|
I could see the crawling claw be an excuse for a silly b-movie romp through the wizard's tower but that's a quest anyway.
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 18:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:23 |
|
|
I think it would be better if they went in there expecting a crawling claw, but the crawling claw - now imbued with the wizard's intellect and arcane knowledge - has taken to getting all his other crazy experiments and dangerous poo poo that he keeps laying around activated so this goes from simple cheap horror monster to a crisis as the PCs get inside the tower and find out poo poo is now very real. Or maybe you could make it a clone-ing gone awry. And there are other clones. So, basically Army of Darkness is what I'm saying.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 19:44
|
|
|
Ithle01 posted:I think it would be better if they went in there expecting a crawling claw, but the crawling claw - now imbued with the wizard's intellect and arcane knowledge - has taken to getting all his other crazy experiments and dangerous poo poo that he keeps laying around activated so this goes from simple cheap horror monster to a crisis as the PCs get inside the tower and find out poo poo is now very real. Or maybe you could make it a clone-ing gone awry. And there are other clones. So, basically Army of Darkness is what I'm saying. This is appealing and suggests an alternative use for the decks. Rather than using them as a random event source during a play session, pull from them while planning a campaign, when you have time to develop ideas like this one.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 19:46
|
|
|
Manual of the Planes: 3.5E More Denizens of the Planes Inevitables are sentient constructs of magic and clockwork designed and built in factory-cogs on Mechanus for the purpose of identifying and punishing individuals in the cosmos who break specific laws. How exactly Inevitables are built and assigned targets is a mystery - some speculate that each factory is controlled by a sentient intelligence that assigns targets, others hypothesize that Inevitables are a natural function of the universe, the cosmos' innate order lashing out at those who break laws. Whatever the case, all Inevitables are formidable and come with a surfeit of spell-like abilities and weapons, with different transgressions being targeted by different types of Inevitable. It must be noted that Inevitables are sentient, the punishment is not always death, and Inevitables have some amount of free will in determining the punishment. All Inevitables have the Geas and Mark of Justice spells, which they will typically use to enforce 'community service' if they decide that death is not warranted. Once an Inevitable's mission is complete, most Inevitables return to the factory that made them for reassignment, though others will choose to remain in the area and seek out new targets who fit the Inevitable's criteria. In extreme cases, Inevitables have even been known to ally with mortal adventurers in pursuit of their quarry. No one's entirely sure what happens when an Inevitable proves insufficient to the task and is destroyed by its target, rumors abound of new Inevitables being created with all the memories of their failed predecessor and new upgrades from the factory designed to ensure completion of its task - and not simply that this will happen once, but as many times with as many upgrades as it takes to destroy the target. Zelekhuts punish not those who have broken any specific law, but those who have evaded mortal justice by fleeing. Such individuals may find themselves hunted by a tireless extraplanar construct that resembles a clockwork centaur. Zelekhuts are armed with two spiked chains that unfold from hidden compartments in the Inevitable's 'wrists' that they are proficient at using to trip, disarm, and bind subjects for apprehension. If need be, Zelekhuts can unfold wings of shining bronze from their back and fly quite well, and they are equipped with a variety of divination spell-like abilities. Zelekhuts typically prefer to take subjects alive and return them to the mortal authorities they evaded - more than one magister on the Material Plane has been stunned to see a Zelekhut dragging in a bound fugitive! Normally they will only kill the subject if the lives of innocents are in danger of they believe that the local authorities are incapable of holding the subject. Kolyaruts are sent to punish oathbreakers and traitors, and are the most adept of the Inevitables at social interaction. Not only do Kolyaruts look like tall, powerfully built clockwork humanoids in their native form, they possess shapeshifting and invisibility spell-like abilities and frequently go undercover in humanoid societies. Those who break oaths incidentally or were forced to against their will are in no danger from Kolyaruts, and trivial oaths and promises are of no interest to them; Kolyaruts are highly scrupulous and will make an effort to learn everything they can about their subject and the breaking of their oath. When push comes to shove, Kolyaruts charge themselves with negative energy to rapidly drain HP, stats, and even levels from the target. If those weapons