Thursday, October 28, 2021

Liptaker

The liptaker, or less commonly "hourtaker", is a minor bad spirit. It is equivalent to a lesser version of a nightmare or boogeyman. It appears under the bed of its victim and reaches up while they sleep. Its skin is very dry and rough, like old paper, and it puts its hand within the victim's mouth, gently rubbing their tongue to steal moisture from them.

After doing this, the victim will wake up a few hours earlier then they expect, their mouth dry. They don't want to get up from their comfortable bed, but they're thirsty and can't go back to sleep without getting some water. The liptaker will keep attacking the same victim multiple times, resulting in them waking up an hour later again and again, an hour apart at a time, until they either force themselves to get up or banish the entity totally by drinking enough water.

The best way to defend oneself against the liptaker is just to simply sleep with your mouth closed, easy for those who are not overly fat, who do not have overly large pillows, and who don't snore. In this case, the liptaker will simply rub its fingers against your lips while you sleep- stealing bits of moisture, but not enough to upset your sleep until you wake up at the proper time.


Liptaker
(1-1 HD, +1 AC, 1d2 claws, reach, boggart)
Morale- 6
Number- Usually one

This minor spirit is very cowardly and weak. It has long claws that allow it to stretch up to a sleeping victim's mouth. It is scared of sunlight but not destroyed by it- since it often needs to attack while a small amount of morning light has entered the room where the sleepers are. The Liptaker is also a type of boggart, appearing in dark places and harassing its victims, meaning it can be destroyed by any method that destroys such minor apparitions. Occasionally, these creatures are summoned and modified or empowered by sorcery, which is the only way they could be more then a nuisance.

Monday, October 25, 2021

Dal'Vastk - Legendary Dwarven Axe

Dwarves have two words for blood. They don't use "blood" as humans do, as a term for lineage, due to the high importance and many social nuances of family and blood-relation in their culture, blood as a word for them is just blood.

But there are two words for blood. The first just means blood as a thing. It is blood in your body, on a knife, spilled on the ground. That's just blood. The second is the word for blood, but only blood spilled in defense of the home. This term is, therefore, very special. If you are injured, you have blood, but only if you are injured in defense of your home or homeland, then you are injured with blood.

Then, in consideration of both this fact and the fact that dwarves have a very honor driven, conservative culture; consider exactly what sort of weapon could earn the name of Blood Axe.


Dal'Vastk
- Legendary Dwarven Axe +2
Stats- Deals 1d8+1d6+2 Damage, 1 in 6 chance for Shockwave on miss

The Dal'Vastk is a short hefted axe with a long cutting head, suited for combat. The design is very angular, with a octagonal shaft made of the same enchanted metal the axe itself is made with. The face and head of the axe is inscribed with an uncountable number of runes in geometric patterns lending the weapon additional strength, protection, and power.

This weapon is almost totally invulnerable, and is a symbol of true craftsdwarfship. It is immune to corrosion, destruction effects, disintegration magic, and even planar disjointing fails against the object. Even against divine or otherworldly levels of power, this weapon receives a saving throw to avoid being broken, disenchanted, or unmade. It never loses its edge and is never off balance. Its grip never slips and the blade never chips. The weapon could be left at the bottom of a river for a thousand years and never rust. It is immune to all such lesser forms of decay. The only weapons that have a stronger tensile hardness or ability to scratch it are those made of Adamantine, and even those cannot truly break the weapon, only mar its otherwise flawless exterior.

Whenever Dal'Vastk strikes something with the back of the axehead with vigorous force (as in, used in an attack or smashed against an object), it will fire off a shockwave. The shockwave pushes the target back 10 to 20 feet based on the weight of the target, and deals an extra 2d4 damage if they are flung into a wall or hard floor, with additional damage or death inflicted if knocked into spikes, off a cliff, etc. This shockwave can also be used to do things like blast down doors, knock down a bookshelf in one swing, shatter a stone, and so on. There is no limit to the number of times this shockwave can be activated once per day, but it can only be activated once per combat round. If your character has multiple attacks, you can perform a normal attack with the axe, then flip it around in your hand to hit enemies with the shockwave, and so on. Finally; when fighting regular, armed, and aware opponents, you still get a 1 in 6 chance to strike them with the shockwave ability even on a missed attack. This is because they may raise a shield, the flat may hit them square in the chest but be deflected, the use their sword to parry but the energy is still directed towards their body, etc.

Finally; Dal'Vastk is a powerful artifact and a symbol of dwarven kind. It is an ego weapon. It much prefers to be wielded by powerful dwarf warriors, but as the dwarves themselves would say- it's about how you act, and not what you are. Anyone who has broken a sworn promise without reconciliation, abandoned a solemn duty, or kill members of their own family are unable to wield this weapon. The weapon will also reject those who do not have an Ego equivalent of a Fighter of 6th level or better.

Anyone who fails to meet the requirements of the ego above are flung backwards by the shockwave the moment they try to swing the axe, even for a practice swing, with the axe being knocked out of their hand and flat onto the ground, waiting for a true dwarf to claim it.

Monday, October 18, 2021

Swordyface

Swordyface
The swordyface is an undead being, created by this spell. The magic user must themselves have some amount of fighting ability to cast this spell- and as such this spell is more suited to battlemages or evil emperors who do everything because they're big-bads and aren't constrained by a gameified class system.

The Swordyface is made by stabbing a sword through the face of a defeated opponent. Typically the swordyface is made with a humanoid creature, but any creature can be made. If the caster slayed the creature themselves with the sword used for this spell- the resultant creature has an unlimited morale and will always fight as its master demands. If the creature was made using a different sword, was stabbed into a corpse not created by the magic user's own hand, or you don't have any combat ability- it is created with a morale of 6 and is cowardly. These also have nothing to do with the Swerda, I swear.

The Swordyface has the same HD and abilities of the creature it was made with, with two exceptions. 

Firstly; It keeps biological and magical abilities; but not spells or divine powers or anything that would imply they retain the same knowledge or intelligence. It also counts as an undead creature, making it vulnerable to turning; but it gets a morale check to see if it flees or is destroyed from a turn undead roll. 

Secondly, the Swordyface does not retain the To-Hit, AC bonuses (besides armor) or other combat bonuses from the body it was made with; instead it inhereits these from the magic user who created it. The Magic User loses these abilities for the duration of this spell; which lasts until the Swordyface is destroyed or the sword is removed from its face, ending the spell. If the sword is removed by someone other then the magic user who made this spell; the magic user does not regain their fighting abilities until they get the sword back.

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Garden District- Waffle City


This district is not named after the food (though Shepard's Waffle-House is highly recommended by everybody around here) it is named for the look. When this part of the city was built, the city council members in charge were filled with brutalists and order-focused city planners. This section of the city was built in a perfect grid, with every building being a thin wall connecting to each other building. The top of this mega structure would act as its roadway system, with each opening being an inner courtyard granting ambient light from the windows and fostering a sense of community among the residents.

This place is a real hive. And yet, somehow, it's still not the poorest place in this shithole city.

The top of the city is a constant traffic jam. Every road being identical in length and every road being a 4 way intersection means there is no easy flow of traffic. Accidents can cause hover-cars to fly down into the square holes around every turn and intersection, causing a minor fender-bender into a deadly crash and crushing innocents below. The topmost suites are supposed to be the fanciest, getting the most light and fresh air from the choking fumes of the undercity below, but are constantly rocked by the noises of cars above- not to mention the security risk of someone stepping down from the road onto your balcony. Nobody wealthy lives here. Down each repeating square-shaped hole are more apartments and floors with more darkness and filth all around. Many of the apartments; once perfectly ordered and identical, have had their walls and floors knocked out to lead to large factories or storage areas- identical housing solutions don't fit everybody.

The courtyards themselves are varied. Most are filled with trash thrown from the windows, while many have had an artificial roof installed for a walled garden- some community run, others privately owned. Some enterprising residents built catwalks across the inner courtyards- a trip that would take an hour because of requiring to go the longest distance around a square through the very crowded passage hallways becomes a fraction of the time if one is to brave the open air.

