Dragon Player Characters, Part I

I generally dislike the Council of Wyrms campaign setting, but I still use an altered form of the Dragon races found in the Campaign Option: Council of Wyrms book and Dragon #263. 

In my games, dragons are divided into three categories; Ferals(No spellcasting/psionics, unable to communicate, otherwise 1e stats, smaller hoards) which make up the vast majority of dragons, The Unbound(Standard 2e stats and hoards), which make up just under 10% of the total dragon population, and the kindredbound(Playable Dragons who bind themselves to humanoid races, I dont bother with preferred races).

Over the next few posts, I'll be posting the needed information for multiple "missing" dragon races. Today, I'll just post the holes left by Council of Wyrms and Dragon #263. 

Chromatic(All three can be found in Dragon #248, and all may be Dragon PC, Dragon Mage, Dragon Priest, and Dragon Sage)

   Orange Dragon: STR 05-21; DEX 03-17; CON 03-18; INT 04-19; WIS 03-18; CHA 05-19; Adjustments: +3 Str, -1 Dex, +1 Int, +1 Cha; Bonus NWP: Swimming; Weapon Profs: 4; Gain: 2/3; NPP: -2; Nonweapon Profs: 2; Gain: 1/1; XP Table: Black, Brass

   Purple Dragon: STR 06-22; DEX 03-16; CON 03-18; INT 05-19; WIS 03-18; CHA 06-19; Adjustments: +4 Str, -2 Dex, +1 Int, +1 Cha; Bonus NWP: Direction Sense; Weapon Profs: 4; Gain: 2/3; NPP: -3; Nonweapon Profs: 2; Gain: 3/2; XP Table: Copper, Green

   Yellow Dragon: STR 05-21; DEX 03-17; CON 03-18; INT 03-18; WIS 03-18; CHA 04-19; Adjustments: +3 Str, -1 Dex, +1 Cha; Bonus NWP: Burrowing; Weapon Profs: 4; Gain: 2/3; NPP: -2; Nonweapon Profs: 2; Gain: 1/1; XP Table: Black, Brass

Additional Chromatic Dragon Changes:

   Green Bonus NWP changed to Manipulation(Dragon Magazine #243)

 

Gem(Found in Dragon #265, may become Dragon PC, Dragon Mage, Dragon Priest, Dragon Psionicist, or Dragon Sage)

   Beljuril Dragon: STR 05-21; DEX 05-16; CON 03-18; INT 06-21; WIS 04-19; CHA 03-18; Adjustments: +3 Str, -2 Dex, +3 Int, +1 Wis; Bonus NWP: Geonosy(Dragon #265); Weapon Profs: 4; Gain: 2/3; NPP: -3; Nonweapon Profs: 6; Gain: 3/2; XP Table: Black, Brass; Notes: 1d8/1d8/3d6 base claw/claw/bite damage

Other(Found in MM, Dragon PC only)

   Brown Dragon: STR 08-22; DEX 03-16; CON 03-18; INT 04-19; WIS 03-18; CHA 04-19; Adjustments: +4 Str, -2 Dex, +1 Int, +1 Cha; Bonus NWP: Burrowing; Weapon Profs: 4; Gain: 2/3;  NPP: -3; Nonweapon Profs: 2; Gain: 1/1; XP Table: Copper, Green

Next Post: Ferrous Dragons

Open Locks and Update

 Been busy with various dungeon23-esque prompts this year, but I can't post most of it because my players look at this blog. Also, due to playing location constraints, I've been limited on what and when I can actually RP. Mostly just been working on my various Warhammer, Warcry, and Kill Team models and terrain.

Did have a random thought the other day though, pertaining to the the Thief's Open Locks skill:

RAW it takes a Thief 1d10 rounds to make an open lock attempt.  I think I'm going to start allowing thieves in my games to choose to speed up the process by risking their tools, requiring an item saving throw vs Crushing Blow to get the job done in one round. If the save is passed, they can make the Open Locks roll as normal. If the save is failed, the pick breaks and it counts as a failed attempt to open the lock. 

Anti-Paladin

Still finding it hard to breathe, but here is some content to hold people over.

Anti-Paladin

Requirements: Str 12+, Con 9+, Wis 13+, Cha 17+

Prime: Str, Con

Races: Human(U)

Alignment: CE only

- The Anti-Paladin is Immune to Fear

- The Anti-Paladin receives a +2 bonus to Saves.

- The Anti-Paladin possesses an Aura of Fear. All those entering it, must make a Save vs RSW or be affected as per the Fear Spell. The save is penalized by 1 pt for each mutation the Anti-Paladin Possesses.

