May Contest: Awe-inspiring Items
Thanks to all of you who submitted entries to our April contest, Dastardly Denizens. We’re happy to announce May’s contest, Awe-inspiring Items.
Write up your favorite item with a description of its origin, magical (or non-magical) effects, price, construction costs in materials, skills, and (if appropriate) time and experience. Artifacts are also welcome, as they are physical items wielded in much the same way as any other item.
“Post”mark your entries (to clawclawbite ATE gmail.com) by the end of May to be considered for the contest. Winners will appear in CCB 19 this summer.
By submitting an entry, you allow us to post the content of your entry, and reuse the entry for Claw/Claw/Bite magazine.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged contest, wondrous item by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
The Ruins of Soguer – the Central Ruins
Once again we return to the adventure The Ruins of Old Soguer, being posted piece-by-piece here on Tailslap. Today’s post details some of the notable locations in the central area of the vast ruined city. There, the remains of a great cathedral, the overgrown market square, and a mysterious still-intact tower beckon to brave explorers.
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
An iron fence, twisted and flattened in several places, surrounds the grounds of a large cathedral here. The south face of the cathedral is tumbled down into rubble that chokes the steps leading up to its open doors. The windows of the cathedral still hold a few shards of stained glass. The wind makes a low moaning sounds as it blows through the empty openings. A cemetery occupies he northwestern portion of the grounds, and low stone walls – all that remain of several smaller buildings stand to the west and north of the cathedral. Carvings on the cornerstones of buildings at the intersection indicate that the large road heading east-west is Market Road, and the road leading north is Gods Road.
A search of the grounds and the remains of the rectory and other buildings with a successful DC 10 Perception check reveals old and weathered personal belongings such as combs, bits of wooden dishes, and even some human bones. A successful DC 21 Perception check uncovers a dirt-encrusted golden holy symbol of Pelor worth 150 gold.
Should the players enter the cathedral they see the following:
Climbing up the steps over piles of stone blocks and rubble, you enter through the open doorways, through a entryway with two side passages, both filled with rubble, and into the large chapel. Wild birds, disturbed by your entrance, screech in alarm and fly up and out of the chapel. Large stone pillars rise up to support what remains of the ceiling above. Much of the southern part of the roof is missing, revealing the sky above. Before you, wooden pews are smashed beneath more stone rubble. At the far end of the chapel is a raised dais upon which a bare stone altar stands, carved with a relief of a sunburst, an eight-pointed star, and a gauntlet holding a sword. Detritus lies on the ground around the altar, and three large windows stand open to the sky on the far wall.
A DC 10 Religion check allows a character to recognize the carvings on the altar as the holy symbols of Pelor, Kord, and Heironeous.
If the players investigate the north side of the chapel they see the following:
The floor of the dais, like the rest of the chapel, is covered with dirt, some leaves, and bits of broken stained glass. There, behind the altar, lies a gruesome sight: the dessicated corpse of a priest in age-browned robes. His face is twisted in a horrible rictus of fear, and his outstretched arm points to the rear face of the altar. Following his dead gesture, you read the single word that is written there in long-dried blood: DOOM.
Searching the rest of the cathedral reveals side passages which lead to a staircase leading down. Beneath are long-ago-ransacked offices and catacombs with cardinal’s and bishop’s sepulchers there, opened up and looted.
Treasure – A search of the side chambers and offices can yield the following treasure with the corresponding Perception skill checks; DC 10: 5 gold worth of Sanctified Incense, DC 16: 50 gold worth of Sanctified Incense, DC 21: 100 gold worth of Sanctified Incense and 100 gold worth of Residuum.
A grove of trees hundreds of feet across fills this large open area between the ruins. The roots of the trees have pushed aside the cobblestones and their branches spread out above the walls of the empty buildings surrounding the grove. Walking through the woods briefly, you come upon the remains of a large fountain in the center. The large round stone basin contains some muddy dirt and chunks of stone, and in the center, upon a pedestal a set of stone legs stand broken off at the knees.
