Ice Kobolds

Ice Kobolds: These Kobolds have a blue-white color to their scales and a natural resistance to the cold (cold subtype: cold immunity). Slightly smaller than other kobolds. They worship the white dragons that live on the arctic shelf and throughout the barrier mountains. There is enmity between them and the beast-men that share these mountians, but they do not make war on each other. They come into frequent conflict with the gnomes and to a lesser extent with the dwarves that live to the mountains to the west of them.

Their king is a fighter 5, sorcerer 8, dragon disciple 5. Also of note among them is a powerful sorcerer who builds fantastic constructs for use as war machines, some in the aspect of the dragons they worship. He often must work with other magic-users to complete these constructs, but has the support of the king and good access to the resources he needs. His constructs always incorporate a magical heart made of a rare and special type of ice-gem that the kobolds mine from the heart of a glacier that looms above their mountain caverns.

Ice Kobold Characters

Ice Kobold characters possess the following racial traits.

* Cold Subtype: Ice Kobolds are immune to cold damage, and take 150% of damage from fire.
* -4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
* Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
* An ice kobold’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Racial Skills: An ice kobold character has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (trapmaking), Profession (miner), and Search checks.
* Racial Feats: An ice kobold character gains feats according to its character class.
* +1 natural armor bonus.
* Special Qualities (see above): Light sensitivity.
* Automatic Languages: Draconic. Bonus Languages: Common, Undercommon.
* Favored Class: Sorcerer.
* Level adjustment +0.


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GenCon part 4

Here are a few video clips from my favorite part of GenCon 2007 – “Monte Cook Speaks”. Here Monte speaks about a variety of things: take a look.

An interview with Monte Cook at GenCon 2007. Monte talks about what it’s like to be at GenCon as a participant instead of a vendor for the first time. He goes on to talk about the removal of demons and devils from D&D in 2nd edition,

Monte talks about “A Paladin in Hell”, and his experience writing that during a time when TSR had removed the demons and devils from Dungeons & Dragons.

Monte talks about the last days of 2nd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the reasons for the success of 3rd edition, and what that means for the upcoming 4th edition.

Monte gives some advice on getting into the gaming industry.

For more about Monte Cook, check out his site here.


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GenCon part 3

Costumes! There were lots of great costumes at gencon… I didn’t want to just stop people all weekend long and take pictures with my crapy camera, though, so I just took a couple here and there. Here’s a sample of what was to be seen:





So, till next time, here’s me and (young) Old Ben, reminding you to watch who you mess with!


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GenCon part 2

So the True Dungoen was awesome. They wouldn’t let me take any pictures, so sorry about that. I ended up, totally randomly, being put into a party with my buddy Dan who I haven’t seen in a year. I played a paladin. There were two options for the dungeon run, combat and puzzle. We did the puzzle run, which had four or five great puzzles of varying difficulty. Two we just couldn’t figure out at all, and the other three involved some trial and error, and some loss of hit points before we finished them. It was very immersive: everything looked really good, from the decomposed skeleton lying on the ground to the monster costumes, to the floating eyeball and the pitch black “passage through the shadow plane”.

Then, when you were done, you could hang out in the Green Griffon Tavern, a medieval-looking tavern with a cash bar. Dan and I had a drink and caught up. I’m thinking about opening one such tavern here in Austin, right next to the game store, with a bar, snacks, and tables big enough to game on in the back. Whadda you think? Would you come to a medieval tavern, to hang out or to game at?

After that I went to their “black and white” ball, a dance in one of the opulent hotel ballrooms. The DJs were up on a balcony and responded well to requests accompanied by bribes. They kept doing that annoying thing where they’d shut the music off during the chorus, forcing the crowd to shout the words out loud. So basically they hired wedding DJs. But the dance was lots of fun anyway.

So, my favorite parts of the con? Miniatures. I just love those elaborate playscapes, be they large or small. Here’s a couple of pictures of my favorites.

This was the centerpiece of the huge RPGA room: five foot tiles and a life-size troll and beholder.


