D&D Rules Cyclopedia Combat Strength Evaluation (re-post)

I'm not even sure I posted this or when, but I never made a cleaned up pdf-version of it for all of you to download, so I thought it might be a good idea to release this into the wild ... again. So if you ever wondered how to evaluate the strength of that monster you just came up with, this could help you getting some ideas. Same goes for building very big or very small character classes for the game (if you go with the "damage as HD" routine, mostly).

A quick (re-)introduction

I stumbled across this while doing something else, started cleaning it while thinking and re-reading it and thought, now that I've done this, I might as well post it again. Something that always kind of irked me when reading monster entries, was the fact that there seemed no public reasoning behind the decisions behind the damage those creatures do.

This is especially true with giant or bigger monsters, that should have an immense strength and damage output, crashing trees and buildings as they thrash along. By the way, what is that strength anyway? At some point I thought I should try my hand at finding out if I'm able to produce such a thing for my D&D game. Here it is:

Open in new page or download the pdf to get a closer look.

What else is there to say? Explanation and examples are on the document and I understand this as a rough guideline. You'll see easily enough how it all connects, I think. But as always, questions and comments are very welcome, of course. I'll also give this a new home in the (long neglected) Free Stuff section above ...

Day 23 - Least Favorite Monster (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

Yes, that is a question.

Caught a cold a few days ago, so I'll keep that one short too. I don't care that much for gnomes. There, I said it. They seem like an afterthought. And an unnecessary hybrid between dwarf and hobbit. Never got the appeal.

Day 22 - Favorite Monster Ever (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

So now we are already at question 22 of 30. Favorite Monster Ever. Somehow it's one of the easiest questions for me and the short of it would be:

Humans

Creative evil diversity with a high power curve. No monster in D&D is that powerful, intelligent and versatile without at the same time being the odd man in the crowd. I mean, powerful Monsters disguise themselves as humans to get along.

But cruelty is not bound to level, it's bound to motive. A simple level 1 maid can put a whole lot of social pressure on a group, if she were so inclined. Greed can be a very good motive, too. Just so many possibilities.

And there is not only raw individual power given by the rules and the story, there's also the power of the crowd. Agitated masses will ruin a player's day anytime. Humans are everywhere and if they weren't, they want to be there or have already been there some time ago.

The final reason would be that humans are the one most effective origin of other monsters. The lich, the vampire, a wizards evil aberrations are all but examples how far the influence off humans in a setting may reach. They are my Favorite Monster Ever.

Day 21 - Favorite Dragon (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

Again, a short one. Future questions will be more interesting (and I hope the answers will be, too). I'll go for the red dragon with this one. He's the most classic of them all, breathing fire and whatnot. Sure, some variations are nice every once in a while, but the first dragon a group encounters should be a scary old red one.

This being a really short post, I'll go and give you a link to something worthwhile. This excellent essay about death in computer games and some thoughts about game design. Read it, it's worth the time. And it features this map:

Did I get your attention now? It's awesome!

And here is the essay: Exhausting Gameplay

Enjoy!

Day 20 - Favorite Fey (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

[HackMaster Edition]

The Barbarian Brownies

For this part of the challenge I will (mostly) review some of my favorite HackMaster monster variants. HackMaster 4E did an excellent job in providing all the AD&D monsters a DM could probably need (and then some). We're talking more than 1600 monsters in 8 "Hacklopedia of Beasts" volumes here, with aliases and ideas for the use of special monster parts in addition to a description and the stats. And it's funny.

Here's about the Barbarian Brownies.

The Willow Brownies.

This goes back a while. When I saw the movie Willow for the first time, I didn't care that much for the little guy, but I loved the Fighter and the brave brownies. I was young and didn't know better (didn't see that film for a long time now, but my appreciation for anything George Lucas has been faded for some time now...). But yeah, those guys were fantastic. Fighting and drinking, always at a disadvantage, but not really that aware of it. Perfect.

But it wasn't before I had read the Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett and saw the entry for the Barbarian Brownies (aka Savage Fairies or Pictsies) in the Hacklopedia of Beasts, Vol. 1 that I started to connect the dots. At the time the group was exploring the town Tharp (which some of you might know under the name Hommlet) and I had to breathe some life into the village. The reasonable thing to do was to put a brewery in there. The beer had to come from somewhere (an often neglected fact...).