are insufficient, Kolyaruts are not shy about seeking mortal assistance or using any weapon at hand. Maruts hunt those who would defy death, either by seeking immortality or by becoming undead or creating lesser undead. Maruts are rare and are typically found hunting liches, powerful necromancers, vampire lords, and the like. Among their bevy of spell-like abilities are Wall of Force, which they typically use to cut off escape routes, and Chain Lightning, which they prefer to clear out the chaff of minor undead their targets often surround themselves with. Their fists are the only weapons most Maruts need, each charged with the power of thunder and lightning (please ignore that Maruts are CR 15 and so have to exist at a level range where  is reaching their peak and will probably dumpster one of these with ease). (left to right: Zelekhut, Kolyarut, Marut) Mercanes are mysterious 12 foot tall extraplanar traders with mysterious goals who travel freely about all the planes as they move mysteriously and seek mysterious goods for mysterious purposes or hire adventurers for mysterious errands. Ice Paraelementals are elementals made of ice mainly found in the Planes of Air and Water. If the local climate is cold enough for them, ice paraelementals can be actually quite reasonably and friendly, but more often visitors find ice paraelementals in a very grouchy mood from being too warm and itching to take out their frustrations on something. Magma Paraelementals are elementals made of lava mainly found in the Planes of Earth and Fire. Magma paraelementals are born in the fires of the hottest volcanoes, and are rarely found far from where they spawned. Magma paraelementals respect strength and power, but prefer to be left alone in their natural environment. Ooze Paraelementals are elementals made of muck and mud mainly found in the Planes of Earth and Water. The touch of an ooze paraelemental is extremely corrosive to most materials, and they enjoy destroying the equipment of humanoid travelers (particularly if the humanoids are counting on them for survival) and leaving the naked, helpless humanoids at the mercy of the plane. Smoke Paraelementals are elementals made of smoke found mainly in the Planes of Air and Fire. These critters are violently protective of the clouds of smoke and ash that spawned them, and dislike venturing far into any other environment. As long as visitors don't intend harm to their environment, smoke paraelementals are rarely immediately hostile. Yugoloths have been discussed in overview (and I still don't get what makes them different from any other fiend beyond the mercenary thing, why make up a whole new kind of critter for that? DnD gonna DnD) Canoloths are Pinkies from Doom but are blind. The rest is about the same: an armored quadruped that charges you. CR6 and a reasonable boss fight for early adventurers. Mezzoloths are humanoid insects with four arms. They're the rank and file foot soldiers of the yugoloths, the only notable things about them are that they have Dispel Magic and Cloudkill as spell-like abilities. Nycoloths are giant gargoyles that can turn invisible. They're designed to be jerks who hit and run the party. Ultroloths are the big cheeses of the yugoloths and at CR 16 are going to get blapped out of existence by because most of their CR is invested in big numbers rather than magic.Next time, monster templates for creating your own critters!
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 19:48
|
|
|
Midjack posted:This is appealing and suggests an alternative use for the decks. Rather than using them as a random event source during a play session, pull from them while planning a campaign, when you have time to develop ideas like this one. I generally assume that's what people use them for. Just random encounters like "centipede bum fights" or "Hard Candy, but with centaurs" aren't really that much to work with as a player or a GM. Like, what do I even do in these situations? Probably walk away because I'm in fantasy loving Vietnam and everything is a trick to kill me. Like, that ax guy, my players would turn him in immediately because he's a dick and they have no reason to want to hep him. Maybe if he's a sorcerer who needs the sacred wood to make a dozen staves of undead smiting because it turns out that the bat swarm from before were actually the vampire vanguard of an advancing horde of the Necro-Host. Or maybe he's got an ax to grind and he needs the wood to retake his ancestral estate from his from undead great-great-grandfather who refuses to pass the estate on to his living descendant (the ax-man) and, once ax-man is properly installed on his throne, will reward the PCs with titles and land for their help.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 20:11
|
|
|
