Jäällätaudin – Icetongue
This ancient blade’s full history is known only to the most studious Dwarven sages of the Dunheng Kingdoms. In its centuries of existence it has appeared in the hands of many heroes only to be lost again with their passing. Most recently it was wielded by Jak, a King of the Fridon people who in tales is called the Giant Slayer. He was a king of the Fridon many years ago, when his people were attacked by the giants from the Danor Mountains. He fought against them wearing the hide of a dragon and wielding Jäällätaudin, and drove them back to their burning peaks.
Icetongue – Paragon Level
Description
Icetongue is a +4 mithrail fullblade (Adventurer’s Vault – superior weapon, +3 profeciency, 1d12 damage, high crit (+2d12 on crit))
Critical: +4d6 cold damage
Power (At-Will ✦ Cold): Free Action. All damage dealt by this weapon is cold damage. Another free action returns the damage to normal.
Power (Daily ✦ Cold): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. The target takes an extra 2d8 cold damage and is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Goals
Cold forged of mithrail, Icetongue was made by the Dwarves of Danor to slay fire giants and all their thrall. Any creature with the fire subtype is an enemy to Icetongue, be it azer, elemental, or dragon, and it will demand their death without consideration.
Roleplaying Icetongue
Icetongue speaks in a clear, ringing voice. It speaks Common, Dwarven, Giant and Draconic.
Flame and passion are anathma to Icetongue, and its will is as deliberate and as implacable as a glacier. It will calculatedly drive its wielder to confrontation with its hated foes. Patient, unforgiving and heartless, Icetongue does not care what cost must be paid for victory.
Concordance
Starting Score 5
Wielder gains a level: +1d6
Wielder kills a creature with the fire subtype (max 1 / day) +1
Wielder refuses to fight a creature with the fire subtype -3
Wielder refuses to obey Icetongue’s command -1
Pleased (16-20)
Icetongue becomes a +6 weapon that deals +6d6 cold damage on a critical.
Power (Daily ✦ Cold): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. The target takes an extra 4d8 cold damage and is restrained until the end of your next turn.
Power (Encounter ✦ Cold): Standard Action, Melee 1. Thrust Icetongue into any normal fire to douse it. If the fire is magical in nature, such as a zone or conjuration of fire, make a weapon attack against the caster’s Will defense to end the effect.
Satisfied (12-15)
Icetongue becomes a +5 weapon that deals +5d6 cold damage on a critical.
Power (Daily ✦ Cold): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. The target takes an extra 3d8 cold damage and is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Property: The wielder gains Icewalk, the ability to move through difficult icy or snowy terrain at normal speed.
Normal (5-11)
Icetongue’s statistics are as listed above (+4 weapon, +4d6 cold on a critical).
Unsatisfied (1-4)
Icetongue becomes a +2 weapon that deals +2d6 cold damage on a critical.
Icetongue will not use its daily slow power.
The wielder gains vulnerable 5 cold.
Angered (0 or lower)
Icetongue is considered a non-magical weapon for the purposes of attack and damage.
If Icetongue’s wielder rolls a 1 on an attack roll, they take 2d8 cold damage and are slowed for one turn.
Moving On
When Icetongue has defeated the fiery menace that it arose to battle it will leave the stage again. Typically it is buried with the corpse of whatever hero it chose to wield it for that battle, as Icetongue’s heartless drive often causes the death of its bearer even as they slay its foes. If by terrific fortitude or cunning they win Icetongue’s epic battle with their life intact he will either make them seek out a new fiery foe or else make them leave him in a desolate, icy location, such as thrust into the ice atop a glacier or hurled into a mountaintop lake.
Posted in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Magic Item and tagged equipment: artifact weapon by Adam A. Thompson with 3 comments.
The Ruins of Soguer – The Mages’s Guild Tower, Part 1
Once again we return to the adventure The Ruins of Old Soguer, being posted piece-by-piece here on Tailslap. Today’s post details the first two floors of the Mage’s Guild Tower in the central portion of the ruins. There, a figure from the past languishes under a mysterious curse.
