Coin of Unknown Fortune
Flip this coin to receive either a +1 or a -1 luck bonus to all the rolls in your next encounter. This coin can only be flipped in this way 10 times, at which point it becomes normal currency.
Greater versions of this coin add larger bonuses or penalties, depending on the result of the flip. Still others add more charges.
Faint transmutation. Price: 100gp per bonus x number of charges (standard coin is 1,000gp)
Posted in Magic Item and tagged luck, proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Nightingale of Florence
This bird, when summoned, provides additional healing to the entire party as it sings a sweet song in a nearby tree.
A statuette version of this creature can be used to summon the nightingale. This silver figurine transforms into a nightingale on command, retaining its metallic consistency, which gives it hardness 10. The figurine, when activated, sings a pleasant tune throughout the night, providing 4d8+7 hit points of healing over the course of the night. These effects occur to one person per 15 minute increment, so if the rest is interrupted before everyone is healed, the nightingale completes its song and returns to its figurine state. The nightingale has no additional special powers or telepathic abilities. It can be used in this way for only 24 hours per week (3 nights of full rest), and for only 8 hours at a time.
Faint enchantment and transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, cure critical wounds, animate objects; Price 5,000 gp.
Posted in Creature, Magic Item and tagged proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Light Dragon Armor
Fashioned by the famed and venerable dwarven blacksmith Tibal, this shiny scale-like armor gives off a perpetual light when worn. It is not armor with a light spell cast upon it, but a rather strange force that is not understood by either mages nor clerics.
It gives off a faint glow of magic, but that is not due to what powers the light. Nobody is quite sure why this particular suit of ancient armor gives off such a glow.
Light armor is, in fact, a light armor, so it affects the abilities of spellcasters and rogues much like leather armor.
It turns out it is powered by the heart of a silver dragon named Saribet which once lived high in the mountains. As such, this armor affords a 50% damage reduction against all things draco.
Since this item is unique, its value is priceless. Its location is unknown.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged armor, artifact, proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Saribet’s Heart
High in the mountains, this dragon once perched above the trees, serving the powers of good and protecting the land from his chromatic brethren. However, it is said that a sneaky dwarf mage posing as a lady dragon once stole his heart. His old home lies high in the mountains in a place where no dwarves dare return, lest they be haunted by his troubled spirit. They need someone else to investigate the matter.
Saribet has long-since passed, having literally died when he lost his figurative heart, but his spectre is said to haunt the alpine valleys of the Sarhumet Mountains, named for his father, a demi-god among dragons. The dwarves who live in the villages still shake and shudder along with their homes when they feel the cold winds of winter. Strong winds accompanied by the howl of a distant spirit is enough to keep anyone indoors during these months. However, this is exactly when the party arrives.
It is said that his enormous footsteps can still be found in snowbanks high in the passes. Saribet’s heart has been taken somewhere outside of Sarhumet, and he cannot rest until it is returned, and thus, neither can the dwarves. They have taken to writing sad tales of love and loss, rather than fashioning high-end items to the rest of the land, so the effects of this situation are felt throughout Proppian.
News of this story travel throughout the land as the dwarven tales have found their way onto the playlists of many a Proppian bard. It is likely that the party has heard about this situation through just such a tale.
Posted in Creature and tagged dragon, proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Stone Troll
Stone trolls keep their hearts on frigid islands in the middle of fjords and other hard-to-reach places. They can only be killed, or reasoned-with if you bring them their hearts back.
Unfortunately for them, they live lonely lives of solitude because every living being they gaze upon turns to stone, even loved ones. It is this that creates the cold place where a warm heart belongs. Bring a stone troll his heart and he will be grateful, as well as stop turning everyone to stone.
Stone Troll
Size/Type: Large Giant
Hit Dice: 6d8+36 (63 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (-1 size, +9 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+14
Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: 2 claws +9 melee (1d6+6) and bite +4 melee (1d6+3) or rock +9 ranged (2d8+6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rend 2d6+9, Petrifying Gaze
Special Qualities: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +4, Will +3
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 12, Con 23, Int 6, Wis 9, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +6
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Track
Environment: Cold mountains
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +5
Stone trolls walk upright but because of their lonely depressions, are hunched forward with sagging shoulders. Their gait is uneven, and when they run, their arms dangle and drag along the ground. Stone trolls are not nearly as agile as their brethren, though they are rather strong, able to hurl boulders and former foes encapsulated in stone.
A typical adult stone troll stands 8 feet tall and weighs 1,000 pounds. Females are very rare and are slightly smaller than males. A stone troll’s rocky underbelly is a limestone white, and the rest of the body is a granite gray. The hair is usually greenish black or iron gray, and has the consistency of a clump of sticks.
Stone trolls speak various giant tongues, especially stone giant but also some hill or frost giant, depending on where they have spent most of their time. Their gaze does not effect giants (except other stone trolls), so they are the only creatures that stone trolls often communicate with.
Combat
Stone trolls have no fear of death: They launch themselves toward combat without hesitation, often gazing into the eyes of their prey. They even have no fear of fire, they try to get around the flames and attack.
Rend (Ex)
If a troll hits with both claw attacks, it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d6+9 points of damage.
Petrifying Gaze (Su): Turn to stone permanently, range 30 feet; Fortitude DC 16 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Posted in Creature and tagged giant, proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Proppian World View
Today I announce a spinoff of CCB! I will still be posting a bunch here, as I steal away time during lunch and after work, so don’t worry — there’s still plenty of CCB work left to do!
The spinoff is Proppian World View named in honor of Vladamir Propp, who published a text in I think 1948 that provided a morphology of fairy tales. This blog will detail the plotline (and some setting) of a medieval fairy-tale role-playing campaign which will be ongoing, starting in July 2007.
Happy reading! Oh, and order printable versions of CCB. They come out looking really nice. Great for the kids.
Posted in news and tagged proppian by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.