A DC 16 History check brings to mind the tale of the statue of the King of Soguer that once stood in the vast market square of this city. During the height of Soguer’s power goods from all corners of the known world were traded here. Over them stood a statue of the Lidwen Staledo, King of Soguer 70 years ago, carved holding aloft the scales of justice and a sword. A DC 21 History check reminds the observer that the statue was depicted wielding the royal family’s sword The Judge’s Tongue, the family’s symbol of the supremacy of law.
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.
Details of what can be found within the tower coming in the next installment of The Ruins of Old Soguer….
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged The Ruins of Soguer by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
April Contest: Dastardly Creatures
Use the month of April to create a dastardly creature, and you’ll win free copies of Claw/Claw/Bite and our inaugural issue of Tailslap. Entries are due on the last day of the month, at which point, our next contest will be announced.
Be creative. Be crazy. Enter as often as you’d like; no purchase necessary. Have fun with this. Email entries to clawclawbite@gmail.com.
Winners will be printed in CCB 18!
Entries may be printed in future issues of CCB or future collections released by Unicorn Rampant Publishing.
UPDATE (response to Comment #1): To help structure your entries, borrow a template from one of our recent creature entries, described in detail in the D20 SRD, or use the Pathfinder bestiary system, including an introduction, stat block, and a description in your entry.
Posted in Creature and tagged contest by Stephen Hilderbrand with 3 comments.
New blog site about to go live
In case you’ve wondered what we’ve been up to these past few weeks, well…
After almost 4 years working with Blogger, we’ve decided to move on to WordPress, and will be hosting the site off our own shiny server. We expect to make this move in another few days, once the blog software is completely installed, configured, and the data migrated over. We’ll keep you posted as to when the move will be made.
Those of you using the clawclawbite.blogspot.com address, please migrate over to clawclawbite.com, which will stay with us wherever we move in the future. Consider that link the permanent home of the magazine.
Thanks again for your support…
Posted in announcement, news and tagged update, website by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Adventure Backdrop: Deep Roads
I’ve been playing a lot of the computer game Dragon Age: Origins recently and I’ve really enjoyed the great writing of the game: they really put together a deep and interesting history for the game’s setting. One of the elements of this history keeps inspiring me with adventure ideas and encounters every time I think about it: The Deep Roads.
In the game’s history the dwarven people once had a vast underground empire. The cities of this empire were connected by a massive series of tunnels that the dwarves had dug and that spanned hundreds of miles underground.
This idea, a series of underground highways, just keeps inspiring me as a DM. What heroic adventures must have been undertaken as those roads were first carved? What difficulties must have faced those undertaking the creation of such an ambitious work? What troubles and opportunities did the Deep Roads create during the heyday of the dwarven empire? And after the empire’s fall, when the deep roads were lost to them, taken over by horrors from below, what opportunities for adventure do they present? Who could resist the lure of the lost treasures of a dwarven empire? What needful items might be lost down their dark and crumbling avenues?
In the coming days I will be posting some encounters, creatures, and adventure seeds that take place against this inspiring backdrop. For today, I refer you to one of the creatures that slithers along the dark passages of the underdark: the Crawling Drake.
Crawling Drake
This creature’s common name is something of a misnomer, as this dragon-like creature has no legs, just a scaly, sinuous, serpentine body and a pair of muscular wings. Able to rise and strike by propping itself up with its wings, these drakes deliver vicious wounds with their snapping jaws.
The origin of their species is speculated to be a mixture of dark things of the underlands, such as a corruption of fang dragon touched by creatures from the outer realms of cruelty and madness. Able to speak a few words of broken draconic and undercommon, crawling drakes are not especially intelligent, but they are tremendously fearsome, nasty and cruel.
Crawling drakes are crafty combatants and adept stalkers, and so will ambush their prey when possible. Once they pick a target, they will attempt to crush them in their coils while delivering bite after bite. If possible they will attack the weakest-looking member of a group first.