Previous sections of the adventure can be found here:
The Ruins of Soguer – Introduction
The Ruins of Soguer – Start of the Adventure in Aguies Town & Castle
The Ruins of Soguer – River Journey to the Ruins
The Ruins of Soguer – The Western Ruins
The Ruins of Soguer – the Central Ruins
5 – The Mage’s Guild Tower, A reclusive old mage named Alidol lives within this tower, trapped by a curse.
Standing here among the ruins of the city is a tall square tower with smooth, windowless, slightly tapered sides. The once-fine facade is cracked and crumbling and vines crawl up the walls. A single wide doorway stands open, the door long gone. You see an old man in tattered clothes and with long, tangled beard and hair peering at you from the doorway.
If the players apprach, the old man greets them cautiously. If not threatened, he will converse with them, telling them that his name is Alidol, and that he was the Master of the Mage’s Guild of Soguer before the fall, and that he has lived in the tower since then. He is hesitant to reveal more detail then that, though he can be convinced to reveal some of his secrets with a skill challange (below).
What he cannot reveal are the details of the curse that he languishes under.
Skill challenge – xp 200 (4 successes before 3 failures)
DC – 14 Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate and Arcana skill checks to learn the old man’s history – that when he was young the pleasures of the flesh and his ambition consumed him and he pledged his soul to Grazz’t. After he amassed great power he became the high mage of the guild, and that then he used forbidden magic to share his soul to make simmalacrum of himself (magical copies who share his soul – and therefore his pact with Grazz’t). He goes on to tell that when the city was attacked he used up all of his power to ward the tower against the demon god that rose up out of the sea and now has no more magic in him.
He then tries to say “With my power gone my simmalacrum were free to act as they willed. They made separate deals with Grazz’t, I believe, then betrayed and cu… cur…” (as part of his curse he is unable to say that they cursed him and left him here to die, and will become angry at this point and begin tearing at his hair and beard in frustration. Once he calms down a bit he will implore the players to help him, though he is unable to say anything about the curse or its nature – he can’t even say that he can’t speak about it.
If asked about creatures in the tower, he will mention his shield guardian, but will say it should not be hostile – it will just protect him, though that’s useless since it is trapped above, where he cannot reach due to the stairs having fallen apart.
If asked about his past and his pact with Grazz’t, the old man will sadly relate that he once burned with ambition and lust, but that after spending forty years alone in the tower he has repented those things and now just wishes to live out the rest of his days in peace.
If the players try to leave the tower, Alidol warns them about the hezrou (toad demon) that stalks the ruins. He will go on to say that his final spell – a ward against demons – still protects the tower and that the Hezrou cannot enter.
Minor Quest (Level 10 – xp 500 for each player): Free the guildmaster from his tower.
The curse laid on Alidol prevents him from leaving the tower until he has died there. It also prohibits him from helping anyone lift his curse in any way. If the players kill his simmalacrum he has technically died in the tower and is then free to leave.
Success – If the players free Alidol from the tower, he will thank them gratefully and promise to assist them any way he can. If the subject of the inquisition comes up he will inquire about it, and if the church of Baccob is mentioned he will let them know that one of his simmalacrum was working to join the church of Boccob many years ago. He will accompany them out of the ruins if they will allow him to join them, eventaully making his way back to Aguies with them. While with the party, he will happily share his vast knowledge of the arcane, making Arcana skill checks to identify creatures and help with arcane skill challanges at +30.
Tower Locations
Much of the tower is shrouded with patches of dense fog, all corridors are filled with fog, all doors are Arcane Locked (DC 21 Theivery or Strength to open), and there are some illusionary features thoroughout. The entire tower is also warded by a spell that protects against demons – Alidol’s ward from the fall of Soguer – that keeps the hezrou out.
Ground Floor
A – Main Hall
A chair stands alone near the door in this large open room. The floor is littered with dirt and bits of wood and fallen masonry. Pillars support the ceiling twenty feet above, which shows cracks and some dark holes where pieces of stone are missing. A door leads to a hallway with smaller chambers – also with long-rotted chairs and tables. At the end of the hall is a spiral staircase leading up. Empty sconces and burned out torches line the walls.
B – Meeting Rooms – These chambers contain only the broken remains of tables and chairs.
C – Guest Chambers – Here three bedrooms hold simple furniture that looks fragile with age – a bed, chair, table, and empty chest.