Residents
Waffle City-ites are insular. It's its own community, mostly self sufficient and isolated from the outside world. They do things differently. With vertical distance being nearly as important as horizontal, messengers and foot-delivery men who climb stairs are favored over cars and trucks. Most consumer goods, packages, and all facets of life are shrunk down to fit in the cramped, interior space. Most live in a one or two room apartment, exactly identical to its neighbors in every way except whatever utilities don't work and where the leaks are. With everything so cramped, there is a great sense of community despite the fact you can go a very long time without seeing an other person in the dim hallways and the numerous blind corners- mixed with impossibly long straight lines.

For these reasons; the residents here are scrappy, thin, focusing on superficial visual arts. With little room to show wealth or hoard physical objects; painting and decorating your apartment door becomes a primary means of showing status. Some members have created tiny dioramas; hollowing out a tiny space of wall between the hallway and their personal room to make a "front lawn" of a few inches of astroturf and a single pink flamingo, nailed to the door. Some even install windows. People adorn their bodies even moreso; punk styles and flamboyant clothes are the look of the day, with piercings being the primary method of hoarding and storing wealth- too easy for someone to break into your apartment if they think you're worth the trouble. At the same time, every spoken word and interaction probably has at least a dozen pairs of ears listening in, and the walls here are paper thin. News and disease travels very fast in the Waffle City, making it a real maze of intrigue and petty-politics that further pushes away outsiders. And they can tell who you are with one look at your feet; every shop, friend, and home they've visited is covered in carpet. You're wearing shoes.

Everybody here works three jobs; not full careers with an office, or workshop but side hustles. Delivery jobs are a convenient time to pick up your ink for your tiny tattoo booth that's a single shower-curtain's away from your bed and library, where you study to compete in the well paying puzzle and poetry competitions. Specialization and diversifying are both absolutely key. In a place where they are heard by so many, music of any quality is the greatest boon one can have, and musicians are even more highly prized as those who try to learn the craft rarely survive the first few rough years from all the ears they offend.

Notable Characters - Roll 1d4
[1] Lance Turtle - 6 HP, 3 Armor, 1d6 vintage spreadgun
He's a bipedal turtle man; not all that weird for Garden. He wears a tophat that is squished after a big fat monster dude sat on it, who the turtle later went to the trouble to kill, but preferred the new style. Lance is an old man, and was around for the building of the Waffle City; once it was known as "Griddle city", and was supposed to be the opposite- huge skyscrapers with roads low the ground, a much superior design that was scrapped in favor of this crammed reality.

Lance is one of the wealthier inhabitants of Waffle City. He runs the largest courier service with secure packages and discrete packaging- though they aren't the fastest, they will always arrive at their destination eventually. This courier service isn't really a gang, but has gang like mechanics and could muster up to 3 HD worth of Manpower in a pinch.

[2] Blase Lawrence - 8 HP, 1 Armor, 1d8 repeating shotgun
Looks like a giant, bone-white ogre dude with a frog face. His race isn't very common around garden, and communicate through gurgling noises, making his real name unpronounceable and culture totally foreign. Blase just took the last name of the first man he killed, and has continued to work in the debt collection business ever since.

If you borrow money in Waffle city in amounts greater then $500, you're probably getting it from Blase's employers. Blase is quite the bastard and is resistant to most psychic attacks too; he's known for using any method for extracting payments from his debtors.

[3] Johnny - 3 HP, no armor, 1d4 pinnose pocket pistol
Young, vaguely human-ish boy who never seems to get any older every time you see him. He's always getting other people into trouble; those his intentions are always good. He's the type to paint the outside of your apartment blue after hearing that's your favorite color- not realizing you live in red gang territory. Has a habit of getting out of trouble and disappearing as soon as nobody is looking at him.

Johnny's main talent is boyish antics of playing pranks, tricking dumber kids and playing a harmonica, as well as being good with animals. He seems strangely attracted to situations involving the more spooky parts of Garden life, like the Strange Objects or psychic manifestations. Most people think he's some kind of reality warper; though if his intentions are benevolent or malign are yet to be determined.

[4] Merlinda Shepard - 2 HP, no armor, 2d2 pepperbox
She's an old lady who is very attached to her apartment and the residents. The master of spying and gossip. She has the body of an old frail human woman with the head of a porcupine and quills going up and down her arms and back. Beyond tricking her visitors to do chores for her; her hobbies include sudoku and murder mystery pulp novels.

Merlinda is a sweet old woman; but has to pay the bills somehow. She will trade dirt on some of the more unsavory residents of Waffle city- though she naively wants people to just shape up and act nicer instead of being killed or being forced from the nieghborhood. She has a serious problem with Blase and Lance- who she views as being the main causes of disharmony in this borough of Garden. 

Also; the apartment next to her is hollowed out and used as her restaurant. It's pretty good.

Notable Gang - Skate & Die
Manpower-
4
Holdings- Outside Connections (+1), Punk Energy (+1)

This gang of young punks rule the never ending hallways of the Waffle. They all wear rollerblades with specially designed wheels to glide over the cheap, industrial carpet and to move at high speeds. They tend to use melee weapons and small arms with low recoil which better fit their hit and run fighting style. Even a capricious gang has to be mindful of the paper thin walls- a "driveby" down a hotel hallway could end up breaking through five apartments with strong enough guns; small calibers and careful consideration is a way to keep the general public fearful instead of enraged and sending vigilantes after you.

But with that being said; the Skate & Die gang is filled with tremendous punk energy. Their entire gang is very young, with bright hair and bold styles. Their youthful energy makes them popular and less cynical. They also have strong outside connections- different shipments and retailers to the waffle tend to go through the gang first, meaning they have eyes on everything that comes in and can sometimes steal anything that would give any up and coming rivals too much power. The few crime families that existed once in the waffle were suffocated by this supply line. This gang's holdings could be eroded through simple competition and time- more retailers and ways into the waffle city for products would reduce their grip, and simply waiting a few years means the gang members and leaders will get older, slower, and less filled with that reckless youth that makes them so formidable.

The leader of the gang is Alto Thrash, a rodent-man with a lime green mohawk. He's shorter then everyone else in the gang, and rules it through sheer intimidation and grit, along with his trusty switchblade. He is known to use his small size to his advantage; like hiding in the walls in the gang hideout to spy on anyone who may want to move against him. He has a long standing vendetta against Blase the debt collector and wants to cut his eyes out, but is waiting for the perfect opportunity to do so. Anything that would distance Blase from his employer would act as a vehicle for Alto to get his long awaited revenge.


Notable Location - The Convention Center
The entire city within a city is meant to be a symmetrical, ever-repeating pattern. If you took a vertical slice of the waffle out, it should be identical to any other slice structurally. But a few compromises had to be made to build it; the bottom level of Waffle City is a little different from the others. The walls must be thicker, with columns in the hallways to keep up the weight of the large structure. This perfect sameness was also ruined by one other factor; the convention city.

Near the heart of the waffle is a spot which, from the sky, looks as though the "holes" of which the windows of the various apartments face inwards is filled in. It just flat top. This is hidden by a stop on the roads that criss cross the top of the waffle where there is a little parking and elevator area- but this is the top of the only anomaly in the city. Beneath this spot is a great hollowed area; the convention center.

Huge empty rooms stretching onwards, shifting hallways to lead to these cavernous carpeted nothing places. Dark and unused. Heavy curtains that could stretch across a mountain pass. Nobody goes near the convention center anymore; the few conventions and events it once held were soon cancelled and given a bad reputation when people fell to their death from the few offices suspended on the catwalks above; the vibe of the place being evil and unnatural. Even now, stories of this place circulate around the Waffle, which is thought to be a pretty normal, "safe" place in Garden, without the monsters and entities and the evil- but not here. People warn of giant monsters, moving as silently as an old film, cramming into shadowy corners to stalk whoever dares walk through these black voids.

Random Encounters in Waffle City - 1d10

[1] Fire? Fire! Somebody started a fire here- the indoor city isn't exactly designed with fire safety in mind. Make a saving throw or be trampled. If you fail that one, roll again to see if you get trapped in by the fire. The fire authorities will be here in twenty minutes.

[2] Gang of actual children harass, bully, sling food at your face, and pick your pockets. They steal 1d6 bullets, cigarettes, candies, or dollar bills from you. If you're friends with Johnny they'll leave you alone.

