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Showing posts with label Cogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cogs. Show all posts

Friday, 10 October 2014

A Useful concoction

A preventative elixir 

Designed for the Company of Fools game but of wider use I would think
 
This is a mundane potion prepared by the herbalists’ at large temples of the Caregiver such as the Great Hospital in Vayham. These herbalists, who are mostly ether junior priests of the care giver or anointed experts produce the potion in some quantity as it is useful in their work and can be made from relatively common herbs. There are reputed to be more powerful versions made with more exotic ingredients or ones which are specific rather than general.  Beyond the cult of the care giver similar potions are made in many places as making of them is not uncommon knowledge to the wider community of herbalists beyond those associated with the caregivers cult. It should be noted that independent herbalists who make these potions attract the special ire of the servants of the rot lord and being outside the protection of the care givers cult they are especially vulnerable.

It can be used as a preventative, and is often taken by Care givers working with infected patients to protect them selves, and as a treatment thought it is not that good a treatment and only works to aid at the point of crisis of the disease but it will work for all diseases.

As a preventative it adds +1d6 to the takers disease resistance for at least twelve hours after consumption, with the die being rolled individually for each potential infection. As a curative the potion ads +1 to any one roll made to determine the result of the crisis point of a disease. The potion tends to be dispensed freely as needed by the followers of the Caregiver but where it is for sale it would cost 10-20 silver per dose  and a dose is a sixth of a pint in a sturdy stone ware flask sealed with wax.. Multiple doses dont stack but may cause some transitory nausea,

As a campaign note it was used to dose all the party entering the Rot Lords temple under Vayham with the intent to exterminate the cult and destroy its foul works and was given free as it was to do the Caregivers work. 

A new disease

Weeping Visage

Communicability: 5

Severity: 4

Where is the disease found

This seems to be a variant of the common animal disease of mange which can be passed on to humanoids, in animals it presents as mange with inflamed flesh and loss of fur or hair in patches the main difference between it and Mange is that the skin weeps a serous fluid in advanced cases and it is contact with this which causes it to spread.

In Humans Demihumans and Humanoids it causes what looks like very severe weeping eczema particularly on the face throat and chest and the backs of the hands and fore arms. It will like mange cause hair loss in races which are typically bearded such as dwarves and it is viewed as a form of leprosy by them and sufferers are often exiled.
 

Minor effect:

For a period of 1d6p weeks the victim’s appearance is reduced by 1d6 points as they have skin in the effected areas which looks like raw liver and seeps fluid continually and is often crusted with scabs. The disease then reaches a peak after which the victim slowly recovers generally taking about as long as the original course of the disease to clear up and the victim may be pocked especially if the duration roll penetrated

Major effect:

The disease becomes chronic and will not heal without the application of magic or if the victim is lucky medicine and the appearance loss becomes permanent until so healed.  It is also likely that the victim will be treated as a leper by their community even thought the diseases are not at all connected.