Soulbound Spoops The Legions of Nagash is the more formal term for all undead who inexorably feel the call to serve or at least acknowledge Nagash and his rulership of necromancy. He rules over his undead empire from Shyish, but in truth he is not the sole power in undeath. Some souls of the dead reject his service, and some have been cursed for that rejection, or enslaved despite their objections. The ones that don't serve Nagash are not in his Legions, though. The number of undead out there, though, has definitely gone up recently thanks to the Necroquake, and the awakened dead have inherited, if nothing else, Nagash's general distaste for the living. Chainrasps are Medium Undead (Legions of Nagash) Warriors, the most common form of undead. They are born from the souls of those who died as prisoners, twisted by their pain and anger. They take on the form of ethereal, floating skeletons of their past selves, bound still with their chains from life - both literal and emtaphorical. Their ghostly forms make it hard to kill them with mundane weapons, though their own rusted, ghostly tools are more than able to carve flesh. The leaders of Chainrasp bands are Dreadwardens, who stand guard over the unrepentant dead and bear candles that keep their prisoners bound to them. The Chainrasps believe the light will lead to freedom, but in truth the candles ensure they remain eternal slaves of Nagash. Chainrasps and Dreadwardens can both fly, but Dreadwardens are tougher than their fragile slaves, and better fighters - Chainrasps are pretty weak. Both take only half damage from nonmagical attacks, can pass through solid objects, and are immune to becoming Charmed and Frightened. When two or more Chainrasps share a Zone, they create a Minor Hazard that ignores Armor as the chill of the grave deepends enough to bite, and if a Dreadwarden is also in the Zone, it becomes Major. Dreadwardens also increase the Defence of Chainrasps in their Zone, thanks to their deathly candlelight. Glavewraiths are Medium Undead (Legions of Nagash) Warriors, twisted ghosts with the heads of skeletal horses, formed from the souls of those who loved to hunt. They wield great glaives that always point towards the heart of their quarry, no matter how distant, and they never stop chasing those their masters set them on. However, the Glaivewraiths feel no joy in their hunt, compelled as they are in undead slavery. They work in total silence, but for the deep beat of the skin drums they carry. They lower their glaives only after a kill, when they are granted the freedom to momentarily contemplate their sorrow and their damnation. Like all ghosts, they are immune to Charmed and Frightened and take only half damage from nonmagical attacks. Further, at the start of combat the can pick a target to be their quarry, getting a bonus to Melee against that target, and can reselect a target once the first is dead. They're decent and hard-hitting fighters, but fragile (after you deal with their Ethereal nature, anyway). Myrmourn Banshees are Medium Undead (Legions of Nagash) Warriors. They are made from the souls of spellcasters who were buried without proper funereal rites. Nagash twists these souls to his desires, turning them into blind, starving ghosts that feed on magic itself. They are drawn by hunger and fury towards spellcasters, stabbing anything in their way with frosty blades so they can suck in the power of the arcane. They fly, though their attacks aren't much to write home about - except for that they ignore Armor. They have the normal ghostly defenses as the others above, too, and are about as tough as Glaivewraiths. Once per turn they can try to unbind an active spell and consume it. If they succeed, on the next turn they can let out a terrible cry, which forces everyone nearby to have to make a Determination check or become Frightened. Vargheists are Large Undead (Legions of Nagash) Warriors. While vampiric nobles put on a mask of calm and even debonair action, underneath that mask is a terrible hunger, a monstrous urge that thirsts for blood and flesh. When a vampire finally gives in to those urges and abandons all traces of humanity, they become a Vargheist, driven mad by hunger, isolation or pain. Some Vampire courts punish their criminals by forcing this transformation on them, chaining them into sarcophagi until the hunger drives them mad so that the resulting beast can be wielded as a terrible weapon. Vargheists fly with terrible speed and are dangerous fighters, as their fangs and talons are Penetrating and anyone they damage must make an Athletics check to stop the Vargheist from latching on and causing Restrained, allowing the monster to drag them around. Vargheists are relatively fragile, but they get a bonus to tracking anyone with a Wound, get a bonus to Melee when near anyone with a Wound, and instantly kill anyone they cause to become Mortally Wounded - and get a free attack on someone else besides, as they go into a feeding frenzy. The Flesh-Eater Courts descend from the vampire Ushoran, who rebelled against Nagash and fled his service. In return, Nagash cursed the bloodline, and the once-noble vampire line became twisted and warped, turning them into ghoulish monsters. The curse extends even to those who serve such a vampire, warping them into cannibalistic ghouls once they eat of the flesh and blood tainted by their master. Worse, the Flesh-Eater Courts are cursed to be unable to perceive their own monstrosity. As they eat rotting corpses, they perceive grand feasts. As they slaver and gnaw at bones, they see mighty kingdoms, with themselves as noble knights, retainers and so on. Each court's vampiric ruler sees themself