-  The Anti-Paladin starts the game with a single mutation. If mutations are rolled for, the Anti-Paladin gets to roll twice and the player can pick the better result. Additional mutations can be gained during play as a reward from his patron for major accomplishments.

- The Anti-Paladin gains a corrosive touch 1/day.  Objects touched should make an item save vs. acid or be corroded and destroyed. Liquids should foul and turn poisonous. Living creatures should be afflicted by a weak poison of some kind(determined by DM, but type K or P would be appropriate).

- At 4th level, the Anti-Paladin may quest for a demonic companion.

- At 9th level, an Anti-Paladin with a Stronghold attracts a body of fighting men exactly like a Fighter, but all the men attracted are of CE alignment.

- At 9th level, the Anti-Paladin gains the ability to cast spells, just like a paladin. His spheres of access are Combat, Healing(reversed), Necromantic, and Sun(reversed).

The limitations of a Anti-Paladin include:

- The Anti-Paladin must sacrifice a number of living creatures to his patron each month.  This can be HD per level or even a percentage of his XP in HP depending on what is appropriate. This is why a lot of Anti-Paladin take up lives as slavers.

- The Anti-Paladin may never turn down a direct challenge. By and large, as long as the blood and souls flow, the demonic powers he serves don't give a rat's ass about him. They do however expect their champions to be the strongest(as they rule through strength and intimidation), and as such, they may never turn down a formal challenge. The Anti-paladin is totally allowed to use any dirty, underhanded tricks he wants, but he has to accept the challenge.

- The Anti-Paladin must remain chaotic evil. His patrons aren't as stickler over violations as the forces of law and good are(after all, the road to the abyss is often paved with good intentions), but an Anti-Paladin who changes away from CE does lose all his non-mutation powers. His former patron is also likely to send Anti-Paladin aspirants after him to regain what goodies the character may still possess. Then again, there's a good chance the Anti-paladin's demonic companion may just pull him straight into the abyss to have a chat with his former boss.

- The resurrection survival chance is reduced as if the Anti-Paladin had a con score half(rounded down) what he actually does. His patron is loathe to give back useful souls.

Cooking Part 1: Hunger

For this system I am using the Fatigue system from Combat & Tactics/Spells & Magic and the starvation system from Wilderness Survival Guide.

Every character has a Hunger Track:

- Overfed: -1 to initiative and surprise checks, as well as to saves to resist sleep effects. +1 to fatigue level.

- Well Fed: Potential Food Bonus for a period of time.

- Fed: Normal. No changes.

- Peckish: +1 to initiative and surprise checks. 

- Hungry: -1 to saves vs. mental affects.

- Famished: -1 to initiative and surprise checks, as well as all saving throws. +1 to fatigue level.

A character with a normal human metabolism goes down one category every hour while awake(1 every 2 while asleep). Additionally, a player can chose to go down category at any time to give himself an automatic success at some action. 

Hunger categories are regained by eating snacks and meals. A snack restores 1 level of hunger. A meal restores 1 level per size(light 1 step, avg 2 step, Hvy 3 step) but also provides immunity to hunger drain based on what was eaten.

The amount is determined by race:

- Human, Dwarf, Halfling, 1/2 Elf, 1/2 Orc: Snack: 1-2 portions. Meal: Lt: 3, Avg: 4, Hvy: 5+ portions

- Elf, Gnome: Snack: 1 portion. Meal: Lt: 2, Avg: 3, Hvy: 4+ portions

- Half Ogre: Snack: 2-5 portions. Meal: Lt: 6-7, Avg: 8-9, Hvy: 10+ portions

A ration as per that found in the PHB has 15 portions per day. All food is further divided into 5 categories: Grain, Protein, Dairy, Fruit, and Vegetables.

Thursday, I'll get into what more of this means, but I'm still trying to work things out for Carnivorous PCs.

I must write

I want to get back into working on this blog, but it is difficult when one is having to type everything out on a phone. This post is mostly an attempt to get myself psyched up and organized for what I want to write about for the next couple of weeks. My current goal is to start posting on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule just to get myself back into it.

 I've been going through my blog roll over the last few weeks, rereading what they have written over the years, and then clicking on their links and blog rolls and reading what those people wrote.

I'm also that idiot who plays games like Skyrim and Minecraft with mods that focus on immersive survival like Frostfall and TerraFirmaCraft. 

To this end, I want to add Thirst, Hunger, Fatigue, Stress, and Temperature mechanics to my game. I also want to improve on the rules for Lighting, Culinary Proficiencies, Diseases, and Poisons, as I'm just not happy the way things currently work in AD&D 2nd edition. Hell, I wanna do a massive system overhaul of my favorite RPG system, but still keep the overall feel of the system intact.

