This is a post for the benefit of my players, so they have the stats of the two cambion NPCs they now control. I based these off the Cambion Wrathborn and Chained Cambion, but I bumped up the HP, defenses and damage expressions because my players are 23rd level at this point. These cambion were meant to be an annoyance in combat with the PCs while their sorcerer master flew around above them and caused problems; of course when it came down to it the party thrashed the sorcerer pretty quickly while Beautiful Bob rolled a natural 30 on his once nightly roll on the d30 in an attempt to dominate the two surviving cambions (he has an ability to attempt to permanently dominate bloodied opponents, I believe he gained this ability by consuming the soul of an inquisitor devil that he had trapped in a malevolent nut a while ago). I usually wouldn't have let him dominate the cambions because they were sired by the sorcerer the PCs were fighting, but if you roll a natural 30 on a d30 you succeed in whatever you are trying to do. That is why Beautiful Bob is half-gibbering mouther as well, he rolled a natural 30 in attempting to psychically befriend a gibbering mouther in his very first session and then he later combined his own form with the mouther in a dark ritual.
So anyway, Beautiful Bob now has two cambion NPCs, Nur-Kubi and Zaninum (both fathered by Mezizi Al-Bado, member of the royal sorcerer's Order of the Phoenix and secret member of the order of the Horned Skull - their mothers are two different succubus devils).
Nur-Kubi is a shifty sort who prefers to assume human guise and dislikes it when he loses control and must assume his natural, fiery winged form. He wishes he were human. He despises devils and his half-brother Zaninum
HP: 200 Bloodied 100 Initiative: +15 Perception: +12 Darkvision
AC:33 Fortitude:31 Reflex: 34 Will: 30
Speed: 6, Fly 8 (clumsy)
Resist 10 fire
Traits: Burning Anger (fire): Aura 1 - while Nur-Kubi is bloodied, any enemy that ends its turn within the aura takes 10 fire damage.
Standard Actions:
Pain Blade (weapon) at will: melee 1; +30 vs. AC 4d8+16 damage and the target grants combat advantage until the end of Nur-Kubi's next turn.
Path of Pain (weapon) at-will: Nur-Kubi shifts 4 squares and uses pain blade at any point during the shift.
Fire Bolt (fire, implement) at will: Ranged 5 +28 vs Reflex 4d6+10 fire damage
Burst Skyward (fire, implement) Encounter: Requirement: Nur-Kubi must be bloodied. Close Burst 2 (enemies in burst); +30 vs Reflex 4d10+10 fire damage and Nur-Kubi flies 8 squares without provoking opportunity attacks.
Minor Actions: Wicked Guise (illusion) at will - Requirement: Nur-Kubi must not be bloodied. Nur-Kubi can assume the appearance of a specific Medium humanoid.
Zaninum is an angry sort, full of hatred and wrath. He loves killing things. He hates humans. He thinks his half-brother Nur-Kubi is weak but envies his ability to fly. He wraps himself in chains that he can control telekinetically.
HP: 220 Bloodied: 110 Initiative: +15 Perception:+15 Darkvision
AC:34 Fortitude:32 Reflex:30 Will:30
Speed:6
Traits:
Binding Chains: Aura 3 Squares within the aura are difficult terrain for enemies
Child of Chains: While immobilized or restrained, Zaninum gains +2 to attack and +2 to escape a grab or to savings throws against immobilization or restrain.
Standard Actions
Chain Lash (weapon) at-will: melee 3 +32 vs. AC 6d6+16 damage and a dazed target is immobilized (save ends)
Vile Fetters (psychic) at will: melee 5 +30 vs. will 4d6+12 psychic damage and if the target ends its next turn closer to Zaninum it is dazed (save ends)
Unfettered Scream (psychic) recharge 5,6: Close blast 3 (creatures in blast) +30 vs. Fortitude 4d6+12 Psychic Damage and the target is pushed 2 squares and dazed (save ends)
Minor Actions
Mind Shackles (psychic) Recharge when first bloodied: Two enemies adjacent to each other in a close burst 5 are psychically shackled (save ends; each enemy makes a separate saving throw against this effect). While psychically shackled, an enemy takes 20 psychic damage at the start and the end of its turn if it isn't adjacent to the other creature that was affected by this power. Aftereffect: the effect persists, and the damage decreases to 10 (save ends).