[3] You come across an empty space. The floor is carpeted as all the others and the walls are the same color; but a large space is just open in a hallway where an apartment should be. The door number of the nearby apartments skips a number. If you spend too long in that open spot, you take 1d6 psychic damage. Researching that number leads to tales of insanity, murder, and reality warping in the old newspaper clippings.

[4] Trashguy! A big alien pushing a giant cart through the hallways is running at top speed. Save or get slapped aside by the big plastic bin and take 1d4 nonlethal damage. The nearby residents open their doors to throw bags into it as he passes- they've gotten quite good at this. He doesn't have the patience to stop at each door, so you'd better make it on the first throw.

[5] Trapped apartment. This place is hinted at be haunted, filled with treasure, hideout of a criminal, etc. While a tiny space, every single thing is boobytrapped- blades behind each doorframe, poison gas comes out of opened faucets, and a mold monster in the fridge.

Mold Monster (2+2 HD, 2 Armor, 1d8 goo bite attack)
Morale- 11 (if loses morale- tries to cram itself in the nearest fridge or cooler to stay cool)

[6] You find hundreds of scraps of paper plastered along every inch of this hallway. The papers are hand drawn posters for a concert for a band nobody has ever heard of.

When you arrive, 1d6 Skate & Die members, as well as one random notable resident arrive at the concert as well, along with some random people. The concert is by a band that plays really sad and depressing songs, and at the end they tell you all you have three days to live if you don't hand out flyers and get people to come to the next showing. 

Strangely, the band members seem like normal people but if a psychic probes their mind they find they have a psychic resistance of 4 and retaliate with an instant 1d6 psychic stress damage blowback for attempts to read their minds.

[7] Somebody's pet ferret keeps slinking away with valuable stuff. It's cute and very mischievous. If you manage to follow it to its lair you'll find $300 worth of stolen stuff.

[8] The Scintor Peeper is an infamous psychic that lives in the Waffle- said to be able to see through walls and doors using his psychic dowsing. Claims to use his power to case people's places and find things to steal, usually just pervs and watches girls shower. Of course, anyone who can see through paper thin walls, floors, and ceilings in this part of the city will be highly prized.

Currently owes Blase $95 and is getting awfully close to the "go over $100 and I'll break your legs" threshold with his failed interest payments.

[9] Roll on General Gang Table.

[10] Roll on General Encounters Table.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Brain Pie


Brain Pie
This is a powerful magic spell, requiring quite a bit of skill in magic to cast. It's primarily a necromantic spell, but the ability to actually prepare and create the "brain pie" requires quite a lot of skill in doing things like keeping something alive with grievous injuries and enchantment or domination magic to successful finish the casting. For both these reasons, Lichs are among the most common spellcasters to attempt this spell; since messing up typically doesn't hurt them very much compared to dying if it was a normal, human spellcaster.

This spell requires the spell-caster to create and shape a pie, and then using their magic, dissect a cut of their brain out of their head to be baked. The pie is filled with gray matter, blood, and a slurry of memories, thoughts, opinions, and knowledge. It is then baked in an oven that requires a magic flame. Finally, when it is ready, it must be consumed.

The target of the spell is always disgusted by the pie, even if they don't know what is in it. Both the smell and then the taste and texture after the first bite is totally revolting. You could just feed the pie to a zombie or ghoul or something, but that would be less optimal for the spell. As such, forcing a living person to eat the pie usually requires force or domination magic.

Upon baking the pie, the spell caster loses -1d6 points of Intelligence permanently. There is no protection for going under zero or crippling yourself automatically with a casting of this spell, hence the need for additional magic protections or methods to retain your intelligence even after cutting out part of your brain.

Once the pie is eaten, the person who ate the pie gains +1d4 points of Intelligence. Then, they feel the spell caster's brain matter grow in their skull. This process is not painful, but it is very unnerving and unwanted. This has two effects. Firstly, the pie-eater will have intrusive thoughts once every 1d4 days from the spell caster; usually evil or villainous thoughts, since most people who cast this spell are going to be evil. Secondly, the person becomes a spell battery for the spellcaster. Any prepared spells the spell-caster learns are remotely stored within those who have digested their brain pie. This means they know what spell is prepared, but cannot cast it themselves, or do anything about stopping it.

For each person who has eaten brain pie, the spell caster may store an extra spell. This is an addition to all their normal spells they can prepare per day. Secondly, the spellcaster does not lose any intelligence in regards to spell casting no matter how sliced up their brain becomes from the effects of this spell. The spell caster loses a part of their brain, knowledge, and intelligence with each pie, but their magic retains the same level of power, and they gain more spell slots. You can feed multiple pies to one person, though most pay the same intelligence cost each time.

If and when a person who ate the brain pie dies, or has an advanced special lobotomy to remove the unwanted brain-growth; the spell effect on them ends and the caster loses that spell slot. They do not regain their gray matter.

Most spellcasters who cast this spell will have a prison or will use it on immortal beings. It may be possible through various means to trick people into eating and holding on to the brain pie for a long time- enchantment and illusion spells will do wonders for this. Subtle clues (like the unwanted thoughts, strange "feeling" of magic spells inside them that they didn't put their, etc.) will still hint that their brain was hijacked by this spell, but for those with their memories wiped they could be acting as long term spell batteries for those who use this magic.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Land Before Time OSR


You're a dinosaur. Every character is a race-as-class. You could probably use normal stat generation for this and then pick whatever dinosaur fits your stats or maybe pick the dinosaur first and do an array or weighted roll or something to make a decent stat spread, whatever.

Here are the classes.

Longneck - d8 HD
Prime Requisite- WIS or INT
Attack- Tail Whip at 1d4
AC- 10

The largest and eldest of all the dinosaurs; longnecks are known for their wisdom and temperance. Their long necks provide them make them excellent scouts who can see for long distances, which along with their intelligence is the reason they so often lead dinosaur herds. They are huge and have long, whip-like tails used for self defense, but lack in offensive power.

Whenever a random encounter is rolled or you are trespassing through dangerous territory- the Longneck gets a X in 10 chance to see everything approaching from a distance far enough to go around or hide. X is determined by their number of HD.

Longnecks grow the biggest of all the people of the Great Valley. While they start off relatively small; they grow the largest over time. Instead of a HD cap of 6, your race has a HD cap of 9. Additionally, once you get to 7 HD or bigger you take 1 damage from any bite or claw that belongs to any species except for a Sharptooth.

Threehorn - d8 HD
Prime Requisite- STR
Attack- Headbutt at 1d6
AC- 16

Thickly built and well armed, these are the most fearsome of the Leafeaters. Their heads are protected by crests that grant armor and are named for the three horns that they use to battle Sharpteeth. Their horns and armored crests also grant them great protection, but attacks by smaller and more agile dinosaurs against the back of the neck or the body could ignore this protection.

Threehorns are known to be quite stern and protective of others. Threehorns can willingly take an attack meant for a teammate if they are next to them; once per round.

Spiketail - d10 HD
Prime Requisite- CON
Attack- None, then later Spiketail at 1d6
AC- 12 then later 14

Spiketails are large fourfooters that grow spikes on their backs and on the end of their tails as they grow older. As hatchlings, they can only tackle or weakly bite (1d2 damage) anything as an attack, but once they reach 3 HD they develop spiked tails, which can be whipped as a 1d6 attack, and the spikes on their back fully develop to grant them bonus AC.

Flyer - d4 HD
Prime Requisite- DEX
Attack- Beak Peck at 1d4
AC- 10

Possessing a cloak of skin that allows them to catch the air, Fliers can fly. As hatchlings (1 to 2 HD), they can only glide to varying lengths, or must catch upward thermals to gain altitude, but once they fully grow they can fly under their own power. Flying is exhausting and at least one turn of rest must be made for every X number of turns in flight, with X being their HD + Constitution modifier.

Swimmer/Bigmouth - d6 HD
Prime Requisite- CHA
Attack- None
AC- 10

Swimmers are medium sized twoleggers who are adapt at water and on land. They have a large flat mouth and a long, hard crest on their head that grows with age. They can swim in the water better then anyone else and can hold their breath for their HD in turns. They are not especially fearsome in combat, lacking horns or claws to fight with, thus needing to use other tactics to avoid predators.

