Pakh
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 3+5***
Move: 150'/50'
Attacks: 2 claws + 1 bite or by weapon
Damage: 1-3/1-3 + 1-4 or by weapon
No. Appearing: 1-8
Save As: F4
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: D
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 150
The pakh, or goblin cat, is a malicious and vindictive creature that delights in playing with its human (or demihuman) prey. In its natural form a pakh is an oversized coal black cat with burning yellow-green eyes, its claws and fangs licked with greenish fires; but the goblin cat may freely take on the shape of an ordinary housecat or a slender human with dark hair and shining green eyes. Using its alternate shapes, the pakh insinuates itself into a community or masquerades as a helpless lost pet or wayward traveler.
In combat a pakh will attack with its claws and fangs in feline shape, inflicting 1-3 hit points per claw and 1-4 hit points per bite -- but the goblin cat's fires cling to its victim, causing an additional hit point of damage per round until doused. In human shape a pakh will fight with whatever weaponry may be at hand, and can ignite its chosen weapon in the same manner as its natural armaments. Once a day a pakh may steal breath by touch, causing the subject to lose a point of Strength for twenty-four hours. At will, it may inflict a bane on little cat feet, causing a -1 penalty to all actions for twenty-four hours; multiple such "cat curses" are cumulative.
A pakh cannot be harmed by non-magical weapons unless crafted from rowan wood or rosewood. Some elder goblin cats are said to have the spellcasting abilities of third level magic-users or even greater.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Merry Ides of March: A Plan, I May Has One
Or, How the hamster hopes to kick into gear again --
When I started up this blog, I hadn't counted on the sheer amount of material I was about to produce and toss up on it -- it was a grand time, but I couldn't maintain it forever and I only hurt myself by trying, especially after a few events (the most significant of which has nothing to do with gaming) put me in a place where I just wasn't writing my best. 2010 kept up that feeling of burnout compounded with other unpleasantness and the motivation just wasn't there.
But that's enough of that --
I had intended for 2011 to start off better, but crazed holidays, dental surgery and a phenomenally bad extended flu (I don't remember almost half of January ~!) kind of squashed that flat. Until now.
Starting with the beginning of March, I'm going to try to start posting at least semi-regularly again. I can't guarantee the output of my first year, the length of some of those posts or even always the same kind of material; but I'll be giving it a shot to at least be posting something that might see some use ;3
The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge (as passed along by Chris from the Vaults of Nagoh over here) also looks rather intriguing, I have to say ~
Let's give this a shot, shall we?
When I started up this blog, I hadn't counted on the sheer amount of material I was about to produce and toss up on it -- it was a grand time, but I couldn't maintain it forever and I only hurt myself by trying, especially after a few events (the most significant of which has nothing to do with gaming) put me in a place where I just wasn't writing my best. 2010 kept up that feeling of burnout compounded with other unpleasantness and the motivation just wasn't there.
But that's enough of that --
I had intended for 2011 to start off better, but crazed holidays, dental surgery and a phenomenally bad extended flu (I don't remember almost half of January ~!) kind of squashed that flat. Until now.
Starting with the beginning of March, I'm going to try to start posting at least semi-regularly again. I can't guarantee the output of my first year, the length of some of those posts or even always the same kind of material; but I'll be giving it a shot to at least be posting something that might see some use ;3
The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge (as passed along by Chris from the Vaults of Nagoh over here) also looks rather intriguing, I have to say ~
Let's give this a shot, shall we?
Friday, February 25, 2011
Egypt Gazetteer thoughts: on clerics.
Well, it looks like I'm actually devoting some brainpower to trying to make this work. Naturally, almost immediately I find myself having Deep Thoughts -- in this case about the four classes and what I plan to do with them.
The cleric is being, to put it kindly, a pain in the arse.
You see, the concept of a "cleric" or "priest" as it exists in the modern Western world (and in many other modern places for that matter) is of an individual who feels a higher calling, called to serve a higher power, preach the word, etc. etc, and this carries over into D&D with the benefits of getting nifty spells and the ability to smite (or control) the undead. Which is cool; I love me some crusaderish types with a warhammer or the pious healer types. It's all good.
But for the vast, vast majority of pharonic history in Egypt, it wasn't like that. Ye hells, there wasn't even an established priestly "social class" until the New Kingdom -- serving at a temple was something the middle class and the nobility did as a job, as a duty. They had seasonal shift-work at the temples, even. And when the concept of an "official" priesthood developed in the New Kingdom it was still more of a job than what we often define as "priest": one could be granted a priesthood as a sinecure, much like any other title, and men could pass on their positions to their sons. Certainly a lowly we'eb could work his way up the priestly ranks, but it was often more like looking for a promotion.