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Siss-Anor Dungeons pt. 1
Last session in my 4e game the players were exploring the dungeons underneath the royal palace of Siss-Anor for the first time. Magical wards prevented teleporting into or out of the area underneath the palace, so for the first time in a long time the party didn't have the safety net of being able to open a portal back to their orbiting spacecraft with their portal coins. I am going to post some maps of areas of the dungeons, because by the end of last session Beautiful Bob had wrested control of two cambion (half-devil) slaves from a royal sorceror. These two cambions are now totally loyal to Beautiful Bob, and they are intimately familiar with the areas of the dungeon occupied by the devil-pact Order of the Horned Bull as well as the network of passages and caverns that link from the order's temple to the ancient ritual caverns in the lowest level of the dungeons. I am going to post some maps soon, but first some back story.
For the last few months of game time, the city of Siss-Anor had been oppressed by the snake men who suddenly arrived in their flying golden city/meteorite over the palace and activated sleeper cells of snake men loyalists within the royal family and royal inquisitors. The royal bloodline of House Al Treez was revealed to be of snake man scientist creation - genetically modified to be susceptible to snake man telepathic command. Squadrons of large humanoid lizardmen with green shadows instead of heads abducted most of the ranking leadership of both the other royal houses and the named merchant houses. Unprecedented numbers of blood sacrifices were demanded of all the houses, and several resulting uprisings were put down with brutal efficiency by the legions of the snakemen. Then just as suddenly as they arrived, the snake man city flew away upriver into the jungle and has not returned.
Without the backing of the snake men, the collaborators within the old royal government soon were besieged in the palace. When the palace fell the old loyalists/snake man collaborators retreated into the dungeons below the palace. The royal sorcerers, while not of snake man blood and in fact chafing under the new order, had not openly resisted the snake men and indeed had helped put down the uprisings. A secret society within the royal sorcerers known as the Order of the Horned Bull had formed a pact with the lords of hell many generations ago, and they called upon the minions of hell to protect them as they retreated into the dungeons. The upper level of dungeons, mostly consisting of barracks for the royal guard and extensive prison cell blocks, are now flooded with devils - at the moment keeping the forces of the uprising houses from capturing the collaborators.
The party has a man on the inside, a member of the royal family and a royal inquisitor himself, Kaaz al Treez. Many sessions ago Kaaz allied himself with the party because he had been investigating secret plots of the snake men in the royal house of Siss Anor for quite some time. He had been investigating a secret order within the inquisitors known as the Order of the Serpent. This secret order passed down the knowledge of the snake men for thousands of years, conducting rituals in hidden caverns far below the surface where a strange race of snake-mindflayers (snake man scientist creations) live in a network of tunnels honeycombing a sentient mycelial mass. Even after the the snake man citadel left, Kaaz observed snake man scientist activity in the lowest levels of the dungeon where the snake-mindflayers live. Literally taking the form of a fly on the wall, Kaaz observed a snake man scientist entering a secret doorway in the Cavern of the Blood Sacrifice. Following the scientist in his insect form, Kaaz discovered a snake man scientist installation hidden underneath the caverns. A large circular chamber was filled with the golden machinery inset with gem buttons and festooned with levers that is characteristic of the snake man scientists. In the center, some kind of energy vortex or singularity danced suspended in mid-air. Kaaz observed the snake man scientists walk directly into this energy vortex and disappear. When Kaaz followed after a discrete moment, he found himself on a clear platform far above the floor of an immense chamber. Hairless blue skinned humans and snake man scientists of unusual coloration busily crisscrossed the floor of the chamber to and from the eight archways ringing the chamber. Something in the atmosphere felt wrong, and he had difficulty maintaining his insect form. He was unable to communicate with the party from in this chamber through the magical wasp ear rings that he and Beautiful Bob wear for this purpose. When he attempted to fly down into the chamber he lost his insect form and crashed into a far corner of the immense chamber. He had difficulty using any magic at all and was unable to assume any of his tattoo forms. Eventually he was able to figure out how to activate an elevator lift to take him back to the platform, where he stepped back through the energy vortex. He contacted the party after this and told them the whole story. He explained to the party how they could access the lowest levels of the dungeon through a long flooded passage connecting to the old sewers, and that is how and why the party came to be entering the Cavern of the Blood Sacrifice underneath the palace of Siss Anor last session.