Bigmouths can blow air through their crest to create a loud trumpet sound- which can be frightening to other creatures. This ability is absent as a hatchling; Once the swimmer has 4 HD or more they can perform this move. The trumpet can scare away 1d6 + CHA modifier worth of Sharptooth in HD. They can only perform this move once a day.

Clubtail - d8 HD
Prime Requisite- CON
Attack- Clubtail at 1d4+1
AC- 14

Large fourleggers with hard shells of armor on their bodies, and large shell formations on the end of their tails that can be used to deal blunt damage and crush opponents. This weapon can do anything a blunt weapon can do that a sharp one can't- like crush rocks or break teeth, etc.

Additionally, add your Strength modifier to your weapon damage.


Progression
Everyone starts as a hatchling- a 1 HD character without all your abilities. Instead of gaining XP, you level up by staying alive for an adventure and having "time pass" between them, which can only happen after you accomplish your goal.

Whenever you are told, you will roll one HD of your class and add that to your Hit-Point total. As you level up, you will unlock new abilities based on your class.

All of your characters are assumed to be young dinosaurs with parents and relatives living in the Great Valley, the only safe place left for Leafeaters- with exception to story seed [1].

Items & Equipment
Nobody wears clothes and nobody really crafts anything. However, certain items can be used by twoleggers, who have inferior stats to fourleggers as a trade off. Fourleggers can carry items only in their mouths or on their backs, but twoleggers can use their upper arms for basic manipulation.

Sometimes, items are infused with sentimental value- a "snuggling stick" or "lucky treestar" if you will. This item can be expended to roll with advantage on a single roll- but the item will always be lost or destroyed in the process, or no longer relevant as the individual learns that they do not need it anymore.

Alignment
There are only two alignments, and they are based on diets. Leafeaters and Meateaters. These are racial alignments. Omnivores or those with alternative lifestyles; egg eaters, insectivores, or Sharpteeth that "eat veggies" are all suspect and not to be trusted.

Also, there are alignment languages. Sharpteeth speak "Sharptooth" which can only be spoken amongst each other, though they may be able to understand the words of Leafeaters.

Magic
There is no magic. If something is totally beyond your power in doing- a dinosaur is deeply sick or the watering hole has dried up, you can ask an Elder Longneck and they have an X in 20 chance to know some obscure knowledge that may help you. All "supernatural" elements are confided to rare plants that may have medicinal properties, unusual astrological events that make people act weird, or rare crystals that may have special effects.

Story Seeds - Roll 1d6 for a Random Story Seed
[1] You are living in the dying world at the end of the age of the dinosaurs. You must find a fabled "great valley" that is a home for Leafeaters.

[2] An unusual lone egg has ended up in the great valley- and once it hatches, it is revealed to be the egg of a Sharptooth hatchling!

[3] The ground cracks and large tar pits begin sprouting up in the great valley; several dinosaurs are at risk of getting stuck inside and dying, not to mention sucking away all the edible plants. You must search the caves underneath the great valley to find the source of it and see if there is a way to stop it.

[4] After a disagreement with the herd, one dinosaur has left the great valley all alone. If you don't bring them back, they will almost certainly die.

[5] An unusual comet is seen overhead. In the coming days, several unlucky injuries and bad things happen in the valley, including a swarm of Swarming Leaf Gobblers. The valley is believed to be cursed and something must be found to break the curse.

[6] Several packs of Sharpteeth have found The Great Valley; and it is under siege! No dinosaurs can get in or out safely, and the Sharpteeth outside have a 1 in 6 chance each month to find the way in until they are driven off.


Small Bestiary

Fast Biters (AKA Velociraptors)
HP- 2d6
AC- 10
Attack- Bite at 1d6 and Claws at 1d4
Intelligence- Medium
Numbers- Groups of 2d4

Belly Draggers (AKA Deinosuchus)
HP- 4d8
AC- 16
Attack- Bite at 1d10+2
Intelligence- Low
Numbers- Usually one

Sharptooth (AKA Tyrannosaurs)
HP- 3d10
AC- 14
Attack- Bite at 1d12+2
Intelligence- Low to Medium
Numbers- 1 or 2

That Sharptooth (AKA Antagonist of the first film, "Rex", "One Eye")
HP- 4d10
AC- 15
Attack- Bite at 1d12+4
Intelligence- Medium
Numbers- Just one

Saturday, October 9, 2021

4 Spells of the Mindscape


[1] Reject your Reality, Substitute my Own
This spell allows the spell caster to temporarily impose their own mental landscape over the immediate area. The area is equivalent to two to four dungeon rooms, or one general "point" in a pointcrawl.

What this does is creates a zone where the caster's own mind is imposed over the world; thus changing the inner landscape of the being you are within or exploring to be more predictable, and usually safer. This spell nullifies all effects ongoing from the mind- so gray fog of doubt that weakens your party or winds of indecision won't knock you around and stun party members in combat and so on- the area affected by this spell also weakens creatures from the main-mind you are within, since this zone is as though they are out of their home dimension. All mental-constructs lose -1 HD and related stats from being within this zone, but are not destroyed by it.

[2] Brain Freeze
The caster, and everything around them in about a Turn's distance of travel, freezes over within ice. This spell draws from the memories, feelings, and imagination of the brain-scape's owner to draw upon the essential form of ice and snow. Those who have lived their lives in a tropical climate or those spoiled to have never experienced a harsh winter will have significantly weaker freezes created in their brain, or perhaps none at all.

Firstly, this spell makes everything nearby that is part of the mindscape frozen. Enemies freeze in place, doors and chests are stuck fast, abstract manifestations of past traumas or ideas are frozen solid. As such, one can move around these without issue, but they become immune to damage, stuck within conceptual ice.

Additionally; this spell causes the person whose brain you are inside when you cast it to have actual brainfreeze. Causes a bit of pain and 1 point of nonlethal damage. Lasts for a turn, then thaws.

[3] Intrusive Thoughts
While you are withing the mindscape of a being, you can call upon a sudden intrusive thought. Everyone has intrusive thoughts, but what these thoughts are like are based on the individual. In the mindscape, it manifests as a wandering monster encounter that pop around the nearest corner or out of the nearest entrance. You can coax them to enter the mindscape nearby another construct or being within, thus forcing them to encounter each other, but these intrusive thoughts have no loyalty to you or the owner of the mindscape; they're just errant thoughts.

[4] Dragon's Dream
This spell is not cast in a mindscape, instead it is cast in the real world. Here, the magic user reels back and breathes "fire" in the form of flickering light from their mouth, which coats everything nearby in a burning sensation that deals no damage. Living things and the inanimate are effected by this spell, though its power is reduced by 50% against living things who make a saving throw vs breath.

The "dragon breath" comes out in a cone, and has a number of points equal to the caster's HD, similar to a dragon's breath weapon. Everything struck by the breath-attack become warped according to the caster's dream. People change according to the caster's perceptions and beliefs, the objects being touched by their memories and preferences. For each "point" or HD worth of change, one major element or part can be warped and manipulated by the caster's imagination into reality. Whenever the caster uses this spell, they are breathing out a portion of their soul's most imaginative, creative force- leading to a permanent reduction in Charisma by -1. If you are using vancian magic, instead they permanently lose the lowest spell slot they have each time they use this spell.

The immediate effects of the "dream" lasts for three exploration turns, but things or beings "singed" by the fire of the dream are forever changed by them. If the caster's dream turned you stunted and stupid, you will recover, but still lose -1 points of Strength and Intelligence permanently.

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Four (Mid-Level) Characters from the Noble Houses

Roll d4 to get a random hireling, replacement PC, or rival NPC adventurer.


[1]
Ambrose - 4th level Fighter
Stats- +1 Str, -1 Wis, +1 Cha

Young, honorable Fighting-Man belonging to the House of Tanner. He wears an enchanted red leather vest that grants protection equivalent to chainmail (+6 AC) without the normal stealth or encumbrance penalties. He is skilled with axes and swords, and usually carries one of each. For blunt attacks- he uses the butt of the axe as a club and due to his skill, this has no penalty for being an improvised attack due to his skill.

