Claw/Claw/Bite at OwlCon 2012

I’ll be running a few games at OwlCon 2012, Feb 3-5 at Rice University:

The Junta game appears to need more players to make the cut.  The Gamma World game is all full, but if you ask nicely and we’re only one over, I’ll make room for you.

Whether you come to these games or are going for others, I hope to see you there.  We’ll be walking the vendor floor, making contacts and catching up with Mike from d-Infinity and Leo from Dungeonstone.  If you see us in our CCB shirts, do introduce yourself and say hi.


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Geas Spells for 4th edition D&D

As a long-time dungeon master, geas has always been one of my favorite spells. Not to be used every session, or even every campaign, it can nevertheless be the jumping-off point for some interesting stories. Imagine it: the players storm the wizard’s tower only to be defeated and fall under his power. Against their will, they begin some quest at their foe’s bidding. Do the players resist his power and sacrifice their own vitality, or do they submit to his will? In doing his bidding, do they discover that the “evil wizard” is merely misunderstood? The storytelling possibilities are endless.

Therefore, I proudly present the following versions of the Geas spell: a 20th level wizard attack daily power, and a 14th level arcane ritual.

Geas

Wizard Attack 20
Daily
Charm, Divine, Implement, Psychic, Thunder
Standard Action Area burst 2 within 10 squares
Target: enemies in burst
Attack: Int vs Will
Hit: 2d6 plus intelligence modifier psychic damage and the target is dominated (save ends).

Special – When reducing a target to 0 or lower hit points with this spell they become geased.  While geased, the target must work to complete a task the caster assigned to them when casting the spell.  Any day that they do not work towards that task they lose one healing surge from their maximum number of healing surges.  If the target’s maximum number of healing surges reaches zero, they die. The geased effect ends after a number of days equal to the caster’s level, or once the task has been completed.

Lesser Geas

Obey! Venture to the peak of Deathskull Mountain and retrieve a tail feather from the firehawks who nest there!

Component Cost: 1000 gp per creature geased
Market Price: 4200 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
Level: 14
Category: Binding
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: One day per caster level or until the assigned task has been completed.

At the completion of this ritual adjacent creatures, up to one per caster level, become geased.  While geased the target must work to complete a task that the caster assigned to them when casting the spell.  Any day that they do not work towards that task they lose one healing surge from their maximum number of healing surges.  If the target’s maximum number of healing surges reaches zero they die. The geased effect ends after a number of days equal to the caster’s level, or once the task has been completed. The caster’s arcana check determines the maximum level of creatures that can be affected.

Arcana Check Result Maximum Level
14 or lower Your level – 5
15–24 Your level
25 or higher Your level + 2

 


Posted in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Spell and tagged , by with no comments yet.

Cover of Darkness Released

Claw/Claw/Bite is pleased to announce the release S.D. Hilderbrand’s Cover of Darkness, a Pathfinder/d20/3.5 Dungeons and Dragons fantasy module for 14th-16th level characters. Originally written in 2008, the module has undergone a number of refinements and improvements over the years.  Cover of Darkness is part 2 of 3 in the Time Out of Mind trilogy, a series that takes the PCs in a journey through time and space as they chase down a party of false heroes who wield a powerful artifact.

The adventure also ships with five 15th-level false heroes to serve as the party’s nemeses.

From the Introduction:

This is a continuation of a story starring the False Heroes the nemesis and your players’ party of 15th-level adventurers as the heroes. In Stealing Moments, a unique artifact known as the Silver Orb of the Ages was unleashed from the bottom of a mountain cave, carried forth by the False Heroes.

These False Heroes have traveled the land, burning villages and causing trouble.   In time, and as covered in the concluding module,Time Out of Mind, the party will chase the False Heroes to the Dream Plane, the only place where time is relative and thus out of reach of the power of the Orb.

But first, the party needs to learn more about the Orb. In this module, they will follow a trail of clues into the Plane of Knowledge and then track down a collection of tomes, through which they will become informed of the history of the Orb.  However, the since the Plane of Knowledge is a sprawling library of endless passageways and sections devoted to obscure subject matter, it is full of peril in every section.

The False Heroes are comprised of a collection of characters of a similar makeup as the party.  They have taken on the party’s persona and have made their way across the world, using the Silver Orb of the Ages to wreak havoc on the many peoples, and have brought shame to the party’s name.  This has forced the party to travel in secret, following the many tales of the False Heroes’ exploits, keeping abreast of the local bardic lore, and have hunted them down throughout the multiverse.

Recently, they have heard a bard’s tale that the False Heroes have been sighted in the merchant quarter of the large port city of Chaurille. Upon visiting the quarter, they locate a bookstore, where they learn that a rare book collector as been inquiring about a book describing a silver orb.