as a mighty king or queen, a chivalrous and honorable leader, even as they feed on the living in their lands. Abhorash suffers worst from this, as the first to bear the curse of the Abhorrent Ghoul King. The Abhorrent Ghoul Royals are Medium Undead (Flesh-Eater Courts) Chosen, vampires that rule over the twisted and maddened kingdoms that the Courts call home. When they look at the remnants of mortal settlements that they have cursed to cannibal frenzies, they see their peasants and soldiers, in need of their benevolent leadership. Each believes themself no less kind and honorable a ruler as the best mortal leader. In truth, they are huge monsters of muscle and vicious claws, surrounded by bloodied, flesh-carved servants that are loyal unto death. They're tough, well armored and excellent at both fighting and spellcasting. They are immune to Charmed and Frightened, and can track anyone Wounded with their vampiric sense for blood. Each is able to cast Aetheric Armor, Arcane Blast, Arcane Bolt, MYstic Shield and the unique spells Malefic Hunger and Unholy Vitality. Malefic Hunger isn't an easy cast, but it causes all of their nearby allies to deal extra damage due to their frenzy, and Unholy Vitality hardens the skin of their allies, increasing their Armor. In battle, they fight with only their vicious talons, which also cause Poisoned on a failed Fortitude check due to the viscera and gore caked on them. Crypt Ghouls are are Medium Undead (Flesh-Eater Courts) Minions. They make up the warriors and courtiers of the Flesh-Eater Courts, and once, they were normal mortals. They have all now succumbed to the madness of their kings and queens, and while they perceive themselves as bearing mighty swords and fine armor, in truth they are generally clad in rags and fight only with filthy claws and teeth. They are so loyal to their masters that they would die rather than risk their displeasure, and this makes them shockingly tenacious and dangerous, especially in numbers. They're very fragile, though, and while they're decent fighters, they can't Swarm. However, they can eaisly track anyone that's Wounded, they're immune to Charmed and Frightened and they get a bonus to Melee in groups, even if they don't get full on Swarm rules. Terrorgheists are Enormous Undead (Flesh-Eater Courts) Champions, the mighty steeds of the Abhorrent Kings. What their masterrs see them as varies, but in reality, they are immense, rotting, undead bat-creatures, abominations that fly at terrifying speed and let out horrific shrieks that can shatter minds. It's not clear where they come from originally, but when slain, they explode into a swarm of bats. If even one of those bats is fed vampiric blood, it will grow and mature into a new Terrorgheist. Like most undead, they are immune to Charmed and Frightened. They're also very tough, Nigh Unkillable, hit like freight trains with terrifying accuracy, and their claws can rend armor, while their fangs heal them based on the damage they deal. They can take an action to let out a death shriek, which causes all non-Undead nearby to have to make a Determination check or be Stunne d for a round. On death, they explode into ichor, bone and bats, dealing nasty damage to anyone nearby.  Fairly effective as a tragedy, honestly. The Ossiarch Bonereapers are the newest of Nagash's creations, and while they are part of the Legions, they are given a seperate tag because they're...something different. Something new. Each is a towering warrior, forged of bone, metal and brutal combat skill. They are not mortal skeletons, but undead constructs formed from the fargmented bones and souls of thousands of lives, and each is built to be intelligent, self-sufficient and loyal. They are Nagash's glimpse at the future of the universe, and they have spent the past age secretly gathering the bones of mortals and monsters within Shyish, to refit and construct more of themselves. They are strong, durable and cunning, and already mortal civilizations have learned to fear the coming of the Bone Tithe, when the Bonereapers appear outside their walls and demand a tithe of bone - given freely, or harvested from a slaughtered city. They prefer the former, but they'll take the latter. The Mortek Guard are Medium Undead (Ossiarch Bonereapers) Minions, built to operate alone or in groups with equal effectiveness. They are the heart of the Bonereaper legions, built from dense bone and towering at over six feet tall. They are animated by the agglomerated souls of heroes and champions, using their collective knowledge and skill to become more than the sum of their parts, and while they are utterly loyal to their leaders and to Nagash, each is fully capable of independent thought and action. While they're no less fragile than other Minions, they are heavily armored and excellent warriors - they don't need Swarm to become very dangerous, especially if armed with Soulcleaver Greatblades, which do nasty damage and upgrade the severity of any Wound they cause. The Mortek are immune to Charmed and Frightened, and if three or more are in the same Zone and have shields, they can create a shield wall that boosts their Defence and requires others to make Might checks to enter or leave the Zone. The