13th Age: Broo

Human-bodied and often goat-headed, they are tied irrevocably with the Rune of chaos. They are given to atrocities and foul practices, and carry numerous loathsome diseases. In addition, Broos have the ability to procreate with any species, intelligent or otherwise, with the resulting offspring taking characteristics from both its Broo and non-Broo parent. 

BROO

3rd level spoiler [HUMANOID]

Initiative: +4

Atrocity +8 vs. AC –– 10 psychic damage

     Miss: 3 damage

Foul Practices +8 vs. PD –– 5 + escalation die damage

     Natural 16+: Target becomes pregnant and will die in 1d6 days 

     if the foul spawn is not cut out.

Nastier Specials

Disease Carrier: Any creature engaged with a Broo, must make a normal Save (11+) at the beginning of their turn or take 1d6 damage.

Chaotic: A Broo uses the escalation die.

AC 19
PD 17                              HP 45
MD 13

Labyrinth Lord: Thief Class

I've spent the last several days talking about Thieves and here is my revised version for Labyrinth Lord.

Thief

Requirements: None

Prime Requisite: DEX

Hit Dice: 1d4

Maximum Level: None

Thief Abilities: Thieves are Trained*in Climb Walls, Find and Remove Traps, Hear Noise, Hide In Shadows, Move Silently, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, Read Languages, and Use an Arcane Spell Scroll. This means that if a Thief is not high enough of a Level to automatically succeed at a task, they will used the Trained portion of the following table for these actions.

Level of the Task                 No Training          Trained
                                                 # on D6              # on D6
1-4                                              1-3                      1-5         
5-9                                              1-2                      1-4
10-12                                            1                       1-3
13+                                               -                        1-2

*If using the Ability Score Based Optional system here, then a Thief improves their chance of success by +25%.

Additional Abilities

When a thief attains Level 9 he can establish a thief den, and 2d6 thief apprentices of 1st level will come to work with the character. These thieves will serve the character with some reliability; however, should any become arrested or killed the character will not be able to attract more followers of this type to replace them. A successful character might use these followers to start a ThievesÊ Guild.

Saving Throws

              Breath     Poison      Petrify or                    Spell-Like   

Level     Attack    or Death    Paralyze      Wands      Devices   

 1-3          14             10               11                  10              13

 4-6          11               8                 9                    8              10

 7-9            5               3                 5                    4                6

Godless: Graboid for Shadow of the Demon Lord

Yesterday, Schwalb Entertainment released Godless, a new setting for Shadow of the Demon Lord that let's you play in world inspired by Mad Max. I felt like Godless need more graboids from Tremors.

Graboids are subterranean animals, superficially resembling gigantic worms or grubs, with long cylindrical bodies. When fully grown, a Graboid will be up to 30 feet (9.1 m) long, and 6 feet (1.8 m) across at the widest point, and weigh 10-20 tons. Graboids have no eyes; they do not need them, due to living underground. Their heads consist of a massive black armored beak, which is used to push aside the dirt whilst digging. The beak opens like a grotesque flower; it consists of a wide upper jaw, a thinner lower jaw, and a pair of hooked mandibles, one on each side. 

Graboids have three long powerful snake-like tentacles, which are prehensile and can reach at least 10 feet (3.0 m). Each of these tentacles (which have been loosely compared to functioning like the creature's tongue) terminates in a toothed mouth of its own. It is unclear if they bite off and swallow food on their own, or if they are simply used to get a better grip on prey so it can be dragged into the creature's jaws. Normally kept retracted in the Graboid's throat, these tentacles were initially mistaken for the whole creatures, causing the characters in the first Tremors film to underestimate the size of their underground opponents.

A Graboid's hide is thick and leathery, with a rough, pebbly texture, that gives them a reptilian appearance (although they are not reptiles). This makes them very hard to kill with anything short of saturation bombing or large-bore rounds. Graboids are immensely strong, able to topple over mobile homes, tow heavy objects such as a pickup truck without slowing down, smash through brick walls, and pull a station wagon underground. 

GRABOID          DIFFICULTY 100 for Godless and SotDL
Size 3 horrifying monster
Perception 11 (+1); sightless
Defense 18; Health 80
Strength 18 (+8)   Agility 14 (+4)   Intellect 10 (+0)   Will 10 (+0)
Speed 18; burrower (the graboid can move through the earth)

ATTACK OPTIONS
Tongue (melee; reach +2) +4 with 1 boon (1d6 plus Drag on an attack roll of 20+)
Drag The graboid moves the target 1d6 yards towards itself

END OF THE ROUND
Jaws One creature within 1 yard of the graboid is grabbed and takes 4d6 damage. If the creature is reduced to 0 Health or less, it is consumed by the graboid.

If you like this post and others like it and have an extra $1 a month, please consider becoming a Patron of Cross Planes on Patreon.

OSR: A Task Resolution Mechanic Focusing on Level

Earlier this week I proposed a Task Resolution Mechanic that could replace Thieves' Skills and any other tasks the player's might undertake using Ability Scores, but today I'm proposing the same thing using Class Level.

The basic mechanic is that when a task occurs the DM decides upon a minimum Level for a Class (or Classes) for the Task to automatically succeed and the Difficulty of the Task if an automatic success is not possible.

When an obstacle presents itself, the DM first needs to set the appropriate Class(es) and minimum Level(s) to overcome the obstacle automatically. An important factor to keep in mind is the different experience points needed for different classes to gain levels. In many ways, the minimum Level will come down to deciding if a you want a player to automatically succeed.