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Some Sage advice

6 Ways to Add Interest to Your Dungeon

By: Jesse C Cohoon

Many times people think of dungeons as these static things that monsters inhabit, but if viewed as an interconnected, alive system that opens up many more possibilities than would ordinarily be possible.
1.      When designing dungeons, remember that enemies move around. But don’t limit their movement to just one area. Keep in mind that sound travels, and a battle in one area, attract enemies coming to the scene from different areas, and in the heat of the battle, PCs may find themselves surrounded by enemies in battle where they can neither move forward nor retreat until the situation changes.
2.      Add varying types of obstacles and ways of conquering them. In the Zelda franchise games, there are lots of puzzles, many of which are solved by blowing up obstacles or fake walls, pushing blocks/ rocks, swimming, activating switches in a specific order, and accessing areas that they need some sort of protection/ alteration to enter. In each of these cases, Link had equipment to help him out: gloves to give him strength, earrings to allow him to withstand heat, special armor that allowed him to swim underwater and the like. In Zelda: Skyward Sword, the hero gets a Batman-esque grappling hook type weapon that allows him to be pulled to walls, stationary helicopter type units, and ivy covered rock facades.    
But just because the players don’t have the proper equipment/ powers doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be allowed to enter such areas, but they may face difficulties in getting around / damage while in such areas. For instance in an area without the proper heat protection equipment, a person may get damage while in extremely hot or cold areas.
3.      Allow different areas to be opened up as the players get more powerful. Just because a party went through an area doesn’t mean that there aren’t more secrets to be discovered. There may be hidden passages, areas blocked by monsters that they didn’t fight (or circumvented), underground areas that they have to have digging claws to get to, or areas that were previously too high for them to reach. When characters get “fly,” “passwall,” and “reduce/enlarge” abilities (either through their equipment or by spells), the dungeon has an entirely different feeling.
4.      Change the dungeon in a significant way. This is a classic in video games. Some changes that you can make are: having the dungeon flood, it on fire or filled with smoke, upside down, or even portable (for instance a dungeon in a giant robot or on a dragon turtle) Other changes that you might not have thought of are: filled with quicksand, time shifted (thank you Zelda: Skyward Sword,) collapsing, overgrown, and vastly changed monsters. Even changing the climate changes the dungeon. For instance, having a previously hot area change to freezing changes the dungeon.
5.      Change up the situation. Instead of seeing a dungeon as a thing where characters enter the dungeon and maim/ kill anything that is threatening, and loot their enemies, the dungeon could be a thing of a peace keeping party where negotiation rules the day, an espionage mission where the characters need to be stealthy so as not to get caught, or a rescue mission where they have to be careful who they kill, otherwise they may end up killing the party that they’re trying to save.
6.      Plan in layers. The best dungeons have multiple layers: from deep underground or underwater reaching up many stories in the sky. Having puzzles that span these levels, clues for the story-behind-the-story, and boss battles the enemies of which are massive (both in terms of scope, but in terms of the number of participants), makes your dungeons truly epic!




are here 

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Nasty stuff from the northlands


Artefacts recovered from the wastes 

Descriptions 

These weapons are largely named for the noise they make when discharged all are very simple to use once mastered and fire horrendously fast compared with just about every other weapon in the game. Most are ranged and are largely assumed to be magic of an unknown typeThey also have the capacity to utterly terrify even the boldest Kethian tribes man on sight and are taboo with them to a level that worked even conventional worked metal is not.The names given are either descriptive or in some way onomatopoeic based on  the sound it makes when discharged.

It is also important to note that whilst these may all appear to be in some way enchanted and analogous to the wands arcane spell casters make on occasion none of them  detect as in any way magical appearing entirely mundane in all such divinations, they are also to all intents and purposes indestructible in normal use much as a +5 piece of equipment is.

BzzCrack
resembles a for shortened and rather stubby cross bow without a span  made of some entirely of some light weight metal it is feature less externally except for an arrow shaft diameter hole in the face where the span  on the cross bow if it where a cross bow would be attached. This goes about three inches into it and then stops. If is can be discharged and not all of them can it as many are either inert when found or become so after a few discharges. This seems to require a steady pressure on the place where a cross bow trigger would be ant the taking up of a shooting stance, there is no trigger and it active the device discharges with a soft buzz  then a load crack. what it discharges is unclear as it is in most conditions invisible thought after several discharges the area of the hole becomes warm and some have reported that it shows as a ray of light would in a dusty or smoky environment. Whatever it is seems to burn its target and largely ignores any sort of armour beyond burning or melting  a neat hole in it of similar dimensions to that of the hole in the span end of the item. One thing is certain its discharge has a devastating effect on flesh appearing to leave deeply burned locally to the strike and almost cooked beyond that. There are some reports of lightning arcing all over metal armour but those few sages who have heard of these things and Kethian folk lore discount this. There seems to be no way of reloading the thing or of telling how many times it can be discharged before becoming inert. 

Distance (ft) Attack Die
5 - 80 d20p
81 - 140  d20p-4
141 - 190 d20p-6
191 - 250 d20p-8
250+         d20p-10

These might seem low but the item has no way of sighting it except looking along its length as is as such no more accurate than a crossbow.

GM note when found the item has 2d6p charges but don't tell the player.

Fzattt
a much shorter and in parts slimmer item resembling in many ways a stubby wand with a slight asymmetric kink in unlike the former it is not clear where the thing discharges from and some have reported discharging it at themselves as a result. fortunately the effects of the discharge are non lethal but do cause the target to become slowed or even stunned. As before the discharge is not visible though some with  low light vision report a faint bluish flash in complete darkness as the discharge strikes its target.

The mechanical effect is to attempt to force a ToP check with the discharge causing 2d10p points of virtual damage for this purpose.the effect on the target depends on the result of the check.