Priestly duties are also different from what the Western world is used to. The Egyptian priest maintains the rituals of the temple and performs the offerings to the god's statue in return for the benefices of the god in question to be given to the people -- a business transaction of sorts -- and because the rituals maintain the order of the universe so that the gods can do their thing. (The offerings to the deity were then distributed to the temple staff as part of their wages!) Very much an "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" sort of thing. This is why, when shrines and temples fell into disrepair such as during the Amarna interlude, the gods were said to not answer; humanity wasn't holding up its end of the bargain.
All of this isn't to say that there wasn't faith in Egypt -- there certainly was. In many ways, though, it was a very D&D-ish way of faith, with it's "I'll do x if you do y" (leaving aside how even the faithful will cheerfully threaten the gods when using magical incantations -- which the sun god gave to humanity as its perogative).
So, should there even be a "cleric class"? Or should it be subsumed into the other classes as something any given character may do as a profession? Much of the mechanical abilities assigned to the class fit just as well with an Egyptian "wizard" if not moreso. On the other hand, tweaking a few things to add a bit more flavour and keep the fourth class probably wouldn't break the metaphorical bank even if it might feel a little redundant to me as I write it.
Deep thoughts, blaergh ...
The cleric is being, to put it kindly, a pain in the arse.
You see, the concept of a "cleric" or "priest" as it exists in the modern Western world (and in many other modern places for that matter) is of an individual who feels a higher calling, called to serve a higher power, preach the word, etc. etc, and this carries over into D&D with the benefits of getting nifty spells and the ability to smite (or control) the undead. Which is cool; I love me some crusaderish types with a warhammer or the pious healer types. It's all good.
But for the vast, vast majority of pharonic history in Egypt, it wasn't like that. Ye hells, there wasn't even an established priestly "social class" until the New Kingdom -- serving at a temple was something the middle class and the nobility did as a job, as a duty. They had seasonal shift-work at the temples, even. And when the concept of an "official" priesthood developed in the New Kingdom it was still more of a job than what we often define as "priest": one could be granted a priesthood as a sinecure, much like any other title, and men could pass on their positions to their sons. Certainly a lowly we'eb could work his way up the priestly ranks, but it was often more like looking for a promotion.
Priestly duties are also different from what the Western world is used to. The Egyptian priest maintains the rituals of the temple and performs the offerings to the god's statue in return for the benefices of the god in question to be given to the people -- a business transaction of sorts -- and because the rituals maintain the order of the universe so that the gods can do their thing. (The offerings to the deity were then distributed to the temple staff as part of their wages!) Very much an "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" sort of thing. This is why, when shrines and temples fell into disrepair such as during the Amarna interlude, the gods were said to not answer; humanity wasn't holding up its end of the bargain.
All of this isn't to say that there wasn't faith in Egypt -- there certainly was. In many ways, though, it was a very D&D-ish way of faith, with it's "I'll do x if you do y" (leaving aside how even the faithful will cheerfully threaten the gods when using magical incantations -- which the sun god gave to humanity as its perogative).
So, should there even be a "cleric class"? Or should it be subsumed into the other classes as something any given character may do as a profession? Much of the mechanical abilities assigned to the class fit just as well with an Egyptian "wizard" if not moreso. On the other hand, tweaking a few things to add a bit more flavour and keep the fourth class probably wouldn't break the metaphorical bank even if it might feel a little redundant to me as I write it.
Deep thoughts, blaergh ...
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Scribblings from last night's workshift ...
Egypt Gazetteer
- (very!) brief overview
- class changes
-> alternate thief skills
-> redistribute spell lists
-> change/remove turning
-> "name levels"; patronage, titles
- currency and gear
-> weapons, armour
-> Egyptian versions of adventuring necessities
-> "basic kits"?
- spells
-> typical magic types
-> remove/alter most "blasters"
-> summonings, blessings, cursings
-> wax crocodile
-> parting water
-> teleport other
- critters
-> wolf of Upuaut
-> jackal of Anpu
-> divine ("golden") critters
-> akh
-> demon (generic)
-> demon, arrow of Sekhmet
-> sphinxes, Egyptian
-> constructs (ushabti, etc)
-> demon, tutelary (Aha/Bes)
-> Set-animal
-> "night serpent"
-> ba (dead human)
-> ba (manifestation of deity)
-> the Seven Hathors
-> solar cat
-> iaret
- changes to treasure
-> alter deben to "true" coinage?