For the last few months of game time, the city of Siss-Anor had been oppressed by the snake men who suddenly arrived in their flying golden city/meteorite over the palace and activated sleeper cells of snake men loyalists within the royal family and royal inquisitors. The royal bloodline of House Al Treez was revealed to be of snake man scientist creation - genetically modified to be susceptible to snake man telepathic command. Squadrons of large humanoid lizardmen with green shadows instead of heads abducted most of the ranking leadership of both the other royal houses and the named merchant houses. Unprecedented numbers of blood sacrifices were demanded of all the houses, and several resulting uprisings were put down with brutal efficiency by the legions of the snakemen. Then just as suddenly as they arrived, the snake man city flew away upriver into the jungle and has not returned.
Without the backing of the snake men, the collaborators within the old royal government soon were besieged in the palace. When the palace fell the old loyalists/snake man collaborators retreated into the dungeons below the palace. The royal sorcerers, while not of snake man blood and in fact chafing under the new order, had not openly resisted the snake men and indeed had helped put down the uprisings. A secret society within the royal sorcerers known as the Order of the Horned Bull had formed a pact with the lords of hell many generations ago, and they called upon the minions of hell to protect them as they retreated into the dungeons. The upper level of dungeons, mostly consisting of barracks for the royal guard and extensive prison cell blocks, are now flooded with devils - at the moment keeping the forces of the uprising houses from capturing the collaborators.
The party has a man on the inside, a member of the royal family and a royal inquisitor himself, Kaaz al Treez. Many sessions ago Kaaz allied himself with the party because he had been investigating secret plots of the snake men in the royal house of Siss Anor for quite some time. He had been investigating a secret order within the inquisitors known as the Order of the Serpent. This secret order passed down the knowledge of the snake men for thousands of years, conducting rituals in hidden caverns far below the surface where a strange race of snake-mindflayers (snake man scientist creations) live in a network of tunnels honeycombing a sentient mycelial mass. Even after the the snake man citadel left, Kaaz observed snake man scientist activity in the lowest levels of the dungeon where the snake-mindflayers live. Literally taking the form of a fly on the wall, Kaaz observed a snake man scientist entering a secret doorway in the Cavern of the Blood Sacrifice. Following the scientist in his insect form, Kaaz discovered a snake man scientist installation hidden underneath the caverns. A large circular chamber was filled with the golden machinery inset with gem buttons and festooned with levers that is characteristic of the snake man scientists. In the center, some kind of energy vortex or singularity danced suspended in mid-air. Kaaz observed the snake man scientists walk directly into this energy vortex and disappear. When Kaaz followed after a discrete moment, he found himself on a clear platform far above the floor of an immense chamber. Hairless blue skinned humans and snake man scientists of unusual coloration busily crisscrossed the floor of the chamber to and from the eight archways ringing the chamber. Something in the atmosphere felt wrong, and he had difficulty maintaining his insect form. He was unable to communicate with the party from in this chamber through the magical wasp ear rings that he and Beautiful Bob wear for this purpose. When he attempted to fly down into the chamber he lost his insect form and crashed into a far corner of the immense chamber. He had difficulty using any magic at all and was unable to assume any of his tattoo forms. Eventually he was able to figure out how to activate an elevator lift to take him back to the platform, where he stepped back through the energy vortex. He contacted the party after this and told them the whole story. He explained to the party how they could access the lowest levels of the dungeon through a long flooded passage connecting to the old sewers, and that is how and why the party came to be entering the Cavern of the Blood Sacrifice underneath the palace of Siss Anor last session.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Magical Circuitry pt.2
A while back I posted about my 4e players beginning to figure out how to assemble magical circuitry to create magical "machines" that functioned much differently from the magical items created through rituals in 4e. Plants, organs from magical creatures and magical crystals and minerals could be combined to create magical effects. This worked in a fairly straightforward manner; the blast cannons the party made from the legs of genetically-modified partially robotic giant insects and the dark organs of the larval spawn of an elder godcreature are an excellent example.