Presented below is the wyrmling version of this monstrosity, as it is encountered while still young and relatively small.
Wyrmling Crawling Drake Level 5 Elite Lurker
Medium Aberrant Magical Beast (Reptile)- XP 400
Initiative +11 Senses Perception +9
HP 96; Bloodied 48
AC 19 Fortitude 17, Reflex 18, Will 16
Vulnerable 5 poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 4, fly 8
Action Points 1
Powers
Venomus Bite – At-Will, Standard Action, Poison
+10 vs AC, 1d10 + 4 damage, the target is grabbed, and make a secondary attack:
Secondary Attack – Venom
+8 vs Fortitude, 1d6 + 4 posion damage and ongoing 5 poison damage (Save Ends).
Crushing Coils – At-Will, Minor Action
Target must be grabbed
+8 vs Fortitude, 3d8 + 4 damage and the target is weakened until the end of its next turn.
Hypnotic Coils – Immediate Interrupt when Attacked, One target within close blast 5, Recharge 4-6
As you prepare to strike the loathsome beast, its moving coils cause a sudden disorienting vertigo.
+6 vs Will, the target is dazed (save ends) and takes -4 on the triggering attack’s to-hit roll.
Alignment Evil – Languages some Undercommon, Draconic
Skills Perception +9, Stealth +12
Str 18 (+6) Dex 21 (+7) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 12 (+3) Int 9 (+1) Cha 9 (+1)
A character knows the following about crawling drakes with the following Dungeoneering skill checks:
DC 15: These large aberrant reptiles, called Crawling Drakes by the dwarves, are dangerous hunters of the caverns below the surface.
DC 20: Crawling Drakes use a venomous bite and their crushing coils to kill their prey, and have strangely hypnotic power over men’s minds.
DC 25: Ironically, though venomous, Crawling Drakes are themselves particularly susceptible to poison.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged creature origin: far realms, creature type: magical beast, creature: heroic lurker, Fantasy by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Phylactery of Faithfulness
This small container holds pieces of parchment bearing holy tracts. Worn tied to the head with leather straps it serves as a constant reminder of your god’s commandments.
Level 8
3,400 gold
Head Slot Item
Effect: while worn this item gives a +2 sacred bonus to your Will defense against attacks with the Charm keyword.
Power (At-Will, Standard Action): by praying to your god for guidance, you learn weather a stated course of action will violate your god’s code of conduct or offend your god’s principals.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged equipment: magic helm by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Altar of Transfixion
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 allies strike.
Perception: No skill check required.
Additional Skills: Religion
DC 20: PC recognizes the altar.
DC 30: PC can read the runes on the altar.
Trigger: An enemy approaches within 3 squares.
Free Action, One enemy within Close Burst 3 Attack: +10 vs. Will
Hit: Target is pulled 1 square and 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 an attack at +10 vs. Will against all enemies within close burst 3, dealing 3d10 damage to all affected.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged trap: heroic warder by Adam A. Thompson with 1 comment.
Dark Hounds of Sin
Dark Hounds of Sin wander the earth, tempting humans and their brothers with sin. Some take the forms of humans to lure their prey into dark alleys and private homes where they can strike.
There are different dog types for each sin, each of which embody a particular sin. Here is an example of a Dark Hound of Gluttony, who may be encountered at a banquet in the court of a castle.
Dark Hounds of Sin (Gluttony)
Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 16d8+32 (103 hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 28 (+5 Dex, +10 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 13, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +16/+24
Attack: Bite +18 melee (1d10+5/19-20 plus 1d6 poison)
Full Attack: Bite +13 melee (1d10+5/19-20 plus 1d6 poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, poison bite, rend
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., protection from good, scent, vulnerability to water, shape shift
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +11, Will +12
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 21, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 4
Skills: Intimidate +22, Jump +20, Listen +16, Spot +18, Survival +10*, Tumble +12
Feats: Alertness, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Outer Planes and urban environments
Organization: Solo
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: 17-26 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
A typical hound of sin stands 5 feet high at the shoulder and weighs 140 pounds.