Ambrose is a young, slightly ambitious warrior who seeks to protect people from monsters and dark magic. He is somewhat ignorant of the world and wants to get more experience; though his fighting skills are those of someone clearly very talented; they outpace his experience. As with all members of the House of Tanner, he is instilled with the virtues of loyalty, honor, and humility. If and when recruited, add +1 loyalty.

[2] Presida - 6th level Rogue
Stats- +1 Dex, +1 Int

Presida is an effective, non-nonsense type. She belongs to the House of Ventan. She is clearly a woman with at least a drop of noble blood in her veins- beyond being beautiful she is highly competent and skilled at what she does with seemingly little effort; but this is a false persona. She is actually very dedicated behind the scenes- building a gymnasium underneath her home filled with traps and tripewires to practice her skills.

Due to her highly disciplined lifestyle and training regime; Presida has +2 maximum Hit Points over whatever she rolled with her class HD. Additionally, she gets +1 to all Saving Throws.

She uses a magic weapon which is a small, extendable metal baton. This magic baton is called the Baton of Clanging and deals 1d4+1 damage on a hit. It has a special ability- if the tip of the baton is touched to a piece of metal, it can make the metal clang at any point along the metal, or make a delayed clang at the spot she touched it one exploration turn later. Using this allows for easy distraction of guards, monsters, and can be used to set up ambushes and alarms befitting her skills.

[3] Ulati - 5th level Fighter
Stats- +1 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Con, -2 Int

Tall, thin man skilled with a bow and spear. He is an excellent physical shape, as most members of House Scinarri are. His lips are burnt with vertical lines for betraying a secret of his house, but was allowed to stay after being greatly reduced in position. He is most common referred to by his nickname of "Silkfinger", perhaps because his actual name is blemished with his past.

Ulati is a hunter and has a deep respect for any culture involved in nature. He knows how to read magic and druidic runes carved on trees and rocks. He was always better with dogs then with people; Ulati gains +1 to reaction checks with animals. Finally, Ulati is a skilled knife fighter, though he prefers to fight with a spear in melee combat. The scars up and down his arms prove this. He has a set of two magic daggers, each with a +1 to hit and being immune to corrosion and rust.

[4] Hotar of Holy Vapors - 4th level Cleric / Sage
Stats- -1 Dex, -1 Int, +2 Wis

Hotar is a simple, faithful man belonging to the House of Candis. He was born in the room of a temple of which holy, hallucinogenic vapors from the earth pour up causing his mother to hallucinate him being born from the vapors instead of her body, hence the name. Hotar was also negatively affected by these vapors from ingesting them as a newborn- he has a bit of a shake and is slow of mind, but strong in religious and spiritual matters.

He is also an amateur magician- relying on his spiritual intuition and vivid imagination to create spells instead of route magical formula. In your game, these are probably Cleric spells. If you don't have Clerics, then he's a white mage-type MU. Any given day you meet him, he has one of these spells randomly prepared along with the normal spells for his level and class.

Hotar's Holy Spells- Roll 1d4
[1]
Singing Rain - 1st level
This spell magically charges rainfall, and can only be cast when it is raining or right before. This spell makes the sound of raindroplets hitting the ground sound a bit like music, chiming together to form a harmony of nature and sound. This spell effects a circle around the caster of about 100 ft.

This spell has no additional magical effects beyond this- but many creatures, especially evil monsters or demons, find the sound of such peaceful and pleasant music offensive to the ears and may be temporarily warded against. Devils who don't have a mission or anything just leave the area- or else they get a morale check to stay or enter the singing rainy area.

[2] Blossoming Light from my Necklace - 1st level
Requires a holy symbol worn around the neck or golden necklace worth at least 1000c to function. Hotar wears one. When this spell is cast, it creates yellow rings of light that get bigger and bigger in waves coming from the necklace in front of the caster in a wide cone. Anything this cone passes through is blasting by weak levels of holy magic. The effects of this spell get worse then the longer ones stays within these rings.

If an Undead creature stays within the rings for a full combat round, they are subjected to a Turn Undead roll as though turned by a first level Cleric. This seems weak, except this spell can bypass the normal HD number used by Turn Undead, as its cone effects everything in it. Intelligent undead may try to jump out of the cones before the round is over (using a move action, flying away, etc.) to avoid taking this check.

If an Unholy creature, such as a demon or dark cultist thing stays in the rings for a full combat round, then the next attack done against them by the spell caster gains advantage. They glow with a yellow aura, which also illuminates them very slightly in dark places.

If an Evil creature, like a bandit or orc stays within the rings for a full combat round, they get -1 to their next morale check, regardless of what causes it. This only functions if the majority of the squad were hit by the rings.

[3] Lightning Lash - 1st level
Creates a whip made of electrical energy in the caster's hand- the next time they whip with it and succeed on a To-Hit roll, it deals 1d3 lightning damage and ignites very flammable stuff, like people doused in oil or scarecrows stuffed with straw. The whip lasts for one successful attack, but if the attack fails the whip doesn't disappear unless it strikes something metal which scatters its energy.

Hotar made this spell as an elemental attack, but doesn't really like using it. Too violent. It's also a rough early version and could use a lot of clean up and improvement to make it more powerful and useful for its spell level. If given a few years or levels, or tutelage under a powerful MU, this spell jumps up to 1d6 damage and requires a saving throw or you get held in place one round.

[4] River's Babtism - 2nd level
This spell must be cast in a flowing river at around noon. The caster must dunk and wash the body of the target of this spell, and it cannot be cast on themself. The absolution of this baptism purifies and heals the sick and wounded- any common disease is ended and all poison that could be cured with an antidote is cured. This spell also has minor regenerative properties; for example, it could restore a chipped tooth, a finger or toe torn off at the last digit, heal back a patch of permanently burnt skin the size of a postcard, etc. Additionally; it restores 2d6+2 HP.

This magic spell is quite powerful and may be a hint that Hotar is actually a spellcasting savant.

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Bow of Scinarri


Bow of Scinarri
- Magic Bow +1
Stats- 1d6+1 or 1d20+1

This bow is carved of red wood. It's very old, but well maintained with oils harvested from an ancient grove of trees; planted just when the city was first founded. Several simplistic paleoglyphs are burnt into its side; which are the symbols for protection, beast, pierce, and wind.

This power has two primary abilities. The first are related to its glyphs. As long as you carry and have mastered the bow, you may invoke each glyph-word once per day to create simple magic spells. These act as either advantage rolls relating to the word, or as minor coincidences that help you out. For example, you could roll an attack with advantage against a wild animal by firing an arrow at it and invoking Beast. You could change the direction of a breeze using Wind to sneak up on a creature. The power of Protection can be used once per day to reduce the amount of damage you take from any source by -1 point, or by giving you advantage on a single saving throw, and so on.

The second power of the bow is a ritual. In order to perform the ritual, the user of the bow must name and prepare a special arrow; just a standard arrow tied with beads, painted, and pointed to the four winds and such will work. They must save this arrow and use it only once against a specific quarry that the user promises to slay to the bow with this magic arrow. The arrow will strike for 1d20+1 damage on its first and only hit against that target. If this ability fails to kill the target, the bow will lose your favor and you will have to regain its trust in you as a hunter. Also, you get no advantage on the To-Hit roll with this special ritual arrow attack besides the normal +1 this magic bow grants.

The bow is tied to the powers of nature and to hunters. The bow only works for hunters who have never lost a quarry. Contrary to most magic items, it has no problems with an even seems more attracted to those who have never hunted or held a bow before; the inexperienced have much to prove. This weapon does reject those who have attempted and failed a hunt. Failing a hunt in this case is losing your prey over several days of extended chase and losing them for good, giving up, or having the prey die or be taken by something else. This bow also doesn't care about you failing to kill people or other stuff, just things that you specifically set out to kill.

It is possible to earn the bow's favor again (though you cannot use the bow to accomplish this feat, and it must be carried with you instead) by hunting an even more powerful beast or progenitor of the one you failed to catch the first time. So if you tried to kill a white wolf and it escaped you, the bow will not function for you, but if you vow to slay a great wolf Nature Spirit and succeed, bathing the wooden bow in the beast's blood and wrapping the bow in its pelt on the journey home- it will have regained its trust in you as a hunter.