Necropolis Stalkers are Large Undead (Ossiarch Bonereapers) Champions - even bigger, immense creatures with four skeletal faces and many limbs. Each face is imbued with the soul of a warrior of legendary skill, wiped of memory but armed with terrifying mastery of weapons. Any of the four faces may take command of the body depending on whose skills are required. They've got the same immunities, have amazing combat skills and do a ton of damage, are tough as hell and heavily armored, and at the start of combat, they can choose which of their Quadrach Aspects is in command, granting them a boost to Melee for the Blade-strike Aspect, to Defence for the Blade-parry Aspect, to damage for the Destroy Aspect or to penetrating armor for the Precision Aspect. Each turn, they can freely rotate their head to choose a new aspect, swapping out the bonuses. Next time: Greenskins and Status Effects Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jul 26, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 20:18
|
|
|
Okay, those are some pretty good undead monsters.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 20:20
|
|
|
Kolyarut:" A pact is a pact, my good bitch" *smashes crystal holding elder evil*
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 20:32
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Ultroloths are the big cheeses of the yugoloths and at CR 16 are going to get blapped out of existence by The Chad Jihad posted:Kolyarut:" A pact is a pact, my good bitch" *smashes crystal holding elder evil* 
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 21:54
|
|
|
The Flesh-Eater Courts are definitely my favorite thing from any Warhammer Fantasy derivation.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 22:08
|
|
|
NGDBSS posted:3.0 was also infamous for overestimating CRs even by the general standards of D&D 3E. I think people estimated that ultroloth at something more like CR 13 or lower. (There was one nutjob on the Wizards forums who swore up and down that No Really the ultroloth was CR 16; they got laughed out.) My experience with 3.x was generally that CR's were very low-balled, the one time I had a GM actually use them we got a TPK.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 22:29
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:
Ushoran actually. Still the Flesh-Eater Courts are really fun. People generally joking they are the new Bretonnia. Them in action. https://malignportents.com/story/time-of-plenty/ MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jul 26, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 23:03
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:Ushoran actually. Still the Flesh-Eater Courts are really fun. People generally joking they are the new Bretonnia. Huh, could've sworn Abhorash because of the Abhorrent thing.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 23:24
|
|
|
Mors Rattus posted:Huh, could've sworn Abhorash because of the Abhorrent thing. Abhorash is the progenitor of the Blood Dragons still. Ushoran still caused the advent of the ghoul kings. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Jul 27, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 23:41
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:My experience with 3.x was generally that CR's were very low-balled, the one time I had a GM actually use them we got a TPK. Part of the problem, of course, is that character level is a phenomenally bad indication of power level in D&D3.x. The components are poorly balanced against each other, they’re highly modular, and they aren’t balanced within themselves either. This only gets worse as you level up. You can already go pretty wrong at level 1 by getting bad ability scores or picking bad feats, spells, etc, but by the double digit levels the difference between “I took 10 fighter levels and the feats that looked good” and “I’m halfway through my exhaustively planned 20 levels in 3 classes and two prestige classes, all caster based” is impossible to deal with. I’m not sure how you could possibly set up a CR that would work for groups playing both ways. And of course even if you are going for mechanical optimization, what particular sourcebooks etc you have access to makes a huge difference. I ran a ton of 3/3.5 in college and cannot understand why anyone wants to do it in 2020, it is the worst. Also I like the idea of the Inevitables in theory but they just seem really hard to game with, because if they come up, they’re generally just going to get clowned on. So then it’s like, what, now we have ever-increasing terminators showing up? Fine if you want that to be the focus of the campaign I guess, but the things they attempt to enforce are pretty routine in D&D which makes it hard for me to fit them into the world in a satisfying way.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 05:49
|
|
|
A big problem with lot of later D&D and the upper planes is that there’s so much of a counterbalance of good/neutral monsters bs evil it’s a wonder why these worlds need adventurers in the first place? Ex. The maruts - if the multiverse has this built in immune system against too many zombie wizards, what’s the point of scrub-tier adventurers fighting them?