D – Kitchen – This kitchen features a large rusty stove, and some tables and shelves still stand among the debris.
A simple wooden spoon lies on the table, next to a worn wooden bowl. The spoon is magical – if it is placed in the bowl or any container it fills with plain-tasting but nutritious gruel (as Everlastng Provisions – it provides food and water for up to 5 people a day). If Alidol sees the players examining with the spoon – his only source of food – he becomes agitated and takes it away from them.
Novice’s Chambers
E – Warded Door (Arcane Locked – DC 21 Theivery or Strength to open) – The password is “korth” (draconic for danger), but Alidol’s curse prevents him from telling them what it is.
F – Scribe’s Workshop
Two long tables with benches and a bookshelf fill this chamber. Scraps of paper and a set of quills sit on the tables. Some books stand on the shelves. A few small vials, bits of paper and a few books sit among the thick dust that coats the floor.
This is where books and documents were copied and some scrolls were made – a search of the papers on the floor (easy perception check – DC 10) will turn up a complete scroll of water breathing. The books on the shelves that have survived the ages and vermin cover arcane and mundane topics, history “Wars of the Fridon”, philosophy “Natural Science of the Rivers”, “On Rulership”, religion “Tracts of Truth and Guidance”, fiction “There and Back Again”, erotica “Ten Tales of Romance”. There are 10 salvagable books all told.
G – Novice’s Dormotories
These simple rooms hold a single bed, a footlocker, a small table and a chair in various stages of decay.
The rooms are empty, the novices having taken their posessions with them as they left the city after the fall.
H – Unstable Masonry – Hazard
Level 10 Lurker – XP 500
Small debris litter the dusty staircase here.
Hazard – These crumbling stairs could collapse at any moment – plunging the unwary down to the hall below and leaving a pit that must be climbed or jumped over.
Perception – A DC 21 Perception or Dungeoneering notices the cracked and dangerous stonework on the stairs.
Trigger – The first creature to climb the stairs causes them to crumble under them. The stairs make the following attack.
Attack – immedeate interrupt
Target – the first creature climbing the stairs
+13 vs Reflex
Hit – 2d10 falling damage and secondary attack from falling stones
-Secondary Attack – +13 vs Fortitide, 1d10+5 damage
-Effect – the staircase crumbles, opening up a pit that looks down into the Main Hall (area A). Once the pit opens, a DC 21 Athletics or Acrobatics check is required to cross it.
Countermeasures
– DC 16 Acrobatics check to carefully cross the stairs one at a time without triggering the stairs to collapse (player is attacked as above on failure).
– DC 16 Athletics check to run and jump over the stairs without triggering the collapse (player is attacked as above on failure).
– DC 21 Athletics or Acrobatics check to cross once the stairs have collapsed (player falls for 2d10 damage on failure).
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged The Ruins of Soguer, trap: paragon hazard by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Worship of Scahrossar
Sometimes, when a person who worships the lower powers feels that they have been given a mortal insult, they will offer up a prayer to Scahrossar, Mistress of Exquisite Pain, that their foe will suffer deep and bitter pain. And every so often an individual arises who is so twisted that he devotes his worship to Scahrossar, goddess of cruelty and pain.
Scahrossar’s clerics dress as their mistress does, preferring to hide their identities with leather or iron masks. They are all sadists and/or masochists who prefer to cause pain rather than actually kill. Scahrossar’s sacrificial victims often take days to die as they’re slowly tortured to death.
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: cruelty, death, evil, pain
Posted in Deity by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
New Structures for Skill Challanges
Skill challenges are a great addition to Dungeons & Dragons. They take those non-combat obstacles that players face and turn them into legitimate encounters with clear criteria and consequences for success and failure. Perhaps more importantly for the players they also provide experience point rewards for overcoming the challenges.
However, I have found that when I’m DMing the structure presented in the DMG for skill challenges doesn’t always make a lot of sense for the encounter I’m presenting the players. Sometimes I present a challenge that requires a single skill check – one success or failure right there and the challenge is over – like climbing over a wall or jumping a chasm. Other times the skill challenges I present have a clear chain of skill checks that need to be performed in the correct order, and the traditional skill challenge structure doesn’t make sense for those challenges. For example, if the players fail their Perception skill check to notice the scrap of parchment in the top branches of a tree, there’s no reason for them to make Athletics checks to climb up there. Some puzzles and trap skill challenges benefit from this structure as well.