Then the DM needs to set a Difficulty that is represented in # on a d6 roll.

I've worked up an optional Table* for the DM to use:

Level of the Challenge        No Training          Training
                                                 # on D6              # on D6
1-4                                              1-3                      1-5         
5-9                                              1-2                      1-4
10-12                                            1                       1-3
13+                                               -                        1-2
                                            
The DM also has the option of ruling that the necessary equipment is required for any situation.


Let's say a party is trying to sneak past a sleeping minotaur. The DM decides that a Thief of Level 5+ can do this automatically. Since Thief's are Trained in Move Silently, if their level is 4 or less, they can attempt this on a 1-4 on a d6 roll. Any other character can attempt this on a 1-3 on a d6 roll.

This can easily be extended to other challenges, for instance a Wizard trying to recognize useful items or spell ingredients from an  ancient lab (Wizard Level of 8+/Training 1-4/No Training 1-2).

Thoughts?


*This the the Labyrinth Lord Hear Noise table flipped.

Apes Victorious: Thunderbird

THUNDERBIRD for Apes Victorious

No. Enc.: 1d6 (2d8)

Movement: 90' (30'), (F) 240' (60')
Intelligence: Average

Psionic Potential: 3d4, inactive

Hits: 1d6/1d4/1d8/1d4
Armor: 0 or armor
To Hit: 12
Save: B1, C1, G1, O1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 or by weapon
Morale: 9
XP: 10

   Human folklore, especially in North America, is filled with legends of winged humanoids. With the decimation of humanity and the rise of the Apes, small settlements of the winged folk, who call themselves Thunderbirds, have cropped up. The Thunderbirds are just as smart, cunning, and driven by survival as the Apes and they are extremely territorial.

(If you like this post and others like it and have an extra $1 a month, please consider becoming a Patron of Cross Planes on Patreon.)

OSR: A Task Resolution System based on Ability Scores

In my exploration of adjusting the niche of Thieves in OSR games here and here, I inadvertently stumbled upon the kernel of an idea for a Task Resolution Mechanic that could replace Thieves' Skills and any other task the player's might undertake.

The basic mechanic is that when a task occurs the DM decides upon a minimum Ability Score for the Task to automatically succeed, if it that automatic success is only available to a certain class or classes, and the Difficulty of the Task if an automatic success is not possible.

When an obstacle presents itself, the DM needs to choose the appropriate Ability Score and the minimum score necessary to overcome the obstacle automatically. 

The Ability Score tiers are 13 (Challenging), 16 (Difficult), and 18 (Hard) mapping to the ranges of bonuses in Labyrinth Lord and other OSR games.  I feel that anything between 9 and 12 shouldn't require much effort, personally.

Then the DM needs to set a Difficulty Class if no one has that minimum Ability Score. The DC's* are 6+, 11+, or 16+. No Ability Score modifier is added to this roll. At this point Class Features like Thief Skills or appropriate backgrounds give the character a +5 to the roll. A 1 creates either a failure or an additional complication. The DM is free to decide a Task Check is impossible for a character, but may at their option, require a Natural 20 on the roll to succeed.

The DM also has the option of ruling that the necessary equipment is required for any situation.

So let's say a party of adventurers encounter a locked chest. The DM has decided that a character with an Intelligence Score of 16+ can Find and Remove the trap on the chest; if no character has an Int that high, the task requires a d20 roll of 16+ to succeed. However if a Thief is in the party, their Find and Remove Trap class feature gives them a +5 to the roll. 

Next the party is trying to open the chest, which requires a Dexterity Score of 13+ to automatically succeed; if no character has a Dex that high, the task has a DC of 11+ to succeed. If there is a Thief in the party, their Pick Locks class feature gives them a +5 to the roll.

This can easily be extended to other challenges, for instance a door requires a Strength Score of 18+ or a DC of 16+, and the DM allows a Fighter to have a +5 to the roll. Or the party finds a strange idol that requires an Intelligence of 16+ or a DC of 11+, and the DM allows a Cleric to have a +5 on the roll.

Thoughts?


*I stole these DCs from 13th Age.

Apes Victorious: Aliens (Attack the Block)

ALIEN (Attack the Block) for Apes Victorious

No. Enc.: 1d3 (1d6)

Movement: 120' (40')
Intelligence: Animal

Psionic Potential: 1d4, inactive

Hits: 5d8
Armor: -4
To Hit: 15
Save: G5
Attacks: 3 (2 claws, bite)
Damage: 1d4/1d4/1d8
Morale: 7
XP: 650

   An unnamed extraterrestrial species which crash landed on Earth through meteorite-esque cocoons. They are quadrupedal, having long legs (all four legs are the same length), armed with bear-like claws, rows upon rows of sharp fangs, having no eyes, nostrils, or ears to speak of, and communicate through sonar, shrieks, screams, snarls, and growls. They are also a sexually dimorphic species, the females being dog-sized and almost completely hairless, while the males being gorilla-sized and having a very thick coat of hair, so black in color it doesn't reflect any light at all. The males are also seen to have bioluminescent "glowing" fangs - which can easily be mistaken for eyes.   When the aliens find a suitable planet to "infest", the females excrete a musk-like fluid so the males are able to track them where then reproduce after landing on the planet, populating their new home.

(If you like this post and others like it and have an extra $1 a month, please consider becoming a Patron of Cross Planes on Patreon.)