it does require the DM to do a bit of thinking about the way his world is set up. This post will have the simulationist gamers in mind.
Languages are listed under proficiencies. They even have an actual score! As such, a DM could require a character to make a proficiency check to understand "big words" that are outside his or her normal vocabulary(after all, in the real world, not EVERYONE scores high on the vocab parts of the SATs).
On the subject of related languages, I need to offer up some background information. When I got my very first 3 RPG books, one of them was the 1st edition Shadowrun Rulebook(because at age 5, I thought all the pictures looked cool). In said rulebook, there is a skill chart. Your character would take skill x, and he would have skill check penalties based on how closely related other skills were.
Obviously this isn't actually a new idea. creating a language web where one can have both dialects, as well as seeing how languages evolve. I've never actually seen it done in D&D beyond my own campaigns though.
As soon as I get it cleaned up a bit, I'll post at least part of the language chart I use for my campaign