Next, the party figured out that magical energy could be transformed in the shadow world to enable magical machines to perform many more functions. They first learned about this by observing how shadow pearls in a magical shield constructed by the snake men scientists transformed raw energy and created both a repulsor beam to fly the shield as well as a laser to blast the crap out of things. I want to post more about the magical discoveries the party has made since then, but first I need to lay out some cosmological groundwork.
In my game cosmology there is the physical world, the spirit world and the shadow world. The physical world is a multiverse that I call the IPM (infinite possibility matrix) in my games (I use this cosmology independent of system - I used it for my 3e game and my Mutant Future game as well as the 4e campaign). The main thing distinguishing the IPM from any other multiversal theory is the travel of energy between different possibilities. Imagine every particle of energy in the universe somehow "freezing" in time. The planets and suns and comets stop zooming around and hang motionless, as do the electrons and protons and in turn quarks and neutrinos... and if you zoomed in as far as you could on an individual unit of energy, in the IPM you would discover that the smallest unit of energy both does and does not exist at the same time. In the frozen universe, outside of time, energy flickers in and out of existence. It is travelling outside of time between the different possible universes.
If you could somehow follow the flow of energy outside of time between the different possible universes you would be in the shadow world. The shadow world exists outside of time and the usual constraints on the forms energy can take. It could simultaneously be thought of as an undifferentiated sea of energy, and as a sea of every form that energy could take. If you followed a linear conception of time backward to the big bang, the shadow world is on the other side of the big bang if you kept heading "backward".
The spirit world is the borderland between the physical world and the shadow world. There are as many spirit worlds as there are possible universes, but there is only one shadow world. The spirit world is how/where energy leaves the universe to join the shadow world, and the spirit world is how/where energy returns to the universe from the shadow world. The spirit world could be thought of as a veil that covers the universe and defines its bounds, even as energy flows to and from the universe through the spirit world into deep shadow and all other possible universes. As energy constantly flows between the different probable universes, it is possible for networks of energy to simultaneously become sentient in the spirit world surrounding a universe. Once such a consciousness arises, it persists even though the individual units of energy that make it up are constantly in flux. These are spirits. Different sorts of spirits arise in the different spirit worlds surrounding different possible universes.
Back to magical circuitry - every universe has rules that govern how energy can behave. Anything that breaks those rules is magic. The way that magic functions is to tap into the possible forms of energy in the shadow world and make energy returning to the universe retain these shadow forms. The study of magic is the study of the potential forms of energy, how to tease out the desired form in the shadow world, and how to bring back that form through the spirit world.
Next, the party figured out that magical energy could be transformed in the shadow world to enable magical machines to perform many more functions. They first learned about this by observing how shadow pearls in a magical shield constructed by the snake men scientists transformed raw energy and created both a repulsor beam to fly the shield as well as a laser to blast the crap out of things. I want to post more about the magical discoveries the party has made since then, but first I need to lay out some cosmological groundwork.
In my game cosmology there is the physical world, the spirit world and the shadow world. The physical world is a multiverse that I call the IPM (infinite possibility matrix) in my games (I use this cosmology independent of system - I used it for my 3e game and my Mutant Future game as well as the 4e campaign). The main thing distinguishing the IPM from any other multiversal theory is the travel of energy between different possibilities. Imagine every particle of energy in the universe somehow "freezing" in time. The planets and suns and comets stop zooming around and hang motionless, as do the electrons and protons and in turn quarks and neutrinos... and if you zoomed in as far as you could on an individual unit of energy, in the IPM you would discover that the smallest unit of energy both does and does not exist at the same time. In the frozen universe, outside of time, energy flickers in and out of existence. It is travelling outside of time between the different possible universes.
If you could somehow follow the flow of energy outside of time between the different possible universes you would be in the shadow world. The shadow world exists outside of time and the usual constraints on the forms energy can take. It could simultaneously be thought of as an undifferentiated sea of energy, and as a sea of every form that energy could take. If you followed a linear conception of time backward to the big bang, the shadow world is on the other side of the big bang if you kept heading "backward".