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Glacial Cave Encounters


Glacial Cave Encounters
[1]
An otherwise boring hallway which hides a crevasse past a dip in the floor. If you aren't paying attention or your party has a light source weaker then a torch or Light spell- you won't see it. Anyone who falls through falls 1d4 floors down deeper into the ice dungeon.

[2] This room is the lair of a Bloodwind. The walls are streaked with light pink, light scratches and erosion on the stalagmites of ice giving a hint. There is a 1 in 4 chance it will return if you delay here; treat any wandering monster encountered here as (1).

[3] The party walks onto something dark and mildly softer then the compacted ice in this cavern- if examined closely, they will find it is a giant upturned whale, beached and well preserved onto this glacier many eons ago.

You can dig into and thaw the whale meat- it is still edible, requiring a fire and one turn to melt a ration of meat. For each ration you dig out, roll a 1d20 and if you ever roll equal to or under the number of rations taken from the whale, the next one you cut some giant whale parasite corpse worms that have been feeding on the corpse for all this time pop out and attacks you.

Whale Corpse Worm (5+2 HD, +2 To-Hit, +2 AC, 1d6+2 worm teeth, Blood Coating)
Morale- 11
Numbers- 1d4

These giant white worms are gastrointestinal parasites that have grown to huge sizes over the centuries. Each worm is coated in a bit of blood that has been kept warm for all this time; once they exit the body to fight the party, after 3 rounds the blood on their bodies freeze and turn to icy armor, granting +3 AC unless they are hit with something warm enough to melt it.

[4] The massive fur-coat of a giant. Looks like a pond of fur at first. If you riffle through its pockets you find 2d2 massive gold coins. Each gold coin is almost as big as a standard shield and weighs an absurd amount- takes a crew of people to carry just one of these coins, but worth a fortune. Each coin is worth 20,000c each. The fur coat itself is very difficult to carry unless chopped up into pieces, which would diminish its value. If delivered to a giant; 1000c or he'll crush a castle for you. If chopped up and sold at market price, 400c total.

[5] The heated hand. It looks like a severed hand, in a small "bowl" of ice and water that it has melted since it fell. The hand is always just about room temperature, but to the ice of this glacier, it is only very slowly melting it away. The hand feels like it was just cut off a few seconds ago from body heat and anyone who carries it feels a very bad feeling when they hold it, like it's about to come alive and try to strangle them. However, it is always warm and could help stave off the bitter cold.

The heated hand has two properties. Firstly, it is considered sacred by the Hot Shamans (2), and can be used as a holy symbol by their order. Also, treat any reaction check with the Hot Shamans as the highest possible result; they view whoever finds the heated hand as a blessed person, as they themselves cannot find it. The second property is magic. Whenever you cast an Endure Elements spell or a Fire-Based spell, you can boost your caster level by +1. Each time you do this, one finger on the hot hand is burnt black down one joint. This allows for fourteen (3 on each finger, 2 on thumb) empowered casts. Once all fingers are burnt off, the hot hand loses its heat and begins to rot away like any other chunk of dead flesh.

[6] You find a wall of carvings made into the ice. The carvings were made with a hot knife, and depict (roll 1d6)

  1. The end of an ancient eskimo-like civilization as they are overrun by yeti.
  2. Humorous depiction of a dragon eating a bunch of snow and farting out a steam cloud
  3. Woolly mammoth fighting for its life against several giant saber-cats.
  4. Food, trees, grass, flowers, and the sun. Whoever drew it was pining for better days.
  5. Symbol that roughly means "safe" in draconic. Resting place of local kobolds (2)
  6. Very rough cave map depicting a sleeping giant in a coat. Shows location of [4]

[7] Lair of a giant leopard seal. There is a black hole in the floor that leads to the water underneath the glacier ice. 1 in 6 chance of the seal being here when you visit. The seal is scary but still just a wild animal and will only fight if threatened; instead preferring to just swim out through the floor if you surprise it. The lair also contains a small golden penguin statuette with bite marks all over it. (6000c)

Giant Leopard Seal (6+1 HD, +1 To-Hit, +3 AC, 2d8 bite, slow on land, Blubber, Cold Resistance)
Morale- 9

The Giant Leopard Seal is built for freezing cold water, not land. It is very slow and easy to avoid. It's body is coated by a thick layer of blubber that makes it take half damage from blunt weapons, and it also takes half damage from cold spells and attacks. The leopard seal's blubber can be turned into ~100 units of lantern oil if processed.

[8] Chamber with a high, cavernous ceiling. The icicles that hang down tinkle and sway with each motion. If you speak above a whisper here- save or an icicle falls and stabs you for 1d6+1 damage. This also works on monsters; the louder the enemy the better.

[9] Five carved ice sculptures are fit along this hallway. The ice sculptures each have a bowl and tracks that let melted water travel between them. If you fill all five sculpture bowls with water, they unlock a secret passage to a treasure room that contains unbreakable ice tools used for ice/mason work (worth 10,000c to a dwarf) and a collection of water from ancient, secret hot springs.

[10] Witch's Ice Cream. Several metal tubs are placed neatly in this room, each filled with an unusual, very sweet smelling substance. It's ice cream and tastes amazing. If you eat only a spoonful, there are no averse effects. If a character eats enough to count as one ration, they suffer the following effect based on whatever flavor they ate.

Vanilla: Infected with a Random Disease 1d4 turns after eating.

Chocolate: Get drained by 1d2 levels. After being drained, a "chocolate" ghost appears of your drained levels, taunting you. If you can turn undead on this ghost, it will be stunned and you can stuff it back in your mouth and regain the lost levels. Otherwise it phases through a wall and you can't retrieve it.

Strawberry: Your skin starts to turn red or pink. You develop Darkvision, but find yourself getting angry at the smallest things. In combat, you deal +1 damage from pure rage but have a 1 in 6 chance to attack an ally instead of an enemy. The next time you venture directly into sunlight, you take 1d6 damage as the sun burns you and destroys the strawberry's effect in your body.

If you take any of the icecream away for later, you now have a 1 in 6 chance to encounter the Dairy Witch whenever you roll a wandering monster encounter until you get rid of it or kill her.

Dairy Witch (3+3 HD, +1 AC, 1d4 butter hammer, spells, Dairy Items)
Morale- 10
Number- Just one, with 1d4 Lesser Ice Golems

The Dairy Witch is a woman who moved to the icy wastes to practice her magic in the cold- where her milks and cheeses remain unspoiled from the heat. She gets her milk from her snow white goat familiar, random polar bears, and herself.

The Dairy Witch carries around a few magic items in the form of her foodstuffs. The first are pieces of Hard Cheese which grants the consumer +1d6 AC for three rounds and restores the same amount of hit points. The second are small bottles of milk, which consumed grant +2 To-Hit and restore 2 hit points. The Dairy Witch carries around 2d4 units of each which can be looted from her corpse and used if she is slain. The cheese lasts basically forever but the milk bottles remain warm right until they spoil and the magic is lost in 3 days after you take them from her body.

[11] Extremely light, powdery snow has piled up in this chamber from a crack in the top of their glacier. After many years, it has become a great hill. It's just a hill of very light snow, but makes excellent material if you want to roll a giant snowball down it at a monster or maybe make a big slide. You could also dig into it and make a warm igloo shelter but it would take at least 3d3 turns of effort even with a big group unless you use magic. Ice wizards can also take a pinch of the stuff and throw it with any spell cast to grant +1 to the difficulty of their spells saving throws.

[12] Floating in a crack in the ice above you is a strangely rotating blue cube. It has eyes along its sides that make a very rough impression of a face- a cubit cube. If the cube is attacked, spoken to, or if a spell is in effect within its presence (like a Light spell) it will come down and start to boss you around.