Because of these structural differences in how skill challenges can be played, I came up with two new structures for skill challenges that I run: minion skill challenges and chain skill challenges.
Minion Skill Challenges
Structure
As mentioned above, some skill challenges are a simple yes or no, success of failure on one skill check. Can the party sneak past the napping guard dog? Can they bribe the watchman? Can they swing on the rope across the chasm? One skill check is all it takes, and if they succeed, they pass the challenge and move on to the next one. If they fail, there are consequences. The watchman rejects their bribe and shouts the alarm. The guard dog wakes up and begins barking. They lose their grip on the rope and plunge into the chasm.
The minion skill challenge is also useful when playing in a more free-form fashion. The players may be at court on a diplomatic mission, trying to win over allies to their side. I may be presenting the players with NPCs that they meet, but I don’t have any specific goals in mind for most of them. But I know that they players are going to find some hook about some NPCs interesting and try to win them over as allies, or stymie their plans if they become enemies. So I let them make skill checks as they want, treating each as a minion skill challenge: if they succeed they impress the NPC, if they fail they make a bad impression and likely an enemy. The minion skill challenge structure lets me DM this scene in a nice free-form fashion, awarding XP for success and consequences for failure as I go.
As mentioned in the DMG, every skill check does not qualify as a minion skill challenge. Only when there are consequences for failure should a skill check be considered a minion skill challenge.
Skill challenge DCs for minion skill challenges should be set by level, using the DCs by level chart in the DMG.
Experience
For each successful minion skill challenge, award experience points for a minion of the level used to set the skill challenge’s DC.
Chain Skill Challenges
Structure
Chain skill challenges are designed for situations where skills have to be used in a certain order in order to successfully complete the whole challenge. Often, these skill challenges might be part of overcoming a trap or a hazard.
An example of this might be a magically protected, hidden wall safe. Step one of the skill challenge would be a Perception skill check to determine if any of the party members notices the hidden safe. If no one makes that check the challenge can’t proceed and ends. If someone notices the safe, they then must overcome the magical ward protecting it. This might be an arcana check to disable the Glyph of Warding, or a Strength or Thievery check to bypass the Arcane Lock placed on the safe. If they can open the safe they get experience and whatever valuables are in the safe. If not they might get blasted, or else are just unable to open the safe. If they spend a lot of time retrying their Thievery checks, a monster is likely to come to investigate the noise. Either way the skill challenge fails and there are consequences.
Skill challenge DCs for chain skill challenges should be set by level, using the DCs by level chart in the DMG.
Experience
To award experience points for a chain skill challenge, count up the total number of successful skill checks needed to complete the challenge and compare them to the following chart:
Complexity Successes XP
1 4-5 1 monster worth
2 6-7 2 monsters worth
3 8-9 3 monsters worth
4 10-11 4 monsters worth
5 12-13 5 monsters worth
Award XP for successfully completed chain skill challenges by handing out XP for a number of monsters of the skill challenge’s level equal to the complexity of the challenge. For example, if a 10th level chain skill challange requires 7 sucessful skill checks to complete, award 1000 XP for the challange upon success.
If the chain skill challenge requires less than 4 successes, award experience for a number of minion monsters equal to the number of successes required.
Other Thoughts on Running Skill Challanges
For more on different ways to handle skill challanges in your game, check out this post at At-Will.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged encounter: skill challange, variant rules: skill challanges by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Ahoy there! As ye my know this Sunday be international Talk Like a Pirate Day!
To celebrate we’re shanghing you to embark on a grand adventure to search for 20 hidden treasure chests, containing all sorts of fantastic and TOTALLLY FREE eBooks!
So get to hunting, ye scurvey dogs!
-C’pn Thompson, ISS Unicorn Rampant
Posted in news by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Two-Headed Hound
Living in small packs in the deepest wilds of the Feywild, these Two-Headed Hounds are terrifying monsters that the seelie fey tell their children frightening tales of. Those who wander into the green depths of the Feywild sometimes find that the tales are no exaggeration. Occasionally, some of the wilder Fey will befriend a lone male of these creatures and accompany them through the wilds.