The spirit world is the borderland between the physical world and the shadow world. There are as many spirit worlds as there are possible universes, but there is only one shadow world. The spirit world is how/where energy leaves the universe to join the shadow world, and the spirit world is how/where energy returns to the universe from the shadow world. The spirit world could be thought of as a veil that covers the universe and defines its bounds, even as energy flows to and from the universe through the spirit world into deep shadow and all other possible universes. As energy constantly flows between the different probable universes, it is possible for networks of energy to simultaneously become sentient in the spirit world surrounding a universe. Once such a consciousness arises, it persists even though the individual units of energy that make it up are constantly in flux. These are spirits. Different sorts of spirits arise in the different spirit worlds surrounding different possible universes.
Back to magical circuitry - every universe has rules that govern how energy can behave. Anything that breaks those rules is magic. The way that magic functions is to tap into the possible forms of energy in the shadow world and make energy returning to the universe retain these shadow forms. The study of magic is the study of the potential forms of energy, how to tease out the desired form in the shadow world, and how to bring back that form through the spirit world.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Flying Saucer Deck Plans
There is the off chance that the players in my 4e game might end up exploring a high-tech spacecraft today of the flying saucer variety so I was Googling "flying saucer deck plans". This old web page has the complete blue prints of a Constitution class Starfleet vessel, the top portion of which is basically a flying saucer (deck plans for this portion below). The page also includes the contents of each level and a key for all the abbreviations. The full ship is a mega-dungeon all gift-wrapped and ready to go :) http://www.oocities.org/thinkexperiment/shiptour.html
Flying Saucer Deck Plans:
Flying Saucer Deck Plans:
Monday, July 15, 2013
Two Men Down
Roderick and Claude the Ranger dropped yesterday at the hands of slime hounds in the catacomb levels below the sewers of Kaladar in my friend Carter's Labyrinth Lord Lands of Ara campaign. While these were two NPCs, followers of Vivuli the assassin and Uncle Junkle the bard, the loss still hit hard. The party was a bit stunned, actually, because we completely underestimated the pack of seven dogs that attacked us in the tunnels.
Seven dogs covered in filth and disease didn't exactly strike fear into our hearts after disposing of three green dragons and a half dozen winged Balrogs over the last two sessions. We did have a string of terrible rolls, including several critical fumbles resulting in dropped weapons, as well as Innominus rolling a 6 for damage on his nightly d30 roll in an area attack that hit all the dogs in the surprise round before combat proper started.
Still, we figured we were going to dispatch these critters handily and I even advised Innominus against blowing a Bless or Prayer spell on the second round because I was sure these things couldn't have many hit points left after they all took 6 damage on the first round.
That all changed in a heartbeat when they started spewing acidic bile at us, scoring a hit on Roderick that did 35 damage! We were all sitting around silently digesting that tidbit when Carter asked us, so did that kill him? 35 damage? Did it kill the 5th level thief with 5d6 HP? Yes, yes it did.
Nothing like a 35 damage breath attack to put the fear of the lord in a bunch of 5th through 7th level Labyrinth Lord characters! Plus the dogs turned out to have HP in the 30's.
While Roderick and Claude are going to be raised, they are out of commission for two weeks game time - which could well be a year of real life time at the rate we are going - the last 4 of our game sessions have only covered three days in game time I believe and we meet every other week at the soonest.
Playing with the expectations of veteran players is a great way to introduce a little fear into a game. I don't know if Carter made these slime dogs up or if somebody else did (their breath weapon had a recharge mechanic which makes me think these are someone else's creation - that is just too 4e for Carter) but either way they were an awesome foe because they seemed like something in the 2 to 3 HD range (they were described as normal dogs but covered in slime and disease as they had been living in the sewers) but turned out to be quite a handful indeed!
I am actually thinking about house-ruling the Labyrinth Lord / Old School style "you are out of commission for 2 weeks following a raise - 1 HP - cannot fight or undertake any strenuous activity" Raise Dead into my 4e game. I have managed to kill a PC quite a few times in that game but then they get raised with no real consequence at all. 2 weeks of game time is simultaneously not that outlandish of a penalty for coming back from the dead, and a real nuisance for a game like mine in which all kinds of stuff is happening outside of the PCs control and will continue to happen during the 2 weeks that a player is out of commission.