Mechanically any hit add a +1 to the speed of any action in progress and may cause spell mishaps other than that the normal rule for trauma apply except that the strike is not particularly painful having a numbing effect. Multiple hits stack and can cause fatal results on rare occasions but most just increase the time to recover

Distance (ft) Attack Die
5 - 30 d20p
31 - 50 d20p-4
51 - 70 d20p-6
71 - 100 d20p-8
100+       d20p-10

Spitter 
Of all the Artefact weapons  one is the most compensable in that it seems to shoot a projectile of very hot and possibly initially molten metal. That said the source of the metal it shoots and the method by which it shoots it are just as impenetrable as the other ones

Distance (ft) Attack Die
0 - 5  automatically its every one in the radius of  5' with a shower of hot metal droplets including the user armour does not protect and every one takes 1d4p 1 point wounds

5 - 30 d20p damage 2d6p+2d4p Dr of heavy metallic armour is doubled but the target also takes 1d4p 1 point wounds as above
31 - 50 d20p-4 damage 2d6p+1d4p
51 - 70 d20p-6 damage 1d6pp+1d4p  
71 - 100 d20p-8 damage1d6p


Combined  weapons table
Weapon
Name
Strength
Required
Skill Level
Damage
Shield Damage
Rate of fire
Weapon
Size
Max
range
Damage type
BzzCrack
Fzattt
Spitter
8
5
5
low
low
low
4d10
Special
Special 
2
nil
1d6p
3s
5s
5s
medium
small
small
500
120
100
E
E
P

Friday, 3 October 2014

Some thoughts on converting Pathfinder creatures to HackMater

Since I am doing this quite a bit a the moment I thought  I would share some of my admittedly rather quick and dirty methods of doing it with you.

These rules apply to the unique stuff rather than to the creatures both systems share an Orc etc is an Orc even if you do need to adjust the numbers as an Orc in HackMaster is a nastier prospect than one in Pathfinder and I might consider swapping it out for say a goblin in low level adventures.

Starting with the Pathfinder stat block


Animated Object (Large) - created with Hero Lab®



The skeleton locked within rattles as this animated cage lurches forward on chain legs in search of new prisoners.


Animated Object (Large)    CR 5

XP 1,600

Male animated object (large) (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 14)

N Large construct

Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception -5


Defense


AC 14, touch 8, flat-footed 14 (-1 dexterity, +6 natural, -1 size)

hp 52 (4d10+30)

Fort +1, Ref +0, Will -4

Defensive Abilities hardness 5; Immune construct traits


Offense


Speed 30 ft.

Melee slam +9 (1d8+9)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.


Statistics


Str 22, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1

Base Atk +4; CMB +11; CMD 20


Ecology


Environment Any

Organization Solitary, pair, or group (3-12)

Treasure None


Special Abilities


Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).

Hardness 5 Subtract Hardness from damage done.

Immunity to Ability Damage Immunity to ability damage

Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain

Immunity to Bleeds You are immune to bleeds.

Immunity to Death and Necromancy effects You are immune to Death and Necromancy effects.

Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.

Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain

Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.

Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.

Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.

Immunity to Non-lethal Damage You are immune to Non-Lethal Damage

Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.

Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.

Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.

Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.

Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.


Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.
The skeleton locked within rattles as this animated cage lurches forward on chain legs in search of new prisoners.
--------------------
Animated Object (Large)      CR 5
XP 1,600
Male animated object (large)  (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 14)
N Large construct
Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception -5
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 14, touch 8, flat-footed 14 (-1 dexterity, +6 natural, -1 size)
hp 52 (4d10+30)
Fort +1, Ref +0, Will -4
Defensive Abilities hardness 5; Immune construct traits
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam +9 (1d8+9)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 22, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
Base Atk +4; CMB +11; CMD 20
--------------------
Ecology
--------------------
Environment Any
Organization Solitary, pair, or group (3-12)
Treasure None
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Hardness 5 Subtract Hardness from damage done.
Immunity to Ability Damage Immunity to ability damage
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleeds You are immune to bleeds.
Immunity to Death and Necromancy effects You are immune to Death and Necromancy effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Non-lethal Damage You are immune to Non-Lethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.

as you can see the stat block for the animated cage was taken form hero lab

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Shields a consideration

Introduction 

Some thoughts on how shields work in the real world and haw to model that in a way that works for HackMaster 5e. I wont claim to be able to cover every thing but I do hope to give the reader something to think about and add verisimilitude of not realism to their games


Basic types of shield
Shields have been made in all shapes and sizes and of a large number of differing materials historically but the base line shield in HackMaster and indeed most similar FRPG's is  wooden, often a composite resembling modern plywood,  and edged with raw hide to protect the edge from blades. On better shields they may be faced with cloth or thin leather and some times even thin sheet metal and the rawhide replaced by a metal edging strip. However regardless of construction or size there are only two ways of holding a shield.