Cubist Dominator (2 HD, +2 AC, Command, Must make save to attack)
Morale- 12
Number- Just One

The Cubist Dominator is a strange creature appearing as a cube with a face inspired by cubist art. It speaks in a whiny, multifaceted voice that echoes strangely in the icy caverns. It cannot attack and isn't very strong- but its words carry great power. Its alien voice and circular logic make it capable of commanding others to obey it. It can say STOP to make you stop in place, BLEED to make you take 1d4 damage, or more if you have a weapon in your hand, RUN to make you save or run away, etc. The Cube can issue up to two commands a round, and its unusual commanding presence makes attacking it difficult. You must succeed on a saving throw to attack it for the first time, but once you've succeeded you can attack it as much as you want.

The Cubist Dominator is not aggressive at first and doesn't want to kill anyone; it mostly is just an annoying control freak. Make the wizard carry the pack so he can bulk up, put your potions in this order, keep your sword on the right side so you're symmetrical, and so on. If you let it boss you around for 1d4 turns, it will eventually get bored and go back to where it was. During this time, its commands will give you at least one important roll that will be made at disadvantage. However, in combat, it will generally try to help you over your enemy- causing confusion and damage among the enemy ranks that make it a powerful ally.

Killing the Cubist Dominator will drop a blue cubist key; which looks like a key but is bent at a 90 degree angle and is blue. This key doesn't open anything in this dimension, but a Wizard (or Sage) of 7th level or higher can use this key in place of a spell component for any blink, teleport, or summoning spell; with anything brought there or back being forced to make a save or look like it is a cubist painting. This is permanent unless you get a remove curse cast on you/it. You can also just sell the key for 350c.

[13] Crystal Flowers. Small chamber with an uneven floor with small red and blue crystalline flowers poking up from the snow. They are obviously magical and somehow "grow" from the cold, possibly feeding off magical energy over light and heat from the sun. Each flower is made of crystal; very lightweight but razor sharp like glass. The flowers are highly anomalous however; each one seems surrounded by a slight haze of a distortion field, and the smell of burnt ozone is strong as you come close.

Whenever you put your hand near a flower, you will see it disappears. Somewhere else in the room is another flower with your hand next to it- the flowers are surrounded by distorting teleportation fields. Your only clue is that red flowers only connect to blue flowers, and vice versa. If you try to uproot a distant flower, the flower will pull up but your hand will return to your wrist once out of the first flowers bubble, causing the flower across the room to fly up and then shatter against the floor, dealing 1d3+1 magic damage to anyone standing nearby. Each flower must be very carefully wiggled free remotely (takes 3 turns) and left gently on the snow or all flowers of one color destroyed to remove the distortion for the remaining flowers. Each flower sells for 200c and are incredibly fragile.

[14] Gruesome Gittern. This instrument is caught between a few ice-pillars in this side chamber. The ice pillars are magically enchanted to cause anyone to touch one to fly backwards. If you're nearby another pillar, you slam back into it, but take no damage and can stay standing. If you're on the outside of the pillars, you fly back and slip across the floor. The pillars magic refuels every few seconds, meaning you can only retrieve the instrument by standing with your back to a pillar and moving quickly after the bump- if you get thrown away from the pillars you can't reach it in time before it resets. This feat requires at least a Dexterity score of +1 to get into position.

The Gruesome Gittern is a magic item. With a few pickings of the strings, small holes open in the instrument that release small metal spikes in a spray. These do little damage to man-sized creatures and bigger- 1d4 damage, but do massive damage to hoards of small creatures like rats or insects. The music it produces is scratchy and gives a haunting feeling, and counts as a +1 magic item for any bardic or rogueish feats that use it. It can also be sold for 800c

[15] Spankblaster. It's basically a magical crack in the ice, about waist level, that fires out a blast of kinetic energy. If it hits, leaves a painful red welt through clothing and thin armor but deals no damage. Since people are usually walking away from it when it fires, it tends to hit them on the ass, hence a Spankblast. It goes off once every two or three minutes- so if you try to study it it might hit you in the crotch instead.

The Spankblaster's magic can be drained by sticking a wand or staff inside. The spankblaster becomes inert permanently and the magic implement restores 2d6 charges.

[16] Airy chasm in the glacier that reflects torchlight beautifully. Light tinkling sounds from the wind give it an almost musical quality. This is a beautiful place. Meditating here will restore one sanity, or let an elf recover a 1st level spell slot.

[17] Frozen Foam. This sticky mass of white foam looks like very, very soft snow in the dim light of a torch or lantern. When touched, it will stick to whatever was used to touch it and begin to rapidly cool and freeze the point of contact. If you jump in you'll probably die. Every party "action" used in a situation where the foam is stuck to someone or something causes 1d6 damage of cold damage. If you try to scrap off the foam with an object, that object will start to freeze, if you scrap it off on a wall, ice will grow out of it, etc. You can contain some of this in glass for a minor magic item or treasure to be sold; worth 200c per jar of foam.

[18] You come across a Heatwhore. She's a fat, heavily-wrapped-up woman who trades her body heat for food or coin in this desolate place. She got separated from a different traveling group, and has almost run out of supplies. She'll cling to party members and grant heat whenever you make camp with cuddles in exchange for food and protection; but she doesn't give it for free. Oh and absolutely zero sex by the way, she's not a whore whore.

[19] Cramped side area with holes in the wall and little mounds of some kind of biological material. This is a nest of flightless midges- big black ones about as large as your thumb. These ice-midges excrete antifreeze-jelly from their butts; if you spend time squeezing some you can gather enough jelly to rub over the skin, an item, mix into a potion, etc. preventing them from being frozen into ice in combat. If you spend a turn gathering enough goop, you can slather yourself up and become resistant to cold damage, taking half damage. If more then one person does this however you will carry a gross smell that makes random encounters +1 in 6 more likely.

These midges will eat basically anything, but aren't fast or aggressive enough to kill living things. If you throw dead body parts, decaying leather items, bones, feces, etc. onto the nest they will associate you with food and start to mass up when you approach; such as letting you squeeze them for their jellies or even following you a short distance from the nest. You can totally offer these to the Hot Shamans (2) as a meal and treat their reaction as a Friendly result.

[20] The ice here is well carved. Following the carving to a passage that looks almost regal; a headless man will be found sitting on a pillar made of ice. His neck is torn open with a black void down in his torso. He only wears a single blue sheet over his body, with a bare chest, arms, legs, and feet- yet suffers not from the cold. He carries a golden staff with a magic orb floating on the end, which lags to keep up with each motion. This being is a Keeper of Ancient Knowledge, and turns away travelers who are not serious about learning the ancient truths from him.

This being is semi-divine and can bestow powers onto mortals. If any 0 level characters, hirelings, or seriously aimless player-characters approach him, he will offer to grant them guidance and purpose. Accepting this means he will touch their forehead with the floating orb on his staff; causing a galaxy symbol to be burned onto their forehead. This grants the character +1d6 Wisdom and causes them to instantly level up if they have at least 50% of their current exp (or just a 3 in 6 chance). This character still retains their free will and abilities; but they simply can't settle down anymore. Retiring, spending a few years of downtime tending a farm, becoming a lord and tending your lands, etc. all become unavailable to this character- they are caught up in a greater destiny now.

If you pick a fight with him, he'll just like teleport away into a nebula cloud or something. He's a badass wizard too you know.


Wandering Monster Encounters
(1)
Bloodwind (4 HD, +2 to hit, 2d6 on hit- armor protects, save to cover, always moving)
Morale- N/A
Number- Just one

The Bloodwind is an invisible creature. It is an animate wind. It does not speak or seem intelligent, but has a certain sense of cruel purpose. The wind cannot be seen but its aftermath can; it blows through sharp icy passages and crevasses while carrying tiny snowflakes and ice-crystals that rend flesh and skin; spraying blood into the wind and leaving a red mist in its wake.

As a wind, it cannot be fought by traditional means. Only magic weapons or spells can harm it. It could be trapped in a magical box or bag of winds; but traditional bags would just rip open from its cutting power. If the wind blows over you, you can make a saving throw to fall to the ground fast enough and cover, meaning it can only deal 1 damage to you. If you fail the save, the wind gets an attack to try and jam its sharpness into you, dealing 2d6 damage on a hit. For each point of AC you get from armor, reduce the damage taken by 1 point from its protection.