- magic items
-> amuletic/glyphic magic
- deities
- cities
-> Khemenu (Hermopolis)
-> Waset (Thebes)
-> Mennefer (Memphis)
-> Iunu (Heliopolis)
-> Per-Bast (Bubastis)
-> Abdju (Abydos)
- ruins/necropoli
-> Great Place (King's Valley)
-> District of Eternity (Saqqara)
-> Nekhen
-> Abdju ...
- Kush and the Nubian kingdoms
-> Punt
- Libya and Syria-Palestine, Crete ...
- "the secrets of the deserts"
-> the West
-> predynastic sites
-> Eastern desert valleys
-> "demons and the dead"
- metaphysics & multiverse
-> sky
-> Duat (Field of Reeds)
-> darkened underworld
-> "God's Land"
- (very!) brief overview
- class changes
-> alternate thief skills
-> redistribute spell lists
-> change/remove turning
-> "name levels"; patronage, titles
- currency and gear
-> weapons, armour
-> Egyptian versions of adventuring necessities
-> "basic kits"?
- spells
-> typical magic types
-> remove/alter most "blasters"
-> summonings, blessings, cursings
-> wax crocodile
-> parting water
-> teleport other
- critters
-> wolf of Upuaut
-> jackal of Anpu
-> divine ("golden") critters
-> akh
-> demon (generic)
-> demon, arrow of Sekhmet
-> sphinxes, Egyptian
-> constructs (ushabti, etc)
-> demon, tutelary (Aha/Bes)
-> Set-animal
-> "night serpent"
-> ba (dead human)
-> ba (manifestation of deity)
-> the Seven Hathors
-> solar cat
-> iaret
- changes to treasure
-> alter deben to "true" coinage?
- magic items
-> amuletic/glyphic magic
- deities
- cities
-> Khemenu (Hermopolis)
-> Waset (Thebes)
-> Mennefer (Memphis)
-> Iunu (Heliopolis)
-> Per-Bast (Bubastis)
-> Abdju (Abydos)
- ruins/necropoli
-> Great Place (King's Valley)
-> District of Eternity (Saqqara)
-> Nekhen
-> Abdju ...
- Kush and the Nubian kingdoms
-> Punt
- Libya and Syria-Palestine, Crete ...
- "the secrets of the deserts"
-> the West
-> predynastic sites
-> Eastern desert valleys
-> "demons and the dead"
- metaphysics & multiverse
-> sky
-> Duat (Field of Reeds)
-> darkened underworld
-> "God's Land"
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Monster: Musillyc
Because I can never resist these kinds of suggestions ...
Musillyc
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 1+3*
Move: None
Attacks: 1 clamp
Damage: 1-6
No. Appearing: 1-100
Save As: C2
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Special
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 15
Strange and oddly beautiful molluscs, musillyc are believed by some to have been magically modified from the jekti. Unlike the cave clams, however, musillyc are immobile and hang in clusters from delicate-looking strands of golden byssus, and their shining shells are long, fluted, and edged with rippling edged pierced through with uncountable holes. Each musillyc is surrounded by a globe of aetherous water, its multicoloured gills trailing through the globe and its shell relaxed and open; and the sound of the surrounding air passing through the water and the piercings of their shells creates an inhuman yet soothing music.
Musillyc do not enter combat, though if disturbed one will snap its shell closed on the irritant and inflict 1-6 hit points of damage. The musillyc's music has a magical, hypnotic effect however -- all who hear it find themselves unwilling to be aggressive or willful, receiving a -3 penalty to all aggressive actions and saving throws vs. charm or spell.
There is a 2-in-6 chance that a musillyc will carry 1-8 transparent pearls of rainbow hues, valued at anything from 50 to 500gp. Musillyc pearls are more valuable sold in groups, as they chime together musically.
Musillyc
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 1+3*
Move: None
Attacks: 1 clamp
Damage: 1-6
No. Appearing: 1-100
Save As: C2
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Special
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 15
Strange and oddly beautiful molluscs, musillyc are believed by some to have been magically modified from the jekti. Unlike the cave clams, however, musillyc are immobile and hang in clusters from delicate-looking strands of golden byssus, and their shining shells are long, fluted, and edged with rippling edged pierced through with uncountable holes. Each musillyc is surrounded by a globe of aetherous water, its multicoloured gills trailing through the globe and its shell relaxed and open; and the sound of the surrounding air passing through the water and the piercings of their shells creates an inhuman yet soothing music.
Musillyc do not enter combat, though if disturbed one will snap its shell closed on the irritant and inflict 1-6 hit points of damage. The musillyc's music has a magical, hypnotic effect however -- all who hear it find themselves unwilling to be aggressive or willful, receiving a -3 penalty to all aggressive actions and saving throws vs. charm or spell.