This is where the action picks up!

Buy the PDF for $2.99 at rpgnow.


Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Adventure and tagged by with no comments yet.

Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings

Axes grind and maces clash as wounded fighters fall to the ground
Severd limbs and fatal woundings, bloody corpses lay all around

Iron Maiden
“Invaders”

Want to up the ante in your game? Characters get knocked down just to get back up again? Try these optional rules for character scars and maimings.

Whether blasted in the heart with a ray of white-hot flame, shot in the liver with an arrow, or stabbed in the neck by a raving marauder, some wounds are going to leave a mark, if not result in serious and permanent disability, assuming that the victim survives at all. The maimed, the amputees, the crippled begging outside the temple of Heironious, Aries, or Hextor. All are the evidence of the price of the battlefield. Accordingly, these rules are intended to bring more life to the threats which wound the crusaders.

Optional Rule: Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings

When a hero or important NPC takes enough damage to be reduced to negative hit points, check on the Serious Injury, Scars and Maimings chart to determine where the blow that laid the character low fell.

With the exception of destroyed organs and severed limbs, which require regeneration to regain, these effects should be reversible through the use of magic such as Restoration, Heal, or other magic or effects that heal permanent ability damage. There are also rumors of magicians and priests who have crafted magical arms and legs for those so hurt, as well.

Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings (roll 1d20)

Roll Effect location Full description of effects
1-4 Leg -2 strength, -2 dexterity, and lose use of wounded limb: roll 1d20, on 1-11 limb is crippled and character moves at half speed, 12-20 limb is severed and character moves at 1/2 speed with a crutch but otherwise must crawl at 1/4 speed.
5-6 Guts -4 constitution, sensitive stomach: must eat special diet or additional -1 constitution per day.
5-6 Groin -2 strength, -2 constitution, cannot reproduce.
9-12 Chest -2 constitution, -2 strength, after jogging or running, make a DC 10 saving throw or be dazed for 1 round.
13-16 Arm -2 strength, -2 dexterity, and lose use of wounded limb: roll 1d20, on 1-11 limb is crippled, 12-20 severed.
17-20 Head Roll once on Head Chart, below.

Head Chart (roll 1d20)

Roll Effect location Full description of effects
1-4 Eye -2 on perception or spot checks, -2 on all ranged attacks. Second lost eye blinds character.
5-8 Ear -2 on perception or listen checks. Second lost ear deafens character.
9-12 Face -2 charisma due to serious scarring or deformation of face.
13-16 Mouth -2 on all charisma based skills, due to difficulty understanding speech from character.
17-20 Throat The character is unable to speak.

As always, when introducing optional rules like this, especially rules that increase the danger for the player characters, talk it over with the group you’re playing with. Unless everyone consents to having more fun by making the game more dangerous, don’t use them. Nothing makes some players hate playing more than DMs springing new rules on them out of the blue.

These optional rules are compatible with 3.5 D&D, 4e D&D, d20 modern, and Pathfinder RPG systems.


Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Variant Rules by with no comments yet.

4e D&D Ritual – Regeneration

Following up on our last article on new Fourthcore criticals here is a ritual that healers can use to re-grow those severed limbs.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series, “Character Scars and Maiming”, because everybody has more fun when the characters get messed up.

Regeneration
Applying sacred ungents to your comrade’s severed wrist, you pray to the gods of life to restore wholeness to their body. To your companion’s astonishment, your wounded friend’s hand begins to slowly grow out of the stump of their arm.

Component Cost: 250 gp for heroic tier characters, 2,500 for paragon tier, and 25,000 for epic tier characters.
Market Price: 520 gp
Key Skill: Heal (no check)
Level: 7
Category: Restoration
Time: 4 hours
Duration: Instantaneous

This ritual re-grows a severed limb on a living creature over the course of four hours.


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4thgore

We have been following the exciting 4thcore developments at Save Versus Death, and thought we’d add to the table joy.  For information on 4thcore, that 4thgore playfully plays off of, read the manifesto at saveversusdeath.com and return to this post.  Here is a supplemental table to add more gore to your games.

In a high-gore 4thcore game, roll 1d20 to establish painful effects of a critical hit (or miss, if you were to apply this chart to effects for damage from friendly fire).  The non-severed effects can be undone in non-combat rounds by spending a healing surge, making the duration of these effects is “for the rest of the encounter”.  For each of the locations where there is more than one potential target (for characters and creatures with 2 arms, 4 legs, 5 heads, etc), roll an appropriate die to determine which is affected.  Severed limbs require rituals to mend.