Centre grip
Forearm Grip 


















Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages and the prevalence of either varied considerably over history but form experience the centre grip is better for mobility of the shield thought it it the heaviest as all the shields not inconsiderable weight is supported by the off hand. its also easier to equip and de equip, but its also possible to drop the shield . The fore arm grip is less mobile but you can use heavier shields, indeed the only practical all metal shields I have seen other than truly tiny bucklers have been this type. It is also impossible to drop as even if you let go of the hand grip it hangs of the fore arm.

You find that using a centre grip shield  you will actively use it to intercept or deflect an incoming blow or as a weapon to strike aside you foes weapon, with a forearm grip you find you tend to present it to your foe and keep it fairly static whilst you move around behind it. From the front centre grip shields have a raised metal boss which covers the hole in the middle where the grip is and fore arm grip shields tend to be smooth.

How to hold a shield 
Shields of either type are held with a bent off arm as far in front of the torso as possible. For a fore arm grip shield this is a bit more than the length of your upper arm and for a centre grip shield this is about three quarters of the length of the whole arm in action shields are never held against the body as the space between the shield and you is your defence against nasty stuff like axes which can punch holes in shields easily. flexing the arm is also a way of absorbing the energy of the weapons impact spreading it ad so reducing damage, the arm acts in some ways like a spring. 

Considerations of shape
The basic shield is flat but more elaborate versions are curved or dished either of which make it harder to land a solid blow and more likely that any hit will be glancing this reduces damage to the shield and increases the time it will survive in a battle particularly important when you are not wearing any armour or only a helmet.

Considerations of Materials and Construction
Shields can be made out of a wide range of materials and have been and even the basic wooden one can be varied to improve its performance and survivability .

Fabric facing gluing stretched cloth across the front of a wooden shield will make the surface of the wood less likely to splinter or to have layers seared away by impacts it also provides a nice base for painting identification or heraldry on and it does not noticeably add to the shields weight.
Leather  or rawhide  facing very much the same as the point made for cloth facing but it will add rather more weight to the shield makes the shield much tougher such that the thickness of the wood can be reduced sand the shield still be more robust than a thicker shield without it. it can also provide a flat surface to decorate on in the case of the particoloured animal hides with the fur left on provide a decoration in itself.
Metal facing this again

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

The Demon in the Square

The Demon of the Sword - Vaesehanesresics (that which delights in the slaughter of the
unresisting and  the terrified)


Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: -2
Speed: 9
Reach:+2 feet ( 8 feet with sword)
Attack: +8
Damage: 2d12p + 5 Sword
2d3p + 5 with claws on hands or feet or 3d3p+ 5 bite
Special Attack:  Demonic battle cry (same as Grell war cry) Sweep attack can strike all in a 180 degree ark on an aggressive attack ,and causes +1d3p damage to helpless targets.
Weakness: takes +5 damage form good aligned items and +5 damage from lawful ones the effects are cumulative and may be turned as undead.by any good or lawful priest regardless of them having the ability to turn undead
Defence: +2
Special Defence: Teleports if on half damage or more less instantly (takes one second) but can only do this once per day
Damage Reduction: 12 - 4 weapons of legend
Hit Points: 30+4d8
ToP Save: n/a
Will Factor: 10
Size: large
Move: 15 feet/second at a walk and can Teloport at will over long distances as many times as it likes in a day but the ritual to do so takes 3d6p minutes during which it is unable to defend itself without aborting the process and beginning again the maxumum range on such a teleport is eight days march
EPV: 1200 (Nb never counts as half for there only being one opponent as its well able to deal with multiple foes)

Notable skills  Intimidate 50 torture 30

Description

This demon or may be type of demon for they are commonly found during the initial phases of any abyssal invasion and this may indicate that there are some numbers of the foul things. However given its ability to teleport freely over long distances and that in every reported case only one has been encountered at a time may mean that is is indeed a unique monster.