And of course, lots of small sets (click on any of them for a larger image).

So, check back tomorrow for one more post about my nerd adventures at GenCon, with some of my favorite products I saw there and costumes, costumes, costumes!

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GenCon part 1

So just a few quick notes on GenCon. This is my first time at Gencon but I know already it won’t be my last. I haven’t been to a con in a long time, about 17 years, but I’m really glad I came.

I arrived the first night and just wandered around confused. You’d think that at a gaming convention there would be easier maps. But the real cause of the problem was the sheer size of the thing. GenCon is the entire convention center, all three floors, and all the ballrooms and conference rooms in five or six hotels.

Lots of great costumes too. Another post to come with those pictures soon.

So Thursday was a waste, except for finding out that not only do people still play classic Battletech, but that this company has secured the license and is publishing it, with the rules streamlined, and some sheets for mechs already filled in. It’s like they took all the suck out.

Today was much better. I spent all day going to various forums on game design and publishing, which if you read this blog you can safely assume I’m interested in. I also went to all my favorite publishers in the dealer’s room and talked to them some. The folks at Goodman Games, makers of Dungeon Crawl Classics, and the people at Paizo, who put out Dungeon Magazine, all said they liked the look of the issues of Claw / Claw / Bite! that I brought with me. Plus, I got to touch Monte Cook! So today was a good day.

Look! I’m saying something and Monte is listening to me!!!! —->

Anyway, I’m about to go run through the “True Dungeon”, a life-size dungeon that you actually adventure through yourself! Footage of that coming soon, if all goes well.


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Caesinthurirl, deep forest dragon

This Deep Forest Dragon lives in the far northern reaches of Elsemere Wood.

Caesinthurirl CR 13
male young adult iron dragon
Ng large true dragon
Init: +0 Senses: Listen +?, Spot +?
Aura: frightful presence (DC 23)
Languages: draconic, sylvan, common, elvin, gnome, goblin,

AC: 27 (-1 size, +18 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 27
Damage Reduction: 5/magic
HP: (HD 19d12+76)
Immune: acid and electricity
Spell Resistance: 20
Fort: +15 Ref: +11 Will: +15

MV: 40 ft., burrow 30 ft.
Attack: bite +24 (2d8+6)
Full Attack: weapon bite +24 (2d8+6), 2 claws +19 (1d6+3), 2 wings +19 (1d6+3)
Attack Options: Breath Weapons (wind or electricity)
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Base Attack: +19 Grapple: +28

Abilities Str 23 Dex 10 Con 19 Int 18 Wis 19 Cha 16
SQ: DR 5/magic, SR 20, acid and electricity immunity
SA: spells, spell-like abilities, breath weapon
Feats: Name,
Skills: Name +?,

Spells Available: casts as 5th level sorcerer with access to druid spell list and strength domain. Spell DCs are 13 + spell level.
0th: (6/day): resistance, daze, detect magic, arcane mark, read magic, dancing lights
1st: (7/day): shield, mage armor, expeditious retreat, silent image
2nd: (5/day): invisibility, whispering wind

Spell-Like Abilities (Su): 3 / day: calm emotions, wind wall. 1 / day: call lightning. Possessions: horde:

Breath Weapon (Su): A iron dragon has two types of breath weapon, a cone of wind and a cone of lightning. Creatures within a cone of wind must succeed on a strength check opposed by DC 23 or be moved away from the dragon as though bull rushed (1 ft for every 2 points by which the check is failed). The cone of electricity does 10d6 points of damage, and half that on a successful DC 23 reflex saving throw.


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Shadow Mastiffs

Here’s another encounter from the upcoming adventure The Horror of the Old Ones. A group of shadow mastiffs hunt this portion of the Elsemere Woods.

Here in the deep shadows of the thick canopy, beyond the foliage to the side of the trail, there is a gully with what appears to be a deep cave or burrow in it’s side.

Creatures: a pack of shadow mastiffs calls this cave home. Having heard the approaching party, they have spread out along the path in two pairs and wait in the shadows, with total concealment due to their shadow blend ability.