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 07:24
|
|
|
Gatto Grigio posted:A big problem with lot of later D&D and the upper planes is that there’s so much of a counterbalance of good/neutral monsters bs evil it’s a wonder why these worlds need adventurers in the first place? I was thinking about that, purely because I do have a positive memory of leafing through the 3.5 monster manual as a teen and liking Inevitables, and... I don't really have an answer. You'd have to seriously rewrite them - I like the idea of Inevitables as being basically outgunned by the entire universe beyond the Lawzones, so they're forced to ally with adventurers as a matter of course. This would be enhanced by making their powers more about deputizing a bunch of radical teens, rather than personally doing jobs. Maybe you can apply to the Powers of Law to get assigned an Inevitable when you can show that your enemy broke some cosmic law, and then you have a cool robot sidekick. (Then just make Inevitables playable and that's a PC.)
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 08:33
|
|
|
The Chad Jihad posted:Kolyarut:" A pact is a pact, my good bitch" *smashes crystal holding elder evil* Pandorym did nothing wrong and was entirely a victim.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 09:18
|
|
|
Joe Slowboat posted:(Then just make Inevitables playable and that's a PC.) Oh hey, setting-agnostic warforged!
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 13:16
|
|
|
3.x (and hell, 5e) CRs are pretty much just wild guesses. Some are wildly overestimated (the Tarrasque in 3.x is not that difficult to kill for its CR because it's mostly just a huge sack of HP and some physical attacks) while low level monsters are extremely underestimated like the CR 3 party killers, the Shadow and the Giant Crab.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 14:09
|
|
|
There’s been some discussion about the most useful way to utilize the Deck of Encounters - as pre-game prep material, inspiration, or as something to be utilized during the gaming session. Here’s what the deck itself has to say on the topic:Using These Cards posted:This, the latest DUNGEON MASTER DECKS™ accessory, can be used to spice up your campaigns in any number of ways - as a random encounter generator, as building blocks in a larger campaign, or to design an entire campaign. So they were presenting it as all things to all people. Of course, back in Deck One, the card writers were DEFINITELY not always on the same page about how the cards would actually be used. The perspective I’m taking is that I’m an AD&D 2E DM who wants to use the cards pretty much as written, and mostly as in-session random encounters. I mean, I figure I’d draw cards during a group bathroom/snack break; I don’t need to run the card while I’m reading it. But I’m a lazy DM, dammit, and I want to get maximum milage out of this Deck of Encounters, not Deck of Hooks or Deck of Encounters That You Really Need to Flesh Out More Before Use. I’m against expanding on a card if the idea really grabs me, but it’s not my default expectation. All along, Cythereal’s Manual of the Planes reviews were secretly  The Deck of Encounters Set Two Part 19: The Deck of 97: The Patron The PCs are preparing to leave town on some kind of quest when their quest-giver approaches them and asks to go with them. “The patron promises that his or her presence will not affect the party’s payment.” It’s actually a doppelganger who will try to seduce There’s no particular motive given, but doppelgangers gonna doppelgang, I guess. Despite some holes in the premise, I suppose it’s playable. It’s conceivable that the “patron is hot for adventurers” excuse might even hold up until the first murder. But I’m not sure it’s fun. You really don’t want established NPCs to randomly be replaced with murderous doppelgangers, because you want your players to keep interacting with NPCs. Pass. 98: The Prisoners After beating some “monsters who might have prisoners,” the PCs find just that: “two men and one woman of whatever race is the most prevalent in the party” (jermlaine, I assume). They praise the party and promise rewards once they’re returned to their families. They’re actually doppelgangers who had recently been found out, and not killed for some reason, by the monsters the PCs killed. Their sudden and inevitable betrayal will take place the very first night. One will “assume the form of the most trusted slumbering character” and offer to take next watch after the current watchperson. This runs straight into gameplay problems: the DM would never normally play out one PC taking over the shift of another PC in the middle of the night, so OBVIOUSLY something is seriously wrong, but then the player kind of has to find an excuse to figure out why it’s wrong. Not to mention that the player of the trusted sleeping character probably won’t be playing their character right now. If the DM is on the PCs’ side, this it could be a fun encounter. If the DM approaches it adversarially and gets all snippity about in-character knowledge, things could get ugly. But I guess that’s true most of the time. So