Tuesday I'll post about the cooking system I've thought up. As this is a bit of a rant, I'll go ahead and pay the joesky tax.

Spices as Treasure(1d100 doses)

What is Found(1d30)

1-16: Salty

17-20: Bitter

21-24: Sour

25-28: Sweet

29-30: Umami

Quality & Value(1d30)

1-16: Common(1-6 cp/dose)

17-24: Uncommon(1-6 sp/dose)

25-28: Rare(1-6 gp/dose)

29-30: Very Rare(1-6 pp/dose)

DCC Cleric Without Spells

  I know I'm late to the party by about 9 years to talk about Cleric's without spells, but I'm about to start running a new DCC game in a Sword and Sorcery type setting, and I really have never liked the spellcasting cleric.

  Most people suggest removing the cleric altogether, but I do think there should be a class for champions/avatars of gods beyond the patron/agent system. Preferably one that has little to no spellcasting ability. 

  My literary basis for this type of character would be Tempus from the Thieves' World books. Game design wise I looked at numerous systems including RPG pundit's Lion & Dragon, Dominique Crouzet's Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, Green Ronin's Thieves' World and Black Company sourcebooks, AEG's Good Sourcebook, and Some Sanctum Secorum stuff.

  The end result is a cleric that loses spellcasting, and divine aid. This means it just keeps Turn Unholy and Lay on Hands.

  In trade for all it lost it gains Zealous Wrath and Boons.

Zealous Wrath: The cleric can enter into a state of holy mania, trading points of STA for Zeal dice each round, and gaining temporary immunity to any effect requiring a Will save. The cleric also counts as an outsider while affected by this mania. While in this state it must trade at least 1 point, but the max it can trade is equal to his PER bonus(again, min 1). These Zeal dice are based on level(same size as a Warrior's Deed die), and the cleric may spend them on the following each round:

- The cleric applies the Zeal die to attack, damage, and mighty deed rolls just as if he was a warrior. Each die applying to a different attack.

- The cleric applies the Zeal die as a bonus to a spell check for Turn Unholy, Lay on Hands, and Boons that require Spell Checks.

- The cleric applies the Zeal die to himself as healing. Any extra healing is wasted.

- The cleric uses the Zeal die as damage reduction.

The cleric can remain in this state for as long as he's willing to trade STA points, even into negative numbers. When he comes out however, if he's at 0 or lower stamina, he falls unconscious until his stamina heals enough to return him to 1 STA(1 pt/hour). Until his stamina completely recovers(1 pt/turn of rest) the cleric suffers a 1 die step penalty to all rolls, and may not enter the holy mania again unless he burns a permanent point of stamina.

Boons: I am building the deities for my campaign off of d20 cleric domains and the AEG Sourcebook 'Good'. These domains grant the followers and clerics certain, minor abilities as well as providing a framework for what counts as sins/transgressions and what kind of divine aid a cleric can reasonably expect to receive for various levels of disapproval. I'll start posting examples as I get write-ups done for the individual gods.

7 DM Questions

Saw this on an FB post and thought I'd answer them here.

1) How do you handle a TPK?

  Players either roll up new characters or take up one of their stable of backup characters/henchmen. Prior to 3rd level, you likely haven't lost much, and after 3rd level, you likely have a few backups floating around. If a full, everyone is dead for everyone, and it's past level 3, then it may be time to have a talk with the group about what happened and why.

2) How do you get players to do their homework?

  In my 30-something years of experience as a DM, I've learned that players do not do homework. Especially American players. And that goes triple for ones under 40. This is understandable however as 'let me tell you about my campaign setting' is the DM equivalent of 'let me tell you about my 12th level Paladin' and I don't think a lot of DMs have realized this(I know I've been guilty of this). Sometimes it's unavoidable however, at which point my advice is, keep it brief. No more than a 3 question thing. Offer benefits for completion.

3) What are some good monster combos? 

  The MM and Role Playing common sense handle this pretty well. Beyond that, I don't worry about it. Creating 'killer combos' always rubs me the wrong way as a DM. I can literally Herd-of-Tarrasque the PCs if I want to. I'd rather create interesting locales. Players who actually explore will be rewarded with stories for them to uncover that can lead to riches and power. They just have to put their detective hats on.

4-6) How do you DM line of sight vs. line of effect? How do you handle knowledge roles and player metagame knowledge? When do you allow skill substitution during skill checks?