Rob Anybody, Big Man of the Nac Mac Feegles.

So the local brewery had some problems. Beer was gone missing and some rumors made the rounds that the brewery was cursed (accidents had happened, too). It was a classic plot. It took the players some time to find out that some savage fey had come down from the mountains and discovered the brewery as their holy land (it all became a bit clearer when the characters found a dead drunk blue fairy with red hair and a kilt, of course).

They had a regular occurrence as comic relief after that*. Loved those guys.

As far as stats go, HackMaster was pretty generous to the Barbarian Brownies, they got 2 HD +2, they only eat meat and love a good fight (count as fearless, fear spells don't affect them). They live in barren lands, have to fight for their survival and are quite strong (four Nac Mac Feegles could steal a sheep, each of them grabbing one leg). They save as fighters level 9, love to use traps to get an advantage and do 1d5 damage. If they have 2 rounds time to prepare, they can invoke a berserk rage, dealing 1d6 points of damage for 3 rounds. These small warriors know how to blend with their surroundings (surprise an enemy 9 in 10 times).

They don't like other fairies that much and are an intimidating enemy.

Need to do a character class some time in the future...


*The Nac Mac Feegles speak sort of a Scottish dialect, which is hilarious. Took me half a book to understand what they were saying (not being a native speaker and all that). For our game switched that to Bavarian, which worked just as well.

Day 19 - Favorite Elemental (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

Cutting it really close today (here is still half an hour of the 19th left)... I need to write something else tomorrow (and a favorite fey is easy, so that won't be a problem).

I like all plants, the HackMaster monster varieties idea isn't working that well (just didn't have the time, it was a busy week), so I'll go with the favorite elemental. It's the:

Earth Elemental

They remind me of the troll in the Scandinavian folklore, and that's all I need to know. Behold:

[source]

Day 18 - Favorite Outsider (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

This one is easy and will be very short. I'm way over my posts-per-month ratio by now. And 9 rather uninspired Favorite Monster Questions start to make this a challenge after all. Well, I'll make this short. Favorite Outsider:

Orcus

Check out the Wikipedia page for Orcus.

Or, better yet, listen to some Corvus Corax:

Neo-medieval music with an orchestra and authentic instruments (more information from the Wiki). Enjoy!

Day 17 - Favorite Animal/Vermin (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

[HackMaster Edition]

The Dungeon Anemone

For this part of the challenge I will (mostly) review some of my favorite HackMaster monster variants. HackMaster 4E did an excellent job in providing all the AD&D monsters a DM could probably need (and then some). We're talking more than 1600 monsters in 8 "Hacklopedia of Beasts" volumes here, with aliases and ideas for the use of special monster parts in addition to a description and the stats. And it's funny. Here's about the Dungeon Anemone.

Hacklopedia of Beasts, Vol. 2 (p. 116)

Not much time today, so let's make this a short one. As a DM I like a broader palette of vermin and animals. Monsters in general are a DMs best friend. Anyhow, like I tried with my other entries, I go with the weird and unexpected. Like an anemone floating in dungeons and caverns.

Creatures living in the Underdark or any other underground setting with flora and fauna, really, often resemble things living in the deep sea (or should, anyway). Those beasts don't need to be magical or otherworldly to be strange and dangerous. Also I like the idea of a mushroom forest with these things floating around (to the right...).

Those beasts sure are big. It goes for the heat signature of creatures and is difficult to fool.

Eight tentacles (AC 6), if they hit, they keep strangling the victim. And their touch is toxic, paralyzing a victim (save vs. poison +4 negates). As soon as the prey stops moving, they start pulling them towards their body for digestion (1d6 damage per round).

If hit by a sharp weapon, there is a 20% + damage chance that the gas bladder is hit that keeps the thing afloat. Only full recovery will let it fly again.

I'd add a smaller glowing variant (the original likes to stay in the shadows...). 