The wind is always moving. Once it "attacks" a party member, it then must continue moving and can only attack the next party member in its path, and so on, until it is clear. The wind can turn around and come back around for another pass- this will take a minimum of 3 rounds giving you time to run or prepare for the next attack.

(2) Hot Shamans (1+1 HD, +1 to hit, carved walrus tusk at 1d4+1, +1 AC furs, cast Spells)
Morale- 9
Number- 1d3 with 2d4 Kobolds

The Hot Shamans are a sect of kobold shamans who protect and guide their people through these cold and arctic lands. As kobolds are dependent on heat to survive, their rule is law and the kobolds who fight with them fight with a higher morale of 12. As most of their magic is used to keep their tribe alive in these frozen lands; mostly creating ever-warm stones to carry or magical furs to ward away the winds, they have only limited magic to fight with. Most of their spells are related to fire.

As intelligent creatures; you must roll a reaction check when encountered.

Reaction Table- Roll 2d6

12+: Friendly. Willing to trade and barter, as well as share heat. Ask (politely) to stick their hands into your crotch to share your body's heat- it's not a sex thing, we swear. They won't give you anything for free or help you fight monsters unless if you gave them something valuable from this list or a way to generate more warmth to survive this harsh environment.

11-9: Cautious. The kobolds will willingly trade information for enough fresh linens for three of their kind (one human outfit) or a magic artifact that provides enough heat for their whole group. Under no circumstances will they tell you about anything that grants warmth. They know the location of [16] which is the "pretty place". They can also warn you about the Spankblaster [15] and will also warn you about the Closed Eye Woman (5) - who they say is "very bad for the men-boys and might make your pee pee fall off!". 

8-6: The Shamans threaten and spit curses at you- mostly about getting frozen to death in the near-constant blizzard outside the cave. If you approach, they attack.

5-3: The shamans yelp and assemble their force into a formation. Spears forward, shamans behind, they march towards you- aiming to pin you into a corner. If you run away down a side passage, they'll guard the way for two turns to make sure you've left for good.

2 or less: Instant Attack. The kobolds throw their javelins before charging in to attack with knives made of tusks and polar bear claws. The Shamans will expend their spells on fire spells if they view you as enough of a threat to use them.

(3) Wandering Polar Bears (4+2 HD, +2 To-Hit and AC, two claws at 1d6, one bite at 1d8, dumb)
Morale- 13
Number- 1d2+1

Small group of polar bears. Polar bears are very big and scary, but very stupid. Can't expend energy to the brain when their optimal survival strategy is just to charge straight at anything that moves and attack it. The ones that live here are strangely social; perhaps enchanted by the ambient magics.

(4) Werepeng (5 HD, +4 To-Hit, murder beak at 1d10, webbed feet at 1d4, need silver to damage, ice sickness)
Morale- 10
Number- Just one

Looks like a cute, cuddly little rock-hopper penguin from a distance- this is its camouflage to attract would-be predators towards it. Once it is aware of you and you are within 10 paces, it suddenly starts to grow over the course of 1d4 rounds, giving you a moment to prepare, attack, or run away. The penguin turns into a huge werepeng; an evil bipedal murder-bird. As a werecreature, you need silver or magic weapons to actually harm it.

If you surprise this creature, you'll see it at a distance hopping around on some rocks or something. If it surprises you, it just comes around a corner and fully transforms in one round.

Within its decoy form, it only has 1 HD and no special defenses. Meaning if you shoot it with an arrow at a range, it will just die as though it was a normal penguin. These creatures are dying out from intelligent humanoids- though this is less of a problem because nobody uses bows in the artic wilderness where there are no trees.

While this creatures attacks carry a curse, normal people can't catch this form of lycanthropy (only penguins can), instead you can catch the Ice Sickness. After taking at least one hit from the creature, roll a saving throw to see if you catch the disease (only roll once per character at the end of a combat encounter)- if they catch it, the disease causes them to exponentially get more cold if they are exposed to cold. If you step from the glacial caves into the outside air, get dunked in ice water, struck by a cold spell, etc you must save or get even colder- increasing the damage or penalties by 50% of whatever they were normally. If this causes death, the victim will transform into a pile of snow in their shape and be utterly destroyed, leaving no body behind.

(5) Closed Eye Woman (2+2 HD, +5 AC, 50% Magic Resistance, 1d4 Yin Orbs per round)
Morale- N/A
Number- 1d2

These beings look like the head of a beautiful woman, magically severed, floating along with their long hair twisting in the breeze. There is no gore or blood from their stump of a neck; and the women never open their eyes. The Closed Eye Women sense the world around them through energy, and are seemingly monsters created from isolation and powerful yin energy. These monsters are also heavily resistant to magic; and every spell has a 50% chance to be deflected.

Yin energy is the feminine, destructive force. It is also very cold. Every round, the Closed Eye Woman will open her mouth and release 1d4 glowing silver orbs of Yin energy that seek nearby targets. They always hit unnervingly; but these orbs can be deflected with something hot (torch) or Yang enchanted- one orb per object. When struck, take 1d8 cold damage. If a struck character is a male, they must also save or take a level of level drain as the Yin energy saps your masculine essence.

(6) Arctic Jar-Hares (1 HD, +1 To-Hit, +6 AC, fast, Magic Jar, lucky)
Morale- 8
Number- 1d4

These Arctic hares are clothed in all white fur. They walk bipedally and balance a small glass jar on their head, which bounces around with each hopping step- they seem very precarious but never actually fall from the Hare's own accord. The Hares are very fast and cowardly, but are spiteful and aggressive enough to kick snow at people's faces while dancing at the edge of your spear. If all the hares have used up their jars- they run away. You can't catch them on foot, unless if you got dogs.

Each Hare has a magic jar. Each Hare will use their Jar when cornered, when nearly missed (the attack roll being 1 away from a hit), or when injured in some way. When the Hare is slain, the jar falls down with their body and shatters anyway- unless if the slayer is in melee range and catches it with a hard roll modified by Agility. The exception is if you fight the Hares in a place with very soft powdery snow; like after a blizzard or at [11], in which case the jar falls to the ground but doesn't shatter and can be picked up and used.

Finally; the Hares are lucky. This means they can ignore their first failed saving throw.

Whenever a jar is smashed or thrown, it explodes on impact and releases a wave of prismatic energy from the center point in a straight line in all directions. Everything hit by this become kaleidoscopic, making the colors, textures, and patterns random and oscillating at all times along with an unnatural glow. This makes it nearly impossible to sneak around in a snowy place (disadvantage on stealth). This effect fades on living things over the course of one season, and fades on objects over the course of a few years, in which case a random rainbow vomit pattern will be "stained" onto the object permanently after that point. Each recovered jar could be sold for 400c

Friday, October 1, 2021

Hole of Eno


Hole of Eno
This is a hole. It's a magic item made of negative space. The "hole" itself is an item. If you place the hole in your pocket, you now have a hole in your pocket. If you place it on a wall, the wall now has a hole in it, etc. The only clue that this hole is a magic, move-able hole is the dark ring around it on whatever surface the hole is on, and the vague scent of decay that seems to emanate from the hole.

The hole is just big enough to fit your hand through, and extends through surfaces that are 3 feet long, creating a tunnel. If placed into a solid material, like a creature's flesh or a solid mass of stone that is too thick to create a tunnel through, the hole instead creates a 3 foot deep cavity. If inside a creature or living thing, it won't deal damage or bleed, just appear as a hole. Items lift inside the hole when it is removed stay within whatever substance the hole was opening up before. The hole can also be placed on something in a smaller diameter, up to the size of a pinhole, whenever it is moved.

If the wall, ground, or subject hides a specific item (treasure chest, heart, etc.) then it will be within the hole when it is opened if the user of the hole sacrifices a prepared 1st level spell slot. People without magic spells cannot use this ability unless they find a way to power the magic somehow. Only one item can be appeared inside the hole when it is placed down and the placement doesn't have to be exact- the magic of the item creates the hole as it is needed.

The hole can be moved from surface to surface by anyone who sacrifices a 1st level spell slot to move it, or by using a secret command phrase which requires a full identify to uncover. The hole only exists in hole form; meaning if you want to carry it around, you need to put a hole in something until you need to move the hole to something else.