Standing almost as tall as a horse at their shoulders, these shaggy wolves bear two heads where most have one, each large enough to eat a child up in one bite.
Two-Headed Hound ✦ Level 16 Elite Soldier
Medium Fey Magical Beast ✦ XP 2,800
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Initiative +17 Senses Perception +8
HP 296; Bloodied 148
AC 34; Fortitude 30, Reflex 28, Will 30
Saving Throws +2
Action Points 1
Speed 8
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Powers
Bite ✦At-Will, Standard Action, Melee 2
melee basic
Attack: +21 vs. AC
Hit: 3d8 + 11 damage.
Horror of Tearing Teeth ✦At-Will, Standard Action
Effect: The hound makes two bite attacks.
Leaping Death ✦Encounter, Standard Action, Melee 2, Recharge 6
The hound hurls itself across the battlefield, knocking down and tearing those it lands on.
Special: The hound may make this attack as part of a charge.
Attack: +23 vs. Reflex against up to 4 targets
Hit: 3d6 + 8 and the target is slid 1 and knocked prone.
Overwatch ✦ At-Will, Minor Action, Melee 2
The hound’s heads look around, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to strike.
Effect: The Hound marks one or two targets within 2 squares. If those targets make an attack that does not include the Hound, the Hound may make an opportunity attack against that target.
Rending Counterattack ✦ Encounter, Immedeate Reaction
Special: Triggered when first bloodied.
Effect: the hound’s Leaping Death power recharges and the hound uses the Leaping Death attack as a free action. For the rest of the encounter, while still bloodied, the hound recieves a +2 to damage.
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Alignment neutral Languages Sylvan
Skills Athletics +20, Nature +13
Str 24 (+15) Dex 21 (+13) Wis 11 (+8)
Con 12 (+9) Int 10 (+8) Cha 21 (+13)
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Two-Headed Hound Lore
The following can be recalled about Two-Headed Hounds with the following Nature skill checks:
15: Two-Headed Hounds are dangerous predators from the depths of the feywild. Though some understand Sylvan, few choose to speak it.
20: Two-Headed Hounds prefer to leap upon their prey and knock them down, and become very dangerous when seriously hurt.
Posted in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Creature by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
GenCon 2010
I’m just now getting a chance to write about the great time I had at GenCon this year, but I wanted to make sure y’all saw the pictures I got of all the great games, costumes, and miniatures I got. So welcome to Unicorn Rampant’s virtual walking tour of GenCon 2010!
Games and Minis
In the “big tables” category, I saw a giant version of Ticket to Ride that looked like a lot of fun. Also present but not pictured were giant Settlers of Catan and a few other giant versions of some great board games.
Costumes
Games
And of course, I played a lot of games at GenCon this year. In years past I had made a point of trying to promote Unicorn Rampant, either by meeting people in the industry that we have partnerships with, like Paizo and RPGnow, or by running games. Of course that meant I was either exhausted or missed out on having fun playing myself. This year I tried to maximize the fun by playing as much as I wanted to, and giving myself breathers between games if I wanted. As a result, I had the most fun this year that I’ve had a GenCon.
I played some great RPGA games – the Ravens of Winter’s Mourning game was lots of good investigative fun, and the Curse of the Gray Hag was simply awesome. Here are a few pics from the Curse of the Gray Hag game.
Posted in convention and tagged ale break, GenCon by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Arc-Inquisitor Liodla
Arc-Inquisitor Liodla is the leader of the Shan’n’nur Inquisition. Many years ago he was a powerful wizard who lived at a temple of Boccob. When the An-Magus Crusade was declared by the High Pointiff of Heironeous and the knights of the Sword of Light began raiding the temples of Boccob. Liodla was captured and forced to convert and renounce the use of magic along with many other worshipers of Boccob. Too canny to die in the inquisition’s jails, Liodla emerged from the Sword of Light’s clutches an apparently zealous supporter of the Crusade.