keep? 99: First Claim “Having received a tip that a large underground collection of caves is filled with treasure-rich monsters, the party has finally found the caverns.” What source is this again, exactly? Because this is actually a dwarven mine, and the forty dwarven miners will not be amused by visiting murderhobos. They’ll have to talk fast, give gifts, and/or be lectured at about “following unsubstantiated rumors” before they’re allowed to leave. Kinda like a boring fetch quest quest with no conflict or payoff. Pass. 100: Rowdy Dwarves In a tavern, there’s a group of ten, uh, rambunctious Khazâd. They’re so loud that it’s disruptive, and the bouncer is thrown onto the party’s table when he tries to intervene. The dwarves will then taunt the PCs. They’re really gunning for a tavern brawl, it seems, but won’t use weapons unless provoked, and will pay damages in the morning. Uninspired, but there’s a little detail to work with, and it’s fine as a roleplaying opportunity. Keep.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 15:25
|
|
|
I quite like the Inevitables portrayal in 5e. There are much less of them, but they are far more powerful. Pretty much two parties go to a place called the Hall of Concordance in Sigil. Inside the machine called the Kolyarut (There is only one of them now.) is presented with a contract the two parties agreed on to be Inevitable enforced. If the Kolyarut finds the contract acceptable, no vague, contradictory or unenforceable terms in it, then after taking a payment of gold chisels the contract into a disc of gold that is inserted into the chest of a marut to animate it. The Marut then exists only to enforce the contract, and punish any party that breaks it's terms. (Which it can do pretty easily as it's one of the most powerful monsters in the game.) They were also explicitly created by Primus the master of the modrons. So they have a modron inspired look now. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 17:14
|
|
|
Soulbound Smash The State The Greenskin Hordes are the followers and children of the god Gorkamorka, lord of primal violence. Their existence is fighting, and their cultures tend to revolve around getting ready to fight, being best at fighting and smashing stuff. They exist to celebrate the glory of violence, for the most part. They can be interacted with, though - in the Age of Myth, Gorkamorka themself was a friend of Sigmar and happily fought monsters and led the great Waaagh!s in seeking out and beating up predators and huge monsters and so on. Of course, Gorkamorka eventually grew bored and frustrated by councils and orders and doing what people said, and the first Great Waaaaagh! destroyed many cities and mountains before Gorkamorka tore themself in half to become Gork and Mork, fragmenting the Waaaaagh! into many tribes that even now continue to feud amongst themselves. The Orruks say that when enough of them reunite under one leader, the Waaaaagh! will reform, and they will continue their rampage across reality. Despite this, the Greenskins are not as simple and barbaric as they often seem - they just don't respect people who aren't strong. They tend to have a respect for Sigmarite warriors, though, thanks to the legends of Sigmar and Gorkamorka. Ardboys are Medium Mortal (Orruk) Warriors, the young orruks that aspire to become Ironjaws, as the toughest and rowdiest Orruk leaders are usually known. They want to prove themselves in battle, but to prove worthy of being called an Ironjaw takes more than just picking up something heavy and clubbing people with it. Ardboys also need to be tough, and that means forging themselves crude armor, selecting tactically sound weapons and learning to march in formation. Most other Greenskins have little understanding of the Ardboys' love of drums and banners, but none can deny that an Ardboy formation doesn't break easy, knows how to fight and is amazing when it's time to charge. Ardboys are armored, tough and good at fighting, though they aren't the most damaging. A group of them sometimes will have a drummer, who forgoes the standard choppa and shield in favor of a big drum and big club to beat it with, and any Ardboy near the drummer gets a bonus to Melee. Weirdnob Shamans are Medium Mortal (Orruk) Champions. They are twitchy sorts, often maddened by their ability to channel Waaaagh! energies, and they're the closest thing the Orruks have to wizards. No one, not even their companions, seems to be sure where their power comes from, but they're dangerous, unpredictable and able to make heads burst or summon giant glowing green fists out of the sky. They're tough but rarely wear armor, and their melee skills are particularly poor for an Orruk. On the other hand, they get a bonus to Channelling rolls for each nearby Orruk, thanks to the Waaaagh! energies they emit, and they're immune to being Charmed or Frightened due to their Waaaagh! power. They can cast Aetheric Armor, Arcane Blast, Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield or their unique Green Pike spell, which lets them vomit up a river of ectoplasm that damages everyone nearby and ignores Armor. Grots are