Day 16 - Favorite Aberration (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

[Tome of Horrors Edition]

The Gorbel

For this part of the challenge I will (mostly) review some of my favorite HackMaster monster variants. Today, however, has to be an exception. The original Tome of Horrors (by Necromancer Games) was one of the first additional monster books I bought while we still played with the 3E rules. Basically they took many of the creatures WotC didn't care to revive for the 3E and updated them for The Game. It's where I first encountered the Gorbel.

The art makes the monster... (source)

The gorbels are distant relatives to beholders. They made their first appearance in the Fiend Folio in 1981, but would be reduced to a footnote in the AD&D Monstrous Manual and would have vanished if it weren't for the Tome of Horrors. For me they are the right mix between dangerous, funny and weird. Check this very nice entry.

They'll try to eat anything that moves and are very curious, but dumb. The gas they float on smells like rotten eggs. They are immune to blunt weapons (bouncy), but will explode for 1d4 damage (in a 5 foot radius) if hit by anything else. They appear in herds, but are not immune to explosions of their kin (chain reaction occur on a regular basis).

Nice additional information from the Tome of Horrors:

"A gorbel eats, breaths and excretes through an aperture best described as a mouth."

They also give birth through that mouth.As soon as they're attached to their next meal they start to mew like kittens.

What to do with those?

I'd put them anywhere a strong breeze could bring them. They'd need to breed fast. Put a herd of those in a small town and have fun with it. Or a wizard might want some parts of them for his research. Or they block a passage in a dungeon. There are countless possibilities for this weird beastie to ba a nuisance. However, done right, a first encounter with the gorbels could be a fun experience for DM and the players

Day 15 - Favorite Undead (D&D 30 Day Challenge)

[HackMaster Edition]

The Brain-Eating Zombie

For this part of the challenge I will (mostly) review some of my favorite HackMaster monster variants. HackMaster 4E did an excellent job in providing all the AD&D monsters a DM could probably need (and then some). We're talking more than 1600 monsters in 8 "Hacklopedia of Beasts" volumes here, with aliases and ideas for the use of special monster parts in addition to a description and the stats. And it's funny. Here's about the Brain-Eating Zombie.

I like Zombies in general and looking at the list of D&D Zombie variants, I think I'm not alone in this. It's a classic trope and, if done right, a good Zombie scenario never gets old in The Game. I even wrote a Zombie Advancement Table a while back to add to the diversity.

The Brain-Eating Zombie (aka Cranium Cracker) has a special place in my heart, though. Those Zombies are result of the strange emanation of a meteor. They are clever and fast, even able to talk or change strategies, if necessary. But all they really care for is brain. It's a classic setup. Now for the specifics.

2 HD creatures with one attack per round (for 1d8 damage) for 270 xp. First attack is always to grab the victim, every attack after that is a called shot to the head (-6). If bitten, a victim is infected if a save vs. poison is not successful and will become a Brain-Eating Zombie 24 hours later (Cure Disease and Remove Curse heal a victim completely).

It gets better.

They are pretty tough to kill. Only total dismemberment will stop them from attacking and only critical hits might affect the hp. If left for dead (that is: totally dismembered), they will regenerate completely in 2d6 days and come back to hunt down those who hacked them to pieces. Only permanent destruction of the body will avoid that. Burning the corpse will result in very poisonous fumes, killing and infecting everybody within 50 feet if a save vs. poison is not successful. Eating it's flesh will immediately infect the victim.

Normal undead immunities apply and they can't be turned (because of the alien origin...).

What to do with this?

This is a huge little monster. It's not unstoppable, but to find a suitable strategy is not easy either. It's far more classic than your basic D&D zombie. Land that meteor somewhere in your campaign setting and see what happens. Might be worth an Adventure, might change the campaign world. In the end it's an intelligent infection out for your brains. Give them a chance to conquer the world and see how they start breeding humans for brain before they run out.

Now I have to ask myself if a wizards brain tastes different than, say, a barbarians and if dwarfs and elves and some such could be infected. Or, say, not humans become infected but the dwarves have it. The result would be an intelligent dwarf zombie race out for (invent table for what specific brain they'd need, roll appropriate die) brain...

[Insert Random Setting Generation Here]

I always thought it a good idea to use your daily encounters as an inspiration of sorts. Doesn't only work for life, but for The Game, too. This occured to me while I was writing something about a trailer I just discovered, because:

The Dude is hunting ghosts now? As a Cowboy?!