Of course the PCs in my 4e game are all experienced time travelers at this point so that might throw a little wrinkle into this :)
Seven dogs covered in filth and disease didn't exactly strike fear into our hearts after disposing of three green dragons and a half dozen winged Balrogs over the last two sessions. We did have a string of terrible rolls, including several critical fumbles resulting in dropped weapons, as well as Innominus rolling a 6 for damage on his nightly d30 roll in an area attack that hit all the dogs in the surprise round before combat proper started.
Still, we figured we were going to dispatch these critters handily and I even advised Innominus against blowing a Bless or Prayer spell on the second round because I was sure these things couldn't have many hit points left after they all took 6 damage on the first round.
That all changed in a heartbeat when they started spewing acidic bile at us, scoring a hit on Roderick that did 35 damage! We were all sitting around silently digesting that tidbit when Carter asked us, so did that kill him? 35 damage? Did it kill the 5th level thief with 5d6 HP? Yes, yes it did.
 |
| The vicious Arandish Slime Hound |
Nothing like a 35 damage breath attack to put the fear of the lord in a bunch of 5th through 7th level Labyrinth Lord characters! Plus the dogs turned out to have HP in the 30's.
While Roderick and Claude are going to be raised, they are out of commission for two weeks game time - which could well be a year of real life time at the rate we are going - the last 4 of our game sessions have only covered three days in game time I believe and we meet every other week at the soonest.
Playing with the expectations of veteran players is a great way to introduce a little fear into a game. I don't know if Carter made these slime dogs up or if somebody else did (their breath weapon had a recharge mechanic which makes me think these are someone else's creation - that is just too 4e for Carter) but either way they were an awesome foe because they seemed like something in the 2 to 3 HD range (they were described as normal dogs but covered in slime and disease as they had been living in the sewers) but turned out to be quite a handful indeed!
I am actually thinking about house-ruling the Labyrinth Lord / Old School style "you are out of commission for 2 weeks following a raise - 1 HP - cannot fight or undertake any strenuous activity" Raise Dead into my 4e game. I have managed to kill a PC quite a few times in that game but then they get raised with no real consequence at all. 2 weeks of game time is simultaneously not that outlandish of a penalty for coming back from the dead, and a real nuisance for a game like mine in which all kinds of stuff is happening outside of the PCs control and will continue to happen during the 2 weeks that a player is out of commission.
Of course the PCs in my 4e game are all experienced time travelers at this point so that might throw a little wrinkle into this :)
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Carl's Creatures pt.3 - Temple Toad Temon
This is your garden variety six legged toad demon bred by were-toad cultists in the mutating energy of the Huwawa complex. It is large enough to swallow a man whole or carry two riders if specially constructed saddles are used.
I am going to try statting up one of my 4e creatures in a more old school D&D style here:
Temple Toad Demon
MV: 12 (15' vertical 40' broad jump)
HD:11d8+15
AC: 3 (blessed weapons do normal damage; holy water deals 1d8; 1/2 damage magical weapons, fire and acid; immune to normal weapons, cold, charm, sleep, paralysis, lightning)
MR: 50%
THAC0: 9 (or as a 14 HD creature)
Attacks: Kick 2d12 (can kick two targets simultaneously if both are behind the toad); Bite 2d12+10 (swallows man sized or smaller targets whole on 25+ dmg - swallowed victims take 4d6+10 acid damage each round, can only use small weapons and do 1/2 normal damage to the toad); Tongue (range 35') +4 to hit; target is pulled to the toad which makes a free bite attack at+5 damage )
Special:
Temple Toad Demons are partially obscured by thick noxious fumes which constantly spill from popping blisters and warts on the toad demon's skin. Unless holding their breath, attackers in melee range suffer -2 to hit and damage. At the end of any round that these fumes are breathed a save vs poison must be made or the victim is dazed for 1d4 rounds and cannot take any actions beyond falling to her knees (and retching if a Constitution check is failed).