Hounds of sin are always encountered alone.
Shape Shift (Su): Three times a day, hounds of sin can shape shift into humanoid forms in order to tempt their humanoid prey.
Combat
Hounds of sin sneak up behind their prey, employing razor-sharp teeth to bite into and rend their opponents.
The natural weapons of hounds of sin are treated as evil-aligned and lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Breath Weapon (Su): 10×10 area of noxious poison that quickly fills an area, dealing 2d6 poison damage, Fortitude DC 25 to negate. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Poison Bite (Su): Hounds of sin deal an extra 1d6 points of poison damage every time they bite an opponent, as if these bites are a poison weapon.
Skills
Hounds of sin have a +10 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks, which are commonly used.
*They also receive a +8 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent, due to their keen sense of smell.
Posted in Creature and tagged chaotic, extraplanar, outsider by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Mirror & Door Puzzle
Everyone loves puzzles thrown into their games every now and then. They provide an opportunity to stretch the player’s brain-muscles in a different way, and can really draw the players into the adventure by giving them a compelling reason to explore their surroundings carefully. This area is a locked and warded room with a puzzle-locked door and a couple of trapped items.
Comfortable furniture adorns this room – a chair and small table with a lit oil lamp, and a closed wooden chest. On the walls hang several paintings of priests ministering to the needy, and a small framed mirror hangs on the west wall. Other than the door you entered by two closed doors lead out – one north and one east.
Upon the false door to the north and the empty chest are magical petrification traps (Hard DC Thievery or Arcana check to spot, DC hard + 5 Thievery to disarm) for intruders that trigger when opened – blackness pours out and attacks at +(Level -2) vs Fortitude, on a hit the target is slowed (save ends), on first failed save target is immobilized (save ends), on second failed save target is petrified.
This door is arcane locked (DC Level + 26 Thievery or strength to open) with an inscription: “I am deaf, dumb and blind, but I always tell the truth” Reading the inscription phonetically backwards opens the door.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged puzzle; trap: warder (variable level) by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Suffering Souls
“Alas! how feeble is our faith! If a domestic animal, a little dog, falls into the fire, do you delay to draw it out? And see, your parents, benefactors, persons most dear to you, writhe in the flames of Purgatory, and you do not consider it your urgent duty to relieve them; you delay, you allow long days of suffering to pass for those poor souls, without making an effort to perform those good works which will release them from their pains.”
-Fr. Schouppe, from his book: Purgatory, pp. 238-239, 1893 Imprimatur
Suffering Souls
Medium Outsider (Neutral, Extraplanar, Incorporeal, Swarm)
Hit Dice: 4d8+3 (24 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+11 (+1 for each soul)
Attack: Swipe +5 melee
Full Attack: Swipe and Grapple
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Haunt, soul link
Special Qualities: Incorporeal, strong-willed, immunity to charm and sleep effects
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +7
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 11, Con 3, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 11
Skills: Climb +6
Feats: Improved Grapple
Environment: Hell, any haunted locale
Organization: Swarm
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: TN
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: None
Haunt (Su): Suffering souls haunt an area, trying to escape their torment on the Nine Planes of Hell. Creatures within a haunted area (usually a 400′ diameter circle) receive -1 penalties to all rolls.
Combat
Suffering souls swarm all who enter their unhallowed grounds. They will attack relentlessly until repelled, at which point they return to Purgatory until they are returned in an unending cycle to their place on the Prime Material Plane to haunt it evermore. The only way to free suffering souls from this torment is to travel to Hell to confront the devil that binds them.
Soul link (Su): When suffering souls make eye contact with a humanoid within 20′ for a full round, they establish a soul link with them. For the duration of the encounter, all damage they experience is also experienced by those whose souls are linked with them. When the encounter ends, the soul link lingers for multiple days, during which time the affected experience the torment of the suffering souls in Hell.
Posted in Creature and tagged planes of hell by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.