This demon ranges ahead of the abyssal horde and is drawn to accumulations of unarmed or poorly armed largely non-combatants who it delights in terrifying with its abyssal war cry and then slaughtering wholes sale. Unlike many demons it is not one for property damage for its own sake however it will do so to further terrify its victims and to get to those who might be hiding in buildings etc.

As a demon it does not need to eat however it will often consume victims messily in order to further terrify its other victims

General Info

Activity cycle - none preferred appears not to need sleep
No Appearing - only ever one
In Lair - never
Frequency - Very rare as it only occurs in the proximity of an abyssal break through usually within 1-3 teleprts distance or a similar distance ahead of  an abyssal army
Alignment - Chaotic Evil
Vision - Dark vision to 180 feet
Awareness senses - +20 on listening or observation rolls & can automatically detect any thing cosmicly good or lawful within its range of vision and more common good or lawful within thirty feet.
Habitat - any
Diet - only eats for effect mostly to enhance its intimidating effect on its victims may subsist of the emotions of its soon to be victims
Organization - Solitary
Climate terrain - any 

Yield

Medical - none
Spell components - none but any demonic blood can be used to enhance harm spells cast by chaotic evil priests by 1d3p points per ounce killing this demon would give 2d4p ounces of such blood but there are easier sources
Hide trophy  - demonic material decays far to fast to be preserved without magic
Edible - yes but like all demons no good will flow form eating their flesh however quite what ill flows form eating the flesh of this one is no where reported
Treasure -  none but a +3 magical two handed sword of unusual size may be recovered but this is probably of  no use except as a trophy and is almost certainly cursed
Other - Nil
Experience point Value  1200 (Nb never counts as half for there only being one opponent as its well able to deal with multiple foes)

Monday, 1 September 2014

The Forest Folk

Fortekki 

Intended as another playable race for the Against the Robots game they are loosely based on Halflings in the same way that Half Giants  where loosely based on Half Orks. I was going to do no more than mention them in the history of the area briefly but as I was working on the games background tonight I came to the conclusion that I needed to do a proper write up as I did for the Half Giants. 

Abbilities
STR -3
DEX +2
CON +1

Fortekki Pro's 
  • two free levels of purchase of the Sneaking skill
  • two free levels of purchase of the Hiding skill
  • Harder to hit +2 defence bonus 
  • Superior hiding and sneaking in natural surroundings +65%
  • -1 initiative bonus
  • Native Language Fortekki and  Solmari

Fortekki Con's 
  • Poor reach -1 foot
  •  movement faster than a walk at half speed 
  •  Small for the purposes of hit points
  • Small for the purposes of knock back
  • tend to be ignored in mixed company and assumed to be children 
  •  Have to learn a mainstream human language and do so at double cost 
  • never get armour proficiencies above light as free as a result of class
  • Suffer an additional -1 defence penalty when wearing medium or heavy armour


preferential talent access  
all at 50% cost 
Crack shot and greased lightning with crossbows
Defence and Speed with short spear
Dodge
One level of extra hit points
Shield Mastery

Class costs
Ranger20Thief35Fighter mage     60
Fighter20Rogue50Mage thief         75
Fighter Thief  30Assassin 50Mage                  n/a
Cleric30Barbariann/a

Priors and particulars
Ranger18+1d8pThief20+1d8pFighter mage 24+1d6p
Fighter16+1d4pRogue20 +1d8pMage thief  24+1d6p
Fighter Thief  20+1d8pAssassin 20 +1d8pCleric        24+1d4p






Roll                 Female                Male
1-6                    42-d3                44-d3
7-12                  44                      46
13-22                46                      48
23-37                47                      49
38-58                48                      50
59-75                49                      51
76-84                50                      52
85-91                51                      53
92-96                52                      54
97-00                52+d3                54+d3

BMI table as the standard halfling  however with a -2 modifier on the roll as they are less likely to be very over weight or obese having only recently taken up a more sedentary agricultural  life style.

all the other tables are unchanged and the character is treated as a halfling where this is specific to a halfling