And in a somewhat more friendly HTML text format:

Roll Effect location Full description of effects
1 Hand Target’s hand is severed from the wrist, and target drops anything in its hand.
2 Wrist Target’s wrist is crushed, making all actions target attempts with that hand -4.
3 Elbow Target’s elbow is bent back, affecting all actions with that hand at -2.
4 Shoulder Target’s shoulder is pulled out of socket, rendering it useless.  2nd hit severs it from the torso.
5 Finger Target’s finger is severed, rendering fine motor skills with that hand useless.
6 Chest Target’s ribs are cracked, reducing Athletics and Endurance rolls by -5.
7 Chest Target loses breath, is winded and is stunned (save ends).
8 Chest Target’s heart is pierced and is wounded, taking 10 points of damage at the beginning of every turn.
9 Abdomen Target’s abdomen is knotted, and target is weakened (save ends).
10 Abdomen Target’s abdomen is bruised, and target is knocked prone.
11 Abdomen Target’s abdomen is pierced, and target is dazed (save ends) and takes 5 points of damage every turn.
12 Groin Target’s groin is ripped, negating actions requiring Acrobatics and Stealth.
13 Hip Target’s hip is pulled out of socket, reducing move by 2 squares (min 1).  2nd hit severs it.
14 Upper Leg Target’s upper leg is gouged, pushing the target back 1 square.
15 Knee Target’s knee is crushed and target is knocked prone.  Target must make save to stand.
16 Lower Leg Target’s lower leg is severely cut, and target is knocked prone.
17 Ankle Target’s ankle is sprained, a target receives a -5 on Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, and Stealth rolls.
18 Foot Target’s foot is crushed, reducing move by 2 squares (min 1).
19 Head Target’s head is bruised and target is dazed (save ends).
20 Head Target’s head is severed cleanly (or rather messily) from the shoulders.

Posted in Variant Rules and tagged by with no comments yet.

Prehensile Fang Armor

Why attack them when they can hurt themselves attacking you?

Inspired by foes of Hluyuk Tikimit, the quivering porcupine, this legendary full-body armor appears as a typical suit of jet-black leather armor. However, when the wearer is attacked, it puffs up and strikes at the attacker, sending prehensile, poison-tipped fangs into the assailant’s flesh.

The wearer can also disengage the fangs, which then serve as poison daggers with spiraled-bone handles. In crisis mode, the armor projects the gruesome fang daggers as a standard ranged attack.

The wearer looks out on the world through a narrow slit, providing identity obfuscation for night-time antics.

For each day that the prehensile fang armor is worn, there is a cumulative 1% chance of it poisoning the wearer, so this deadly weapon of an armor must be used sparingly.


Posted in Equipment, Magic Item, rules agnostic and tagged by with no comments yet.

Bookworms

These worms are found in books throughout the Great Library. They infest the spines of books and consume paper, parchment, and leather, and flesh if it is unwittingly offered to them.

Bookworms manifest as a disease, with a series of increasingly-difficult saves – DC 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 – as a PC is repeatedly affected by bookworms in ancient tomes.  The effects of a bookworm include acute skin rashes dealing 1d6 damage per day and flare-ups which deal 2d6 damage every hour.

Bookworms are also known for preventing the effectiveness of healing effects.  They can only be removed with a long bath of purified water and a remove disease spell.


Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Disease by with no comments yet.

Cruelty Cleric Domain

Granted Power
Those who’s deities delight in acts of malice grant their agents supernatural cruelty. Intimidate checks are at +2, or +4 if using torture. Upon completing an act of cruelty, these fiends can either gain 1d8 temporary hit points or receive a +1 on their next ability, attack, or skill roll.
Cruelty Domain Spells
  1. Cause Fear: One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds.
  2. Death Knell: Kill dying creature and gain 1d8 temporary hp, +2 to Str, and +1 caster level.
  3. Animate Dead: Creates undead skeletons and zombies.
  4. Death Ward: Grants immunity to death spells and negative energy effects.
  5. Slay Living: Touch attack kills subject.
  6. Create Undead: Create ghouls, ghasts, mummies, or mohrgs.
  7. Destruction: Kills subject and destroys remains.
  8. Create Greater Undead: Create shadows, wraiths, spectres, or devourers.
  9. Wail of the Banshee: Kills one creature/level.

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Free Dungeon Tile Sites

Here are some great resources for free dungeon tiles.

There are a ton more out there!  The first 5 pages of Google search results are full of other sites featuring tile sets to choose from.  Also, check out rpgnow.com for more options, including Skeleton Key Games’ epic collection.

Once you’ve found your tiles of choice, print them out and follow these directions to make some great memories at the gaming table.


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