 |
| pen and ink by moi |
I am going to try statting up one of my 4e creatures in a more old school D&D style here:
Temple Toad Demon
MV: 12 (15' vertical 40' broad jump)
HD:11d8+15
AC: 3 (blessed weapons do normal damage; holy water deals 1d8; 1/2 damage magical weapons, fire and acid; immune to normal weapons, cold, charm, sleep, paralysis, lightning)
MR: 50%
THAC0: 9 (or as a 14 HD creature)
Attacks: Kick 2d12 (can kick two targets simultaneously if both are behind the toad); Bite 2d12+10 (swallows man sized or smaller targets whole on 25+ dmg - swallowed victims take 4d6+10 acid damage each round, can only use small weapons and do 1/2 normal damage to the toad); Tongue (range 35') +4 to hit; target is pulled to the toad which makes a free bite attack at
Special:
Temple Toad Demons are partially obscured by thick noxious fumes which constantly spill from popping blisters and warts on the toad demon's skin. Unless holding their breath, attackers in melee range suffer -2 to hit and damage. At the end of any round that these fumes are breathed a save vs poison must be made or the victim is dazed for 1d4 rounds and cannot take any actions beyond falling to her knees (and retching if a Constitution check is failed).
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh
I am purchasing a Cthulhu mug as a reward to myself for sticking through a rough first year laboring for a new company and getting a work from home position that should both be more lucrative and allow me more time to geek out on D&D. Cheers!
I already own a raven mug made by Ziggy which is among my most cherished positions, being capable of imbuing stout beers with magical properties (I have proven this on many occasions through a rigorous and very scientific method).
I can hardly wait to get my paws on the Cthulhu mug. My only question is what sacrificial victim shall provide the blood for my first offering?
As a side note, a really cool campaign idea could be lifted from my conversation with Ziggy's shipping clerk:
"...surreal cabalistic magic, swashbuckling Gypsies and noblemen, overly principled merchants, and incestuous Moorish lesbians, all intricately wrapped up in stories within stories..."
For a frame of reference, my conversation with Ziggy's shipping clerk wherein I "haggle" for a $5 increase in price:
Check out Ziggy's Etsy store, she is awesome and her creations are magical.
I can hardly wait to get my paws on the Cthulhu mug. My only question is what sacrificial victim shall provide the blood for my first offering?
As a side note, a really cool campaign idea could be lifted from my conversation with Ziggy's shipping clerk:
"...surreal cabalistic magic, swashbuckling Gypsies and noblemen, overly principled merchants, and incestuous Moorish lesbians, all intricately wrapped up in stories within stories..."
For a frame of reference, my conversation with Ziggy's shipping clerk wherein I "haggle" for a $5 increase in price:
Check out Ziggy's Etsy store, she is awesome and her creations are magical.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Stat My Wife's Dinosaurs
My wife doodled some dinosaurs (and a crocodile and pterosaur) at work and I saw the page of doodles laying around. I asked her if I could post them on this blog and she acquiesced.
Non-commercial rights granted to use these drawings in your personal game. If you want to stat up and name any of these critters on your own blog, feel free... provided you comment here with the link. I think Dinosaur 9 could be a magic using dino-assassin turning un-invisible after the attack, or perhaps a chameleon dino mid-paper emulation. But that's just me.
Non-commercial rights granted to use these drawings in your personal game. If you want to stat up and name any of these critters on your own blog, feel free... provided you comment here with the link. I think Dinosaur 9 could be a magic using dino-assassin turning un-invisible after the attack, or perhaps a chameleon dino mid-paper emulation. But that's just me.
Emma's Dinosaurs (and a crocodile and a pterosaur)
- All Commercial Rights Reserved - Emma Nash 2013 Pen and Ink -
Dinosaur 1
Dinosaur 2
Dinosaur 3
Dinosaur 4
Dinosaur 5
Dinosaur 6
Dinosaur 7
Dinosaur 8
Dinosaur 9
Crocodile 1
Pterosaur 1
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Snake Man Scientists and Servitors (part one)
Snake Man Scientist: A four-armed sterile caste that occurred through random mutation shortly after the Prime genome was expressed from a clutch of Temple Servitor eggs on Celestia, the Snake Man Scientists propagate their species by cultivating the mycelial egg mats which hatch under the correct conditions. Unlike the Primes who emerge from the egg in amphibious tadpole form, Snake Man Scientists burst from their eggs as a tiny version of their adult form. Several molts are required before they attain their adult size, and the coloration of each of these molts identifies several juvenile stages.