  The rulebooks are usually pretty clear, and when they are not, common sense usually prevails. In the incredibly rare instance in which this doesn't happen, I roll a die or have players roll Luck.

7) How do you handle parties that are a combination of newbies and more experienced players?

  Like any other game. I expect the old hands to show the n00blets the ropes. It's in their own best interest that the rookies don't do stupid things. Plus, I have never met a veteran player who didn't like to flex his/her knowledge and skills.

Damage Mitigation for Swashbucklers

One thing that I've always felt that D&D does poorly is lightly armored warrior types. Additionally, a major issue for tired or neophyte DMs and  players is that they often allow combat to become devoid of any real drama. Strictly speaking, from an entirely gamist perspective, there's not much reason to move about, sunder, or do anything but cause direct damage once a melee type gets in range of another melee type.
 To that end, I offer a potential rule addition that I think should be useful for both new and old school games. It is somewhat similar to the Shields shall be splintered rule in that it has the potential to make fights last longer(which may be a good or bad thing), but I believe that it may prove beneficial for a suitably cinematic playstyle.

Rolling With The Blow
 I suggest for balance that this be made into either a feat, class/kit ability, or proficiency unless you want to encourage this to be used by everyone. A character with this ability who is not encumbered, and is in light or lighter armor may make a choice when his character is struck in melee combat. He either takes the damage or rolls with the blow. In the simplest version of rolling with the blow, the character takes no damage but "suffers" some other sort of ill effect at the DM's discretion, such as being forced to move out of his current location or losing a held/worn item. This rule can be expanded on with tables and even saving throws and  hit locations that determine the type and severity of the effect.

Bind Wounds

Getting ready to play Beyond the Wall as an online game and I'm thinking of playtesting a new rule idea.

  After combat, if the character spends 1 turn(10 rounds) binding his wounds(which requires materials to do that) he recovers all HP lost during the combat. There are two downsides to this however:

• He takes a -1 penalty to all rolls. This is cumulative.
• Heavy exertion requires the character to make a save or suffer 1 damage. This damage may not be bound.

  These penalties disappear after a full night's rest, though the damage done by reopened wounds must be healed through natural healing, the healing skill, or magic.
  Someone using the healing skill might provide a bonus on the damage save.

The Infernals

Soooo,the beholder ended up sucking to the point where I don't even want to post pics until I paint it again. However, work has been a bit light this week and I've been able to get some work done on my Warmachine Infernals army.
 I didn't like the standard paint scheme used by Privateer Press, so I've kinda been painting everything up how I like.
The Lamenter, light horror:

 The Desolator, Heavy Horror:

 Umbral Guardian, solo:

 Zaateroth, Weaver of Shadows, the Infernal Master:

 Group shot, just because:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Finally getting some new brushes and stuff with my paycheck in a few hours. Then it's off to the FLGS to get some zombicide, battletech, and paint that nolzur's beholder. Planning on having pics up, at latest, tomorrow night with what progress I've completed on it by then.

Abstract Armor for DCC

  One of the better house rules from Iron Heroes was the concept of abstract Armor; a line of stats that the player or DM could define however they wished. As such, here is my (currently unplaytested) attempt at creating a similar system for DCC found here.

  I should mention that I am using damage by class, along with the "shields shall be splintered" and helmets negate critical hits at the cost of the helmet.

Been Awhile

Man have things changed.  Not sure how often I'll post, but hoping at least 1-2 times a week. My D&D books and computer were mostly lost, sold to survive, stolen, or destroyed, but I'm not dead yet.

I've been mostly Judging for Dungeon Crawl Classics lately, so I'll likely post stuff for that while I'm trying to get back on my feet.

Joesky Tax

 Mana Potion(for DCC)

  This potion restores a single "lost" spell to an arcane caster. If the caster has multiple lost spells, the spell restored is determined randomly.

Population Density of Hunter-Gatherers

   I realize I haven't posted much in forever. I've been busy with other games and with life in general. However, as always, I like generating worlds. Today while looking up some random info on something else entirely I came across this which might be of use to anyone working on games involving hunter-gatherer cultures.