Some time after his conversion Liodla approached Mikail Brightbrow, the leader of the Sword of Light, with an idea. He suggested that a cult to Heironeous be established. This cult could be composed of former mages, sanctified by Heironeous’s priests, and sworn to the eradication of non-sanctified arcane magic. He suggested that the cult be called the Shan’n’nur – from the Nimberlan Elvish tongue – which translates as “those who hate magic”. Liodla put forth a convincing argument at a time when the Sword of Light was meeting more organized resistance from the worshipers of Boccob, lead by their hated enemy Barael, and Mikail agreed.
Thus were the Shan’n’nur established. Liodla recruited some of his former comrades from the temples of Boccob, and through their use of magic helped the knights of the Sword of Light defeat those who resisted them in Boccob’s houses of worship. Among those captured the Shan’n’nur forced more conversions and their ranks grew.
Now that the An-Magus crusade is over the Shan’n’nur Inquisition polices magery in the counties of former Soguer and the middle kingdoms to the west. There is a sanctum of the Shan’n’nur Inquisition, as they are now known, in most major cities throughout the region. Whenever they find the use of magic they descend upon the practitioner and take them back to their temples to be purified either through conversion or death.
Throughout all of these events Liodla’s secret patron Graz’zt reveled in all of the anguish and betrayal. What no one knows even now is that Liodla is one of several simulacrum created by the wizard Alidol when he was First Mage of the Mage’s Guild of Soguer. When Alidol lost his powers during the Fall of Soguer his magical slaves gained their freedom and took their revenge upon him. They left him trapped in the Mage’s Guild tower in the ruins of Soguer and went their separate ways in the world. Like his original, Liodla’s soul is bound to Graz’zt in a dark pact and he has worked the Dark Prince’s will to this day.
Using Liodla in your game
The Arc-Inquisitor is a major villain. In the Heir of Soguer campaign he is the leader of the Inquisition, and as such leads forces who confront the players throughout the campaign.
After many social and martial confrontations throughout the campaign, one or several of the players with the arcane power source will be captured by the Inquisition and taken to their headquarters in Merton for cleansing – either by death or conversion.
At that point the players must either submit to the Inquisition’s regiment of drugs and enchantment, or face the tortures of the Inquisition’s pits – a very dramatic challenge. During the long conversion process Liodla will converse with the PCs many times, attempting to coerce them into converting by hook or by crook. Generally he plays the benevolent father-priest figure, offering the tortured player his love and protection if only they will renounce their former allies and gods, sign false confessions, and other repugnant acts. His goal is to break down their wills and make them his minions, and also to enjoy seeing them suffer as they betray the things they love.
The climax to the Inquisitor’s sub-plot would be a dramatic rescue & escape adventure, where the imprisoned must resist the tortures and deceit of the Inquisitors, and the rest of the party must find their comrade’s prison and break in to rescue them. Re-united the party would then confront Liodla and, if victorious, discover the secret of his demonic pacts.
Arc-Inquisitor Liodla ✦ Elite Level 20 Controller
medium construct humanoid (human simmalacrum)✦ XP 5,600
Initiative +12 Perception +11
HP 380; Bloodied 190
Healing Surges 2; Healing Surge Value 95
AC 36; Fortitude 31, Reflex 34, Will 35
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points: 1
Powers
Eyebite Warlock (Fey) Attack 1
You glare at your enemy, and your eyes briefly gleam with brilliant colors. Your foe reels under your mental assault, and you vanish from his sight.
At-Will ✦ Arcane, Charm, Implement, Psychic
Standard Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: +25 vs. Will
Hit: 1d6 + 15 psychic damage, and you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
Quickened Arcane Blast
At-Will ✦ Arcane, Force
Minor Action Close Blast 3
+25 vs Fort, 1d6 + 15 force damage, and the target is pushed 3 squares.
Killing Flames Warlock Attack 13
You use an enemy’s recent injury to fuel infernal flames and sear the foe.
Encounter + Arcane, Fire, Implement
Immediate Reaction Ranged 10
Trigger: An enemy within 10 squares of you becomes
bloodied
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: +25 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d8 + 15 fire damage.
Infernal Pact: The damage ignores resistance to fire.
Vile Lightning (Infernal) Attack 17
Black lightning leaps from your hand and wracks your foe. The evil energy allows you to feed on his life essence.
Encounter ✦ Arcane, Healing, Implement
Standard Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: +25 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d6 + 15 damage, the target is weakened until the end of your next turn, and you can spend a healing surge.