Snake Man Servitor: The result of many years of controlled breeding and experimentation by the Snake Man Scientists, the Servitors are bipedal, four-armed and covered in brilliant purple and violet scales. The Servitors are an attempt to recreate the original Temple Servitor created race that served the pan-universal religions of the Celestian temple cultures. Despite the origins of both Snake Man Primes and Snake Man Scientists as mutant variants of the Temple Servitors and the bloody rebellion that freed them from temple servitude, creating their own servitor race was a high priority of the Snake Men. Ancient Snake Man Proverb: Treat others as you would not desire to be treated yourself :)
Servitors are bred with a servile nature and an unfailing belief in reincarnation into Prime form upon death. Servitors are quite intelligent and serve both as lab assistants to the Snake Man Scientists and ranged fire support on the battle field. Unlike Snake Man Spawn (which are never outfitted with weapons or armor to denote their inferior status compared to the Prime and the Primelings of their line), Servitors wield blast cannons and wear energy armor into battle.
As a side note I stumbled upon this DeviantArt page by JGood8 which seems to contain drawings of the snake man scientists lifted directly from my cranium. I figure if he can telepathically invade my mind like that, I can post his drawing here - at least I linked to him! And I will gladly remove this picture if requested, but I had to post it. This is EXACTLY what a 3rd molt juvenile Snake Man Scientist looks like, on the left in color:
Friday, March 8, 2013
Snake Man Spawn
Snake Man Primes constantly emit spores that grow into mycelial mats which produce fruiting bodies and ultimately tadpoles that eventually metamorphosize into the adult snake man form (see Snake Man Prime post). These are referred to as snake man spawn to differentiate them from the Prime of their line. Snake man spawn are marginalized and live in constant fear of being slaughtered by their own Prime or a Prime of another line. When a snake man spawn is killed, all line allies within 50 gain a temporary +1 bonus to hit and damage until the end of the encounter (stackable up to +5 for other spawn, no limit to the bonus the Prime of the line can gain in this manner). For this reason Primes enter battle in the middle of a vast convoy of their spawn, who lend their life energies to the Prime and their clone brothers even in death. It is not uncommon at all to see a Prime cutting down swathes of his own spawn to get pumped up before a battle. Spawn are not given battle armor or weapons, relying on the snake man martial arts (heavy on tail sweeps, knockdowns, strangulation, punches and elbows) and their deadly venomous bite in combat.
Snake man spawn have no rights or protections in snake man society, and are considered only barely above the created Servitor race that assist the snake man scientists. Only if a spawn survives for long enough to be one of the 100 oldest spawns of the line, one of the next in line for Primehood, does it receive any rights at all. The 100 oldest spawn of the line are referred to as Primelings and they are never allowed to be in the same vicinity as the Prime of their line, so that if the Prime falls the line will not fall with him. Primelings begin to develop a tumor in the left shoulder that becomes the fetal twin sister that will awaken upon the Prime transformation. Even though the twin remains nascent and unconscious until the Prime transformation, they do lend some psionic abilities and protection to the Primelings that sets them apart from the other Spawn of the line. Primelings are also outfitted with magic armor and weapons in the style of their line. Primelings are trained in the snake man weapon arts by the Prime of another line. Each line has a traditional relationship with another line that shares the same weapon style, the Primes of each line training the primelings of the other. Killing a Primeling is considered a mortal insult to the Prime of the line, and a duel to the death between the Primes involved usually follows.
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| Snake Man Primeling |
Snake man spawn have no rights or protections in snake man society, and are considered only barely above the created Servitor race that assist the snake man scientists. Only if a spawn survives for long enough to be one of the 100 oldest spawns of the line, one of the next in line for Primehood, does it receive any rights at all. The 100 oldest spawn of the line are referred to as Primelings and they are never allowed to be in the same vicinity as the Prime of their line, so that if the Prime falls the line will not fall with him. Primelings begin to develop a tumor in the left shoulder that becomes the fetal twin sister that will awaken upon the Prime transformation. Even though the twin remains nascent and unconscious until the Prime transformation, they do lend some psionic abilities and protection to the Primelings that sets them apart from the other Spawn of the line. Primelings are also outfitted with magic armor and weapons in the style of their line. Primelings are trained in the snake man weapon arts by the Prime of another line. Each line has a traditional relationship with another line that shares the same weapon style, the Primes of each line training the primelings of the other. Killing a Primeling is considered a mortal insult to the Prime of the line, and a duel to the death between the Primes involved usually follows.
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