Sunday, 31 August 2014

Half Giants

A new Playable race in against the giants 



Strength +3
Intelligence -3
Wisdom -3
Constitution +3
Looks -3
Charisma -3

Half Giant Pros
Acute eyes sight +20 to all observation rolls involving sight
One free purchase of the Observation skill
Size large for the purposes of hit points (15+Con+Class roll)
They have a long reach add an additional foot to a weapons reach
They do +1 point of damage with any medium or bigger weapon
They cause +1 level additional knock back with two handed crushing and hacking weapons
Large for the purposes of knock back
A free talent chosen from -Tough hide, Fast healer, Pain tolerant
Free Labourer proficiency
Native language Kethian and Giant

Half Giant Cons
Most of the locals are a bit uneasy around them especially those who are old enough the remember the war when they formed the backbone of the Giantish Army’s but they are not hated any more since all the ones locally are descended form the ones who mutinied against their masters during the war.
They are whilst still technically medium sized still around Seven feet tall and heavily built with it so can have problems with the narrow and  low doors and low ceilings on many human buildings.
They are universally regarded as stupid and unsuitable for fine work so tend to get lumbered with simple manual labour amongst humans and dwarves.
They are frequently the subject of mildly derogatory humour. 
All their gear and clothes has to be specially made for them outside of their own communities, and especially with the tools it adds to the reputation they have of being clumsy as well as stupid.
They suffer a -10 penalty if they are using tools not made for them and -1 penalty all round if using weapons not made for them.
They get a defence penalty of -2 due to size and bulk
All literacy skills cost double at first level as they are seen as too stupid to learn to write.
Fighters don’t get Phalanx fighting for free.
Count as giants for the purposes of dwarven combat ability against giants 

Preferential talent access
All at 50% cost
Tough Hide
Extra Tough Hide
Additional hit points up to three levels
All weapons talents with any large or medium low skill two handed weapons

Disadvantageous access
All cost 150%
Forgettable face
Dodge
All weapons talents with any large or medium or high skill one handed weapons and bows
Phalanx fighting.

Classes 
Fighter              20bp                Fighter Mage 60bp       Mage N/A       
Ranger                         30bp                Mage Thief    75bp
Fighter Thief                 30bp                Rogue              N/A
Cleric                           40bp                Barbarian         N/A
Thief                             50bp                Assassin           N/A
Oddly enough whilst the majority of the Half Giants where in effect barbarians originally and those who remained loyal to the Giants still are they made a cultural decision since the revolt to reject their former ways and now copy much from the settled humans.  It would not be impossible to  have a half giant rogue, assassin or even mage there is as yet no one who will take seriously any who expressed an interest in that direction as they are seen as stupid foolish and clumsy  and don’t have those professions within their own ranks.

Priors and particulars
Height


Roll d100
Female
Male
1-2
74
76
3-7
76
78
8-14
78
80
15-26
80
82
27-42
82
84
43-63
84
86
64-78
86
88
79-88
88
90
89-96
90
92
97-100

90 +1d8”

92 +1d10”


Other tables 
BMI table as a Half Ork
Handedness and legitimacy as a human
No changes to the other P& P tables

Charactors for against the Robots

We now have five rolled up for which background and the like  will follow but in brief  we have

  • A Male Dwarf Fighter 
  • A Male Human Priest of the Eagle 
  • A Male Human Priest of the Eagle
  • A Female  Fey Ranger
  • A Female  Human fighter  
  • A Male Human Fighter Magic user half rolled up 

Backed up by   Male Human Fighter, Male Human Thief and a Dwarf Cleric  as  npc-protoges

and as a result of tonight's character generation session we are now at our full compliment