Void Star Warlock Attack 19 – Recharge & use when bloodied
You summon a fragment of a dark star and hurl it at your foe, causing the creature’s flesh to slough away.
Daily. Arcane, Healing, Implement, Necrotic
Standard Action Ranged 1 0
Target: One creature
Attack: +23 vs. Reflex
Hit: 4d8 + 13 modifier necrotic damage. The target takes ongoing 10 necrotic damage, and whenever the target would regain hit points, you regain the hit points instead (save ends both).
Miss: Half damage, and ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends).
Summon Seducer – 20th level Attack
Daily – Minor Action (Minor sustain)
Liodla summons* a succubus that has Speed: 6, fly 6 and the following powers:
- Corrupting Touch (standard; at-will)
+25 vs. AC; 1d6 + Int. Modifier damage. - Dominate (standard; at-will) ✦ Charm
Ranged 5; +25 vs. Will; the target is dominated until the end of the succubus’s next turn. - Change Shape (minor; at-will) ✦ Polymorph
The succubus can alter its physical form to take on the appearance of any Medium humanoid, including a unique individual (see Change Shape, page 280).
* Per the summoning rules detailed in Arcane Power, p. 98.
Infuriating Elusiveness Warlock (Fey) Utility 16
You will yourself across the boundary between worlds, teleporting a short distance. When you appear from the Feywild, you are surrounded by a glamor of invisibility.
Encounter ✦ Arcane, Illusion, Teleportation
Move Action Personal
Effect: You become invisible and then teleport 4 squares.
The invisibility lasts until the start of your next turn.
Spell Betrayal (11th level) – Once a round, when you hit a target with an arcane power against whom you have combat advantage you deal an extra 1d8 damage.
Dark Charisma (11th level) – You gain a +2 vile bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks against evil creatures. This bonus increases to +4 at 21st level.
Spellstrike (16th level) – When you spend an action point to cast an arcane power at a foe who is engaged in melee or against whom you have combat advantage, you deal an additional 1d12 damage with the power.
Alignment evil Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Abyssal, Promordial
Skills arcana + 23, bluff +21
Str 12 (+11) Dex 15 (+12) Wis 13 (+11)
Con 22 (+16) Int 23 (+16) Cha 26 (+18)
Equipment: Robes, Master’s Mask of the Shan’n’nur, Wand, Amulet, Dagger
Posted in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Character, Creature and tagged subplot: the Shan'n'nur by Adam A. Thompson with 2 comments.
Altar of Transfixion
Level 5 Warder (500 XP)
The ziggurat altar ahead has a swirling aura about it, oscillating wildly in scintillating patterns.
Trap: This shrine is linked to the Abyss, and attempts to daze those in its area of of effect while its worshipers strike.
Perception: No skill check required.
Additional Skills: Religion
DC 20: Recognizes the altar as a source of active, malevolent evil.
DC 30: Read runes – see Additional Description, below.
Trigger: Approach within 3 squares.
Attack: Attack again when others enter.
Free Action Close Burst 3
Attack: +10 vs. Will
Hit: Target is dazed (save ends).
Countermeasure: An adjacent character can disable the trap with a DC 24 Thievery check or a DC 24 Religion check (with a holy symbol).
Additional Description:
Runes run along the steps of the ziggurat spelling out the name “Tharizdun” in Abyssal and the horrors that he inspires.
Additional Effect:
If Tharizdun’s name is uttered in Abyssal in the aura of the altar, the altar makes a +10 Will attack, dealing 3d10 damage to all affected.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged trap: heroic hazard by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Red Nails – a Classic Tale of Conan
Among fantasy gamers of my generation, Conan the Barbarian stands as one of the best fantasy movies ever produced, along with Dragonslayer, Legend, Fritz Lang’s Sigfried, and a few others. But even John Milius and Dino DeLurentis’s masterful screen adaptation of Robert Howard’s tales of Conan pales in comparison to the original stories.
Now, Project Gutenburg has made available to the public one of the most gripping adventures Conan faced, Red Nails. Originally published in 1936’s Wierd Tales magazine.
Enjoy this thrilling tale of adventure here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/32759
Posted in Review and tagged ale break by Adam A. Thompson with 3 comments.