Death to the Saving Throw, Part 2

  Sorry it's taken so long to post this, but I've been busy with real life stuff for the last week & a half. Some General notes:

• All spells that allow saving throws are considered automatically failed unless the player takes some specific action to attempt to negate the spell's effect. For example, taking cover behind a suitably large enough pillar, or under a table may negate a spell's damaging effects from affecting the character entirely(or may automatically reduce the damage by a set amount)
• Shields Shall be Splintered: direct damage spells like lightning bolt, melf's acid arrow, etc. should be subject to this rule.
• Armor Shall be F%$#ed: Non-magical armor should be able to provide the benefits of a passed save(1/2 damage) if the player chooses to sacrifice the armor vs. AoE attacks like breath weapons, fireballs, & the like.
• Magical Armor is Spiffy: There are a couple of ways of handling this, and I'm still testing them out. The first is that magical armor automatically reduces the damage of magical spells by 1 point of damage per die per plus that the item provides. The second option is that each plus provides 1-10% magic resistance (depending on how spiffy you want the armor to actually be).
• Disbelieving Illusions: If the player has cause to believe that  a given spell is an illusion, a flat intelligence check should be enough to prove it one way or another. A penalty to the roll can be applied equal to the spell level.

Individual Spell Notes:
Charm X/Domination:  Automatic failed save when the spell is cast, but there's a % chance per day of the spell giving out equal to the victim's Intelligence + any magical defense pluses + # of days the spells has been active.
Entangle: Bend Bars/Lift Gates roll to be able to move 10 feet in that round.
Grease:  Rather than a saving throw, a Dexterity check makes more sense.
Magic Jar: Possession of new body should automatically succeed unless certain precautions are taken(a magic helm, circlet, etc. that prevents the takeover from occurring).
Polymorph: All these spells still require a system shock roll.

Next time: Monsters

Death to the Saving Throw, Part 1

  Note: These are not the final version of this, just my hastily scrawled ideas.
   I don't know about anyone else, but I dislike the saving throw systems found across the various editions (The TSR edition ones turn the game too superheroic at high levels, and the d20 ones always make me wonder, 'why didn't they use flat ability checks?').
   Part of my dislike of the system is that it's a bit of a get out of jail free card. You or your character fucked up, and it's the game's way of insulating you from your own stupidity. That's all well and good for heroic games, but I don't play that sort of game. In my games player characters are not heroes, they're adventurers, and high level heroes are special enough in that they have that great big heaping pile of hit points to begin with.
   As such, below are the rules I've come up with to replace the 5 score system used in 2e. I'll only be
dealing with the core rules(PHB, DMG, MM)

Races:

• Elves and Half Elves still get their % chance to resist sleep and charm spells
• Dwarves, Gnomes, & Halflings get Magic/Poison Resistance equal to the Constitution Scores. Been debating whether or not to just add this percentage on to the Magic Malfunction chance for the appropriate races. I'll have to do more playtesting before I decide one way or the other.

Classes

• Paladin: Paladins get a flat 10% Magic Resistance with a +1% bonus per class level. This actually makes more sense to me than a save bonus because I've always seen Paladin as a state of being akin to a race rather than 'just a class'.
• Ranger: Rangers get to double their charisma(to a max of 25) when dealing with animals.
• Bard: To influence others, the Bard gets to make a charisma check. If he passes, he gets to re-roll his encounter reaction, with a bonus equal to 1/3 his bard level rounded down. He takes the better of the two rolls. If he fails the Cha check, no change. A natural 20 results in a reroll, with a penalty, and the worst of the two rolls is taken. Countersong automatically works.

Combat

• The DM needs to state up front, before characters determine their actions that casters that can be seen are attempting to cast spells (if the spellcasting is obvious), or that the creature is attempting to use a breath weapon. 
• Gaze Attacks: If your character isn't trying to protect himself, he automatically falls victim. If he tries to look in the general direction rather than directly at the creature, there's still a 20% chance he's still automatically affected. If he completely averts his gaze, then he suffers blind fighting penalties as normal.
• Breath Weapons: Breath weapons are already variable damage as is. I see no reason to actually grant a saving throw. If the character however manages to find a significant cover however, the damage should be mitigated either by 1/2, taking 1 dmg per die off, or negated completely.
• Massive Damage: A System Shock Roll should cover this. 

Poison
   For damage poisons, you take 1d8 damage for each onset increment until the listed damage is dealt. Example: Type A poison would do 1d8 damage in the first 10-30 minutes, then another 1d8 damage the next, and so on, until the total damage done is 15.
  Death poison: There are two ways of handling this. If you are using the death's door rules, the poison instantly drops the character to 0 hp, and the character starts dropping 1 hp per round as normal. In order to stop this, the character must be cleansed of the poison, at which point he may heal naturally. The second method of handling it is that the poison does 1d8 damage every
round starting with the poisoned round, and continues until the character is cleansed of poison, or slain.
   Paralysis: Reduce the length of time paralyzed by 1 for each bonus HP the character gets from high Constitution(all characters get the warrior con bonus for this purpose).

  I'll be posting Spells in the next post.