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

The Differences between the world of Against the Robots & the standard setting



  • Even more Humanocentric than normal
  • No humanoids none of the standard humanoid races are included
  • Fewer demihumans than are standard and no half races
  • Fewer intelligent races all round this includes intelligent non humanoid monsters
  • A different set of Gawds and associated priests even if some of them are quite similar such as the Bright One of the Dwarves and the Solmari and the Elk and the Eagle of the Kethians who are the Cathedral of Light, The Conventicle of the Great tree and the temple of the patient arrow, respectively with minor changes  as well as a whole new set of Gawds I am developing for the setting
  • Illiterate arcane spell users
  • Illiterate priests
  • A much less benign environment mother nature is also your foe and having survival skill and proper gear is vital
  •  Barbarians who are more superstitious about technology worked metals in particular than magic
  • More variation between human ethnicities in some game mechanics 
  • There is no slavery within the Varazzan empire and it only exists beyond its borders amongst the larger Kethian tribes  and the Jehenghii
  • The Varazzan culture is not fully feudal  it is more like that of the late Roman empire with nobles being land holders rather than warriors and the Empire does have a well trained standing army mostly Pole arm armed backed up with archers armed with powerful recurved bows. These are in turn backed up by local nobles household troops on the borders, where the noble title requires the retention of a number of trained warriors and civic and rural militias who will defended there patch. 
  • The more martial Religions of the Empire have fighting orders with the Bright order being the most prominent locally - The elite these fighting orders are the equivalent of knights and generally fight as heavy cavalry the rest as light cavalry or mounted infantry.
  • The Chief religions of the Empire as a whole are The Maker the Gawd of crafts and industry The Merchant the Gawd of  local Commerce  and The Trader the Gawd of roads and long distance commerce. The Emperor is the patron of the empire itself and is impart the deified version of the last Varazzan king and first emperor as well as in part a personification of the spirit of the empire as a whole
  • In addition to these there are numerous local religions particularly strong in this area are the Bright One which has a Dwarven and a Solmari cult the main difference being that the Solmari one is also the judge of the dead and the Dwarven version is not as well as the Elk of the Kethians and the Eagle of the Solmari and the Kethians Most farmsteads have a shrine to the Ploughman the Solmari Ammmarend agricultural Gawd but there are very few priests 

Against the Robots House rules

These are in addition to the changes mentioned in the other articles in this series

 Races available to play 

Fey - same as elves in the standard game main difference being that they are remarkable enough to develop a base fame of 10 from the beginning and are seen as almost as much a curiosity as the Pixie faeries of the standard setting
Humans - may be Generic humans which are straight out of the book and are likely Ammrenmd or Varazzan or of a mixed heritage or from an ethnic group to be found outside of the region. Solmari who are standard humans but they tend to be of slimmer builds so their rolled BMI is reduced by .5 from what ever is rolled or Kethian who are shorter than standard humans so their rolled height is reduced by 2" or even Jehenghii who are the enemies of the empire and barbarians from beyond its western frontier an who are taller than standard humans so their rolled height is increased by 2" and their rolled strength is increased by 0/25 as they are known for their physical prowess. on the down side they are the empires enemies and before that the enemies of the Solmari so are generally distrusted in the empire and gain a -10 reaction roll with all imperials -20 with ethnic Solmari
Half giants - detailed else where the former slave race of the true giants who revolted during the giants war
Fortekki - forest folk driven out from the dense western woods by the encroaching  Jehenghii and settled amongst the Solmari these are very similar to Halflings in the standard game but are taller and even more stealthy in the woods ( superior hiding and sneaking in natural surroundings +65% as Grell in the standard game) an which I will expand on it their own article

Rules changes  
Not necessary in order at the moment but I will sort them into a better one when I have got them all down.

Changes to classes 
Most are unchanged however the following are

  • Rangers bonus damage applies to any living bipedal humanoid opponent  as humanoids are largely missing from the setting.
  • Some of the elite fighting orders, knight equivalents, require the use of the bow by their members but by no means all 
  • Barbarians vary considerably depending on their ethnic origin Jehenghii are closest to the standard barbarian as they are militant monotheists whose ill understood religion seems to teach the racial superiority of the Jehenghii over all other cultures, and hates rather than fears magic as a culture but individual members are superstitious of all matters of the arcane. The Kethian barbarians are fine around arcane magic and are polytheistic, however they are very wary of worked metal and especially of metal artefacts which don't have an obvious function.. The Half Giant barbarians who are still in service of the true giants don't have a problem  with worked metal and magic though they do not practice it and seem like there giant masters to have a religion which worships their ancestors and appeases certain powerful elemental forces, of which they can have a superstitious dread especial of lightning and thunder which is uncommon in their homelands amongst the foot hills of the giant's mountains. 
  • Illiterate spell casters not all  spell casters in the setting can read either because they where never taught to in a culture which has a written language or are form one like the Kethians who don't have one and neither do they have sufficient contact with one that does to take that and modify it to their own use.This is not much of a limitation to clerics as they are generally part of some sort of a larger organisation and will have the secrets of the faith passed to them by a senior priest as they are required it does mean however that they need some training on levelling right from the start  and whilst they can learn divine lore and use it to work out much about divine magic they are unable to use normal scrolls and are limited to culturally specific items like the Kethian worry beads which encode their spell by the size shape and composition of the beads on a thong. 
  • Illiterate arcane spell users have a greater limit posed by this as they must learn every thing by rote and are limited to what there master can teach them as they advance, further they are unable to memorise spells in the normal way and cast all they know as such further they are unable to use scrolls as they cant read normal ones and no equivalent of the worry beads exists. They can not learn Arcane lore and are limited to the base starting amount with the only increases being by practical experience as they advance in level.   