Small Mortal (Grot) Minions, and they're a smaller sort of Greenskin, traditionally serfs or slaves to more dangerous Orruks and Ogors. They're often seen as disposable or as pets, working as cooks, looters and other support positions in Orruk and Ogor society. Servant grots are rarely good fighters, but they're expected to pitch in, stabbing at ankles or throwing rocks. Left to themselves, the Grots can be much more dangerous, as they unite in worship of giant spiders or the Bad Moon. Individual Grots are very weak and fragile, with very little skill at anything, but often carry barbed nets that can cause Restrained on targets. More importantly, they can form up as Swarms to become much more dangerous, and when in a Swarm, Grots do extra damage as well as getting the normal benefits. Fungoid Cave-Shamans are Small Mortal (Grot) Champions, the leaders of Grot society, drug-addled cult leaders and medics who grow and consume mushrooms that grant them visions of violence or which can be processed to create terrible poisons. The more enthusiastic ones even grow fungi on their own bodies, allowing mushrooms to burst out of their flesh for easier picking. They are tougher and much more well-armored than the average Grot, though absolutely terrible at actual melee combat. Their cunning and leadership lets them grant extra actions to nearby Greenskins, however, and each one carries a Deffcap Mushroom, which they may consume to immediately cast a spell without using an action. The shamans also coat themselves in spore squigs, which are tiny and harmless but constantly emit green spores, which gives them a bonus to Defence against ranged attacks. They can cast Aetheric Armor, Arcane Blast, ARcane Bolt, Mystic Shield or their unique Spore Maws, which can cause the spores around them to sprout giant green mouths that damage anyone that enters melee with them. Dankhold Troggoths are Large Mortal (Troggoth) Champions, monstrous creatures from deep below the earth which regenerate damage quickly, as their skin and body are constantly growing. Spells seem to flow off them, and the massive creatures tower over the Greenskins around them, smashing anything in their way. They tend to be lazy, sleepy critters, though, happy to nap in their caves for ages - long enough for mushrooms to grow on them and even sometimes long enough for stalagmites to form on their skin. They can be awakened by the call of the Waaaaagh!, however, and when they are, they head out in search of violence, armed with large clubs. Troggoths are tough and Nigh Unkillable, able to absorb truly amazing amounts of damage. Further, they have an innate magic resistance that doubles their dicepool to reist any spell and dobules their Armor against spell damage. They heal 4 Toughness each turn, and they are always followed by a cloud of tiny cave critters that they call Squiggly-beasts, which form a Minor Hazard around them that Greenskins are immune to. Troggoths are terrifyingly deadly with their giant boulder clubs and their crushing grip, which they can use to cause Restrained to Medium or smaller creatures by just grabbing and lifting someone up. They can cause automatic damage to anyone in their grip, too, which ignores Armor, and it takes a Might or Reflexes check to escape. Fortunately, they only have two hands, and their clubs need both to be used. Squigs are Small Beast Warriors, strange fungal monsters that are basically giant mouths full of teeth. They're dumb as hell, but the Grots are very good at taming them, for a given value of taming. They're erratic and hard to control, but they're dangerous animals and more than capable of eating any garbage that the Grots want to get rid of. They're always hungry, though, and more than happy to eat aspiring Squig herders if given half a chance. Squigs are pretty fragile, but they're fast, good fighters and hit like a truck. Further, they are able to bounce massive distances to attack people, taking a penalty to Melee when they do...but if they hit, they do double damage and knock their victim Prone. The status conditions you can get are finally given rules right at the end of the book: Blinded creatures can't see, get increased difficulty on Awareness tests reliant on sight, get Greater Disadvantage on opposed Awareness tests and get a penalty to Melee, Accuracy and Defence. Charmed creatures can't attack the source of their Charm or target it with any negative abilities or spells. The source of the Charm gets Advantage on social interactions against the Charmed creature, and the creature gets Disadvantage against them on similar rolls. Deafened creatures can't hear, and get -1 to the dicepool of any test that requires hearing. Frightened creatures get -1 to the dicepool of all tests while they have line of sight with the source of Frightened, and cannot willingly move closer to the source. Incapacitated creatures cannot move, take actions or spend Mettle, and the DN to hit them is always 2 no matter how bad your stats are. Poisoned creatures get -1 to the dicepool of all tests. Prone creatures can only move by crawling until they stand up and end the condition (which can be done as