Shadow Mastiffs (4): HP: 27, 27, 28, 29

Tactics: The two pairs will pounce on, flank and trip the two weakest looking party members. If successful in tripping someone, one will take the opportunity on their next round to howl, hoping to panic and scare off those not being attacked. If brought to half hit points the dark hounds will pull back and howl, hoping to thin the numbers of their foes. If unsuccessful in scaring anyone they will flee once brought to 1/4 hit points.

Treasure: Within the cave, amongst the bones of many creatures, there are 200 gold, 2000 silver, a jeweled anklet worth 1000 gold, and a ring of blinking (worth 27,000 gold).


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Crafting Artificer Prestige Class

This five level prestige class is for casters who specialize in crafting magic items. Each level reduces the total time to create a magic item by 10%.
Prerequisites:

Skills: Craft (any) 7 ranks.

Feats: Skill Focus (concentration), any three Item Creation Feats

Class Features

Hit Dice: 1d4

Class Skills: The artificer’s class skills are the same as the class skills of the class that they advance their spells / day in. For example, if the crafting artifacer’s spells per day goes up for cleric spells, their class skills for that level are the cleric class skills.

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

The Crafting Artifacer
Level Base Attack Fort Ref Will Other
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Item craft time reduced by 10%, spells per day +1 level of existing class
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Item craft time reduced by 20%, spells per day +1 level of existing class
3rd +1 +0 +0 +3 Item craft time reduced by 30%, spells per day +1 level of existing class
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Item craft time reduced by 40%, spells per day +1 level of existing class
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Item craft time reduced by 50%, spells per day +1 level of existing class

Item craft time: As crafting artifacers gain class levels, the amount of time it takes them to craft magic items is reduced. Thus, at 1st level of crafting artifacer, a magic item that costs 1100 gp to create takes one day, instead of two. At 5th level, the crafting artifacer can create magic items twice as fast as normal magic item crafters: 2000gp per day.

This reduction in crafting time does not in any way reduce the other costs related to magic item creation, including XP cost.

Spells per day: When a new crafting artifacer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of crafting artifacer to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.


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A Touch of Magic or A Touch of Faith

For some people, by an accident of birth, or a confluence of the stars, a smattering of arcane study, or a blessing by a fairy godparent, there is a certain natural ability for magic, or a special blessing by the gods. This affinity or blessing allows these people to cast a few small spells every day.

Requirements:
These feats are only available to characters who do not have any spellcasting abilities when they take them. They allow the character to cast a few low-level spells in spite of a lack of extensive magical or ecclesiastical training.

If choosing cleric or druid spells, the character must have a wisdom of 10 or higher. If choosing wizard spells, the character must have a intelligence score of 10 or higher. And if choosing bard or sorcerer spells, the character must have a charisma score of 10 or higher.

Benefit:
Option 1: the recipient of this feat can cast one 0th level spells per day. This spell must be prepared from either the cleric, druid or wizard list. The recipient of this feat must choose which list at the time that they take this feat. If choosing wizard, use the character’s intelligence score to determine save DCs, and if cleric or druid, use wisdom. These spellcasting abilities require a holy symbol or a spellbook just as the spellcasting abilities of the classes they mimic.

Option 2: the recipient of this feat can cast two 0th level spells per day. These spells can be cast spontaneously, and require no preparation. At the time the feat is chosen, the recipient must choose three spells from either the 0th level sorcerer or the 0th level bard spell lists as the available “known spells” from which to cast this spell. Use the character’s charisma score to determine spell save DCs.

Regardless of which option is chosen, these spells are considered separate from and stack with any spells gained from the character’s other spellcasting features. 


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Breeches of Hulking

These pants are roomy, and hang precariously on the wearer’s hips. They occupy a character’s belt slot. They are covered in small rips and patches. Three times a day, the wearer of these breeches can speak a command word and grow a size category, as though affected by enlarge person. The change in size lasts one minute.

Faint transmutation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, enlarge person; Price 1,080 gold; Weight 3 lb.


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