Either Jeff Bridges is needing the money or he is having a lot of fun with this one:

I have to admit, I'm intrigued. I mean, Jeff Bridges "rodeo"-ing Ryan Reynolds while falling down a sky scraper, the M.i.B.-vibe and an absolutely cheesy-but-gameable premise leaves me hoping this is going to be better than reality justifies.

Anyway...

...while I was writing this, I stumbled over a trailer for The Purge. Another movie with another very gameable premise. Check it out (if you haven't already):

A society with a free pass on crime one time every year, for 12 hours. Everything goes and I'm thinking, well, would that work? It might be worth a shot in a setting to explore the idea further. Would also be nice in a Cyberpunk scenario.

And here I come (nearly) full circle...

...because it reminded me of a post about what changed with our perception of that genre over at Billy Goes to Mordor and the trailer for Elysium that's linked from there. Again, a movie with a good idea to kick off a game. The rich live in floating luxury homes while the poor live in slums. What happens next is not very surprising, but that's not the point. As a DM it comes only natural to see the value of such an scenario for the gaming experience.

I wanted to write about R.I.P.D., but also about the setting I'm about to wrangle out of my brain and The Purge resonated well enough to make a post. The melange of this also reminded me of the trailer for Pacific Rim:

And then I thought, why not throw all this loose ideas together and write it up as a setting proposal? Because, it's all already here and just needs a proper frame.

The Island (early years)

This is the premise and the early history of the setting. Let's see:

• Because that's the easiest way to make this adaptable for every setting, I'll locate this on a big island, with a few smaller islands within one day of sailing.
• It's in moderate climate with harsh winters. Because of it's proximity to the main lands and the fertility of the land, here were always some sort of settlements, at it's peak even with a city and a port.
• Now the island is isloated from the rest of the world for centuries already, because of the giant critters that roam the sea around it (Pacific Rim).
• People believe the rest of the world was destroyed when the big critters arrived and theirs is what remained of humanity. Room is priviledged on that island and the floating insulars above the big city sprawling over the island are regarded as the safest and most luxury havens ever created by money and magic (Elysium).
• The rich and powerful had a very elabourated sceme to regulate the population. Once a year for one week  they allowed open civil war between neighborhoods, controlling the resulting shifted power structure in the city with hard laws and military presence (The Purge with some Gangs of New York in it for good measure). It leaves the population plotting, introspective and silent for a year.
• The rulers weren't seen in public for decades.
• Some citizens build secure underground shelters to protect themselves.
• Those that got powerful during the times of war often were selected to join the military first and invited to live on the floating insulars after that.
• The war and injustice produced many restless dead. A weird and secretive cult (maybe dead and from another world? Player characters?) is hunting them (R.I.P.D.).

All this is bound to perish, of course. But this is for another post with random inspirations...

So now the Lich in your Dungeon got a hobby... (Part 1)

Immortals have too much time on their hands

But not only immortals. Every intelligent-but-lonely monster/NPC in a dungeon should have huge amounts of free time at their disposal, be it dragon, (evil) wizard, vampire (well, vampires are also immortal, but they had to make the list), beholders, you name it. To have a hobby* is only natural. What follows is a list of recreational habits of those beloved monsters (and potential adventure seeds).

Roll 1d10 to determine hobby:

1. playing music: 1d8 for instrument (1 organ 2 piano 3 violin 4 zither 5 harp 6 bagpipe 7 contrabass 8 something very exotic (mouth organ**, sax, etc.); dungeon will have a room with the perfect accoustics, protected like a treasure; immortal creatures will compose own pieces (working on a masterpiece).
2. patron of the fine arts: will have 1d10 artists they influence, foster and protect, they not only have a lot of correspondance at their lair, but also first editions, rare paintings and 1d6 artists captive, to keep them for themselves; immortals will have a significant influence on the cultural output of a region (they also controll 2d10 publishers, theater owners, etc.).
3. correspondance chess: plays regularly with another powerfull and intelligent being, who would be pissed to loose his chess mate because of some group of adventurers; immortals will have 2d6 chess buddies and/or will ave very complex new rules for the game..
4. sculpting: 1d6 for material (1 wood 2 stone 3 ivory 4 skin 5 flesh 6 glass); will have all the necessary tools and 1d4 unfinished works lying around; dungeon will have a room exhibiting them and protected like a treasure (3d8 sculptures worth 1d20 x 100 each); immortal monsters will collect, too and their projects tend to be bigger/more ambitious.
5. painting: will have all the necessary tools and 1d8 unfinished works lying around; dungeon will have a room exhibiting the rest and protected like a treasure (3d8 paintings worth 1d6 x 100 each); immortal monsters will collect, too and their projects tend to be bigger/more ambitious, immortal monsters might have (1 in d6) a unique and brilliant technique (worth 1d100 x 100 gp per painting with the right buyer).
6. people watching: will have 2d4 scying devices and keeps taps of favourites on a daily basis; will take action, if something threatens the flow of the show; will have journals with detailed informations and analysis about the subjects; immortals will even try and controll/influence what's happening, like staging a play, etc..
7. architecture: this one really put some thought and effort into the environment he's living in; occupying ruined and old structures, the changes will be obvious and "modern" to an explorer (and potentialy more dangerous, traps will work 5 in 6 times, security is tough); if they build their own lair, it's perfectly build to the inhabitants needs and a work in progress (with areas closed as "under construction" and hired workers, constantly supervised by the creature); immortal creatures have a tendency to build mega structures; the dungeon is the price here, valuable (un)real estate for the adventurers to sell (or to live in, if you think about it).
8. :pit fights: traps near the lair of this creature will rather capture victims than killing them; the creature will have access to an arena; parts of the dungeon will be modified to hold a variety of captives and the personal to to take care of them; will have correspondance with slavers and every other group of people willing to capture and sell anything capable of fighting back; immortals will have very elaborate pit fight scenarios, with fights going on for days or even weeks.
9. human politics: killing this creature might topple kingdoms or lead cities into anarchy, will have a lot of correspondance with and incriminating evidence against those of higher social status; see 1d100 for number of controlled officials (1-10 local town, small community 11-20 two towns or one bigger town 21-30 small province 31-50 province with 1 significant city 51-70 a shire 71-80 a duchy/megacity 81-90 grand duchy/small kingdom 91-100 kingdom; hd as bonus on d100; immortal creatures also get their age divided by 100 as a bonus).
10. hunting: dungeon will have protected areas exhibiting a wide variety of trophies; the longer the lifespan of a creature with this hobby, the more elaborate the hunting techniques, up to actively searching for dangerous creatures or famous adventurers and planning hunts for weeks or even months (will have plans and contacts in his lair).

This list could be much more extensive, but I decided to make the first ten public now and will post another one as soon as I've finished them. I had 20 in mind at first, but the list of hobbies one could use for this is really bigger than that (courting, collecting, horticulture, brewing, you name it). Maybe 1d30? We'll see. 

* Wikipedia has a very interesting list of hobbies here. Strangely enough, sand castle building made the list, roleplaying games didn't. Very strange what counts as a hobby nowadays...
** Beholders love those...

Troll Poison

This is my comment about the Dwimmermount fiasco or just gaming material. Whatever works best for the lot of you.

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Troll Poison

The troll might be a deadly creature or good for the experience, but the poison that can be distilled from his body fluids is one of the deadliest existing and very, very rare. The alchemical process to reverse the regenerative powers in the trolls blood is considered one of the most dangerous procedures for even the most skilled bloggers alchemists. But the results, if succesful, are terrifying.

Applying this greasy and purple liquid poison to a sharp or pointy weapon/utensil (needs to deliver at least one point of damage), it doubles the damage dealt with it every round. No save, just dissolving until the victim vanishes completely from the face of the earth. Healing won't work (but it helps to keep the victim alive a bit longer, even if in agony). Cure poison won't work, the damage is done. Resurrection is possible, but extremely difficult. There are rumours that fire and acid might stop the poison from working. Needless to say, it is very dangerous to try this. Surviving this will scar the victim for life (loose 2d6 CHA for all but friends and family), with no means, magical or otherwise, to get rid of them (short of a wish, maybe or imbibing a bottle of that stuff).