There is a 2-in-6 chance that a musillyc will carry 1-8 transparent pearls of rainbow hues, valued at anything from 50 to 500gp. Musillyc pearls are more valuable sold in groups, as they chime together musically.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Magic Item: The Burning Road
Under the brilliant noonday sun Jie Chue laboured at the forge; a tremor signaled another's presence, and he paused his work.
A brash and stubborn princeling stood before him, his temper quenched as he detailed his desire. Strength and brilliance forged as one, though without the touch of iron; no dainty graces, only the power and the will.
Jie Chue sent the princeling to the south as he turned back to his forge.
At the fall of night, he gave the gift of the earth's own fire.
The Burning Road: A massive two-handed sword, almost too heavy to lift, the Burning Road bears an unnaturally broad blade and a chisel tip. Forged not from any metal but from black basalt, the sword's blade is shot through with glowing veins of red-hot magma; despite this the sword's edge is honed as fine as an obsidian razor. Burning Road's grip is wrapped with rough red leather braiding, and its pommel is decorated with tassels of fire opals and red silk.
The Burning Road is a two-handed sword +1. With each successful strike, the blade stores one "point" and its veins glow even more firey; when four points have been stored they may be expended to fuel the blade as it is used to destroy a single enchantment or similar magical or mental influence. Alternately, the points may be expended to create a firepath -- a focused beam of flame from the blade that unerringly points towards a desired location known to its bearer. The beam lingers for four rounds.
This blade does not approve of those without the will to fight fairly for its gifts; damaging allies or oneself in order to accumulate power results in a backlash of 1-6 points of damage per point in the blade as phantom magma lashes the offender.
A brash and stubborn princeling stood before him, his temper quenched as he detailed his desire. Strength and brilliance forged as one, though without the touch of iron; no dainty graces, only the power and the will.
Jie Chue sent the princeling to the south as he turned back to his forge.
At the fall of night, he gave the gift of the earth's own fire.
The Burning Road: A massive two-handed sword, almost too heavy to lift, the Burning Road bears an unnaturally broad blade and a chisel tip. Forged not from any metal but from black basalt, the sword's blade is shot through with glowing veins of red-hot magma; despite this the sword's edge is honed as fine as an obsidian razor. Burning Road's grip is wrapped with rough red leather braiding, and its pommel is decorated with tassels of fire opals and red silk.
The Burning Road is a two-handed sword +1. With each successful strike, the blade stores one "point" and its veins glow even more firey; when four points have been stored they may be expended to fuel the blade as it is used to destroy a single enchantment or similar magical or mental influence. Alternately, the points may be expended to create a firepath -- a focused beam of flame from the blade that unerringly points towards a desired location known to its bearer. The beam lingers for four rounds.
This blade does not approve of those without the will to fight fairly for its gifts; damaging allies or oneself in order to accumulate power results in a backlash of 1-6 points of damage per point in the blade as phantom magma lashes the offender.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
A Dozen Dungeon Diversions
Sometimes, you just need a bit of "dungeon dressing" or an oddity to leave your players scratching their heads ...
- A stone statue of a goblin, paper-thin and hollow. If the statue is broken, goblin bones tumble out.
- Seven mushrooms growing from a rotted leather satchel, each one's cap being a different colour of the visible spectrum.
- An intricate set of gears and levers set into a hollowed-out panel in the ceiling or wall. The clockworks move continuously but have no obvious purpose.
- A small, white and friendly kitten with glowing eyes. The kitten will follow the party everywhere; if it is killed, the next night there are two kittens.
- Shattered and freshly bloody chains left in a haphazard pile in an otherwise empty room or corridor.
- A white marble doorframe replacing a normal dungeon door. A hour after the doorframe is passed through, the party's shadows turn white for a day.
- Leaning against a wall, a pyramid made from fourteen dead tarantulas.
- Fifteen knucklebones laid out in the shape of an arrow (perhaps pointing at a secret door, perhaps at nothing at all) on the floor.
- A pool of phosphorescent water seeping in through the dungeon walls. The water is safe to drink (tastes fruity!) and detects as magical, but has no special properties other than its glow.
- A sudden breeze carries the scent of marigolds, scorched metal and blood.
- At head-height, a rusty dagger is thrust into a wall; from the pommel-nut dangles a leather thong strung with teeth and walnut shells.
- Sprawled against a wall, an elven skeleton wearing the tattered remains of a kobold hide as a mantle. The fingerbones appear to have been sharpened.
- A stone statue of a goblin, paper-thin and hollow. If the statue is broken, goblin bones tumble out.