Priors and Particulars
The number of siblings rolled for all Fey and all Dwarves are halved form the standard table as both seem to me to have smaller families than humans


Most of the other rules changes have been noted else where in this blog and wont have an effect if any until  the game the game is played and I decide to use them when I do I will be sure to add them to this article as they come up.





Sunday, 24 August 2014

Against the Robots

As my proposed solo Adventures elsewhere on line game is taking rather a long time to take off owing to my Darling Nieces ailments and myriad of distractions and I have been paying Roll20 for  a mentors subscription and not using it . I decided to bite the bullet and try to get another game off the ground on Roll 20 and as I am often taken by the quality of Paizio's Pathfinder game and have been a fan of Science  Fantasy since I got over the Vegapigmies eating my favourite character to date in the module S3 



 As I never owned a copy of this module but I have since acquiring Pathfinders Wrath of the Righteous adventure path become a fan of the Adventure path concept 


I decided to use Pathfinders newly started adventure path Iron Gods as at least a launch point for the game as I liked the idea and fancied the challenge of building a lot of home brewed monsters, which is all John Belmonte's fault as I have been having such fun with his in the Strange world of Random Doom something which I am sure I have had occasion to mention on here.

I quickly sketched out a bit of background, to replace Numeria the Pathfinder setting for this and have the beginnings of a home brewed world and am now ready to run at leas a character generation session. and I hope see where it goes for there. I don't know how close to the original story arc we will stick but there will be a lot of fun to be had finding out.





Saturday, 23 August 2014

Pregenerated Charactors at first level no four the priest



Doleshimir
Dwarven cleric of the BRIGHT ONE
STR 13-94
INT 12-53
WIS 11-100
CON 15-79
DEX 15-98
LKS 15-38
CHA 13-50

Good set of stats again so no need to rearrange things I feel so a full 90 build points, granted I could have swapped something higher into his wisdom but on the final analysis did not think it worth the Build points the swap would cost. I did however roll his Dex over to 16/03 at the cost of one build point his wisdom to 12/05 at the cost of one build point and his strength to 14/04 at the cost of two build points and his Con to 16/04 at the cost of five build points. Applying these and the modifications for being a dwarf gives

STR 14/04
INT 12-53
WIS 12/05
CON 20/04
DEX 16/03
LKS 12-38
CHA 11-50

In the end I spent 11 build points on attributes and with the 35 being a cleric as a dwarf costs that leaves me with 44 to spend before Priors and Particulars

Quirks and flaws
113 chatterbox 10bp

Other priors and particulars
Gender male
Age 58
Height  54”
Bmi 38.5
Wt 159lb
Handedness – ambidextrous

Family
Birth legitimate abusive mother and ill-equipped father – fear of heights as a result
Siblings two, both younger than him
Female – alive – very close
Male – alive – natural

Build points 44

Weapons
Dagger             2bp
Cross bow       4bp

Talents
Extra hit points              20bp
Illusion resistant                        10bp
Poison resistant +2                   8bp

Free skills and proficiencies gained as a cleric & dwarf
Weapon – Mace
Armour – heavy and shield

Skills
Fire building ML1 roll 1d12 of 5 so skill =17
First aid ML1   roll 1d12 of 8 so skill =20
Literacy (Dwarven) ML1 roll 1d12 of 8 so skill =20
Mining ML1 roll 1d12 of 3 so skill =15
Religion (Bright One) ML 1 roll 1d12 of 1 so skill = 13
Devine Lore ML1 roll 1d12 of 19 as it penetrated so skill = 31

Bonus Build points
INT – 2bp
Language (Varazzan) ML 1

WIS –2 bp
Fire Building ML1
CHA – none

Native language – Dwarven roll 37+12+12 +1d20 rolled 10 so the skill is 70

Hit points 10 size +20 con +1d8 +1d4 becomes 30+2+3 =35