Imbibing a bottle of this poison is extremely dangerous, but legend has it that it might be rewarding, too. The trolls hit points are the base damage, double that every round for 4+1d6 rounds (save vs. death -5 every round for half damage). The pain is beyond describtion (no actions for the time and for 1d4 turns after that) and the body suffers (loose 1d6 CON, consider the character marked, maybe pale and thin...), but surviving this torture restores not only former wounds delivered by this poison (CHA back to former value), it also gives the character some troll abilities (according to damage taken):

1-49: Infravision up to 90 ft
50-99: heal 1 point/round
101-199: heal 2 points/round
200+ : heal 3 points/round, limbs keep attacking when severed and can be reattached after the battle

Trolls, however, will sense this and attack the character on sight. If he is famous, they'll even go as far as searching for him (characters level 9 or more: there is a 1 in 6 chance every day for 1d6 trolls to show up, if they can't get to the character for some reason, they'll wait and more trolls will show up...).

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Best of luck to James Mal and all his future endeavors. Don't let the head hang if the shit is up to the chin...

P.S.: The "Social Status Table (NPCs)" I'm still banging my head against, is a bitch and will take some time (or rest). Good thing I didn't get paid for that.

Mean Monsters (Halloween Edition)

Faceless Spectre (aka The-Girl-You-Only-See-From-Behind)

This encounter could be considered a trap and a mystery. Nobody knows were these dark spirits come from or why they show themselves. Maybe their souls are trapped in a painting, maybe something forced them to see the abyss. Maybe they need help. All this is of secondary importance, because most of all it should scare the players shitless.

This poor little thing needs help...

What happens:

In this case I'd go for a little girl as Faceless Spectre. Stats are not needed* and you can place this encounter whenever you have an empty room conundrum (in a dungeon, an abbandoned house, you know the drill).

Let the girl appear behind the players, just out of melee weapons range and right after they think the room is empty and/or safe. She's uncomfortably close. Obviously alone in the ruins of your choice. She looks like a normal (that is: solid) 10 year old girl with black hair and a white dress. She is turning her back to them and not moving.

They don't even see a glimpse of her face and she won't do anything but appearing out of nowhere and standing there (it is important to emphasize this).

Talking to her will produce no reaction at all. If they ignore her, nothing will happen. If they attack her, she will disappear (but will come back...). If they try to look at her face? Well, that way is madness. It won't happen easily (she moves to avoid this), but if forced or tricked any player trying gets a glimpse at true evil/hell/the abyss. But don't describe anything, just the reaction. If a save versus death works, the characters hair turns white and he will never tell what he saw. If the save fails, you get to roll 1D12 (see below).

If they try to turn her, she will face the group.

Unprepared this could be a very cruel encounter, so ideally the group should find either some results of the table below, a picture of the girl (same clothes , a nice portrait, but a sinister touch to it) or hear some rumors about her.

If an explanation is needed, I'd go for an evil wizard that trapped her soul in a picture for some sinister reason or another (present for a demon; a sequence of 13 pictures like this to achieve immortality; the daughter of a king, doomed forever to see unimaginable evil; you name it...).

Helping this poor soul should be rewarded accordingly.

D12 for looking at her face (and failing the save) you will:

1. ...scratch your eyes out.
2. ...attack your group as brutal as possible.
3. ...go to the next wall and face it till you starved to death.
4. ...be possesed by a demon! go from there...
5. ...die screaming, eyes wide open and with bloody tears.
6. ...kill the next random innocent stranger in public, you won't remember the incident, anybody around you will.
7. ...go to the next stony surface and scratch again and again "I'm sorry" on it, use your fingers, out of fingers, use the stumps, you can't stop.
8. ...commit suicide as soon as convenient.
9. ...run away, when nobody sees you, you'll turn into a Faceless Spectre.
10. ...wake up on a graveyard the next morning (and this will happen often...), all dirty, embracing a freshly unearthed corpse.
11. ...never sleep again, literally, never.
12. ...see and understand, your INT drops to 2, WIS is raised to 18, permanently.

All but number 12 forgot what they saw and number 12 won't be able to tell...

Happy Halloween!

*Treat it like any ghost version you see fit.