- Seven mushrooms growing from a rotted leather satchel, each one's cap being a different colour of the visible spectrum.
- An intricate set of gears and levers set into a hollowed-out panel in the ceiling or wall. The clockworks move continuously but have no obvious purpose.
- A small, white and friendly kitten with glowing eyes. The kitten will follow the party everywhere; if it is killed, the next night there are two kittens.
- Shattered and freshly bloody chains left in a haphazard pile in an otherwise empty room or corridor.
- A white marble doorframe replacing a normal dungeon door. A hour after the doorframe is passed through, the party's shadows turn white for a day.
- Leaning against a wall, a pyramid made from fourteen dead tarantulas.
- Fifteen knucklebones laid out in the shape of an arrow (perhaps pointing at a secret door, perhaps at nothing at all) on the floor.
- A pool of phosphorescent water seeping in through the dungeon walls. The water is safe to drink (tastes fruity!) and detects as magical, but has no special properties other than its glow.
- A sudden breeze carries the scent of marigolds, scorched metal and blood.
- At head-height, a rusty dagger is thrust into a wall; from the pommel-nut dangles a leather thong strung with teeth and walnut shells.
- Sprawled against a wall, an elven skeleton wearing the tattered remains of a kobold hide as a mantle. The fingerbones appear to have been sharpened.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Feathers and Death
What started off as my deciding on writing another video game hack (similar to, if not as extensive, as my Final Fantasy hack notions) has rapidly mutated into something else.
I suppose I had other ideas simmering in the back of my head; whatever the cause, the items and critters contained in the document below pay lip service at best to the original source material.
Feathers and Death
A 1-up to anyone who recognizes the game *grins*
I suppose I had other ideas simmering in the back of my head; whatever the cause, the items and critters contained in the document below pay lip service at best to the original source material.
Feathers and Death
A 1-up to anyone who recognizes the game *grins*
Sunday, September 19, 2010
"My" D&D; or, oh yay a meme.
when you think about Dungeons & Dragons, the cover of what product comes first to mind?"
Oh yeah. I went there. *snorts*
I may be happily pittering about with the Rules Cyclopedia off and on at the moment, but AD&D2 is my home and always will be -- and one of these days I'll be getting that Spelljammer campaign up and running. And my next Planescape campaign for that matter.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Monster: Jekti
Jekti
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 1-1
Move: 6' (2')
climb 6' (2')
Attacks: 1 spit
Damage: 1-4
No. Appearing: 4-40
Save As: Normal Man
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Special
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 6
Commonly called cave clams and dungeon oysters, jekti have slippery grey-green bodies and a row of beady red eyes encased in thick, ruffly bivalved shells the size of an ogre's head. On rare occasions a jekti may be seen slowly migrating along nearly any stony surface found in a cavern – or dungeon – but the cave clams are most commonly found clustered in colonies on walls, choking off passageways, and generally being a nuisance. Some dungeon inhabitants cultivate the clams for that very purpose.
If approached, and especially if disturbed, a jekti will gape its shell and spit a hissing stream of orange-yellow acid at the interloper, inflicting 1-4 hit points of damage with a range of 10'. The acid will inflict a further hit point of damage the following round, then go inert.
The bitter, caustic flesh of a jekti is not considered palatable by humans or most demihumans, but goblinoids of all stripes consider cave clams a prized treat. The molluscs collect no treasure per se; however, each jekti has a 15% chance to carry an amber-tinted “acid pearl” within its slippery mantle.
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 1-1
Move: 6' (2')
climb 6' (2')
Attacks: 1 spit
Damage: 1-4
No. Appearing: 4-40
Save As: Normal Man
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Special
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 6
Commonly called cave clams and dungeon oysters, jekti have slippery grey-green bodies and a row of beady red eyes encased in thick, ruffly bivalved shells the size of an ogre's head. On rare occasions a jekti may be seen slowly migrating along nearly any stony surface found in a cavern – or dungeon – but the cave clams are most commonly found clustered in colonies on walls, choking off passageways, and generally being a nuisance. Some dungeon inhabitants cultivate the clams for that very purpose.
If approached, and especially if disturbed, a jekti will gape its shell and spit a hissing stream of orange-yellow acid at the interloper, inflicting 1-4 hit points of damage with a range of 10'. The acid will inflict a further hit point of damage the following round, then go inert.
The bitter, caustic flesh of a jekti is not considered palatable by humans or most demihumans, but goblinoids of all stripes consider cave clams a prized treat. The molluscs collect no treasure per se; however, each jekti has a 15% chance to carry an amber-tinted “acid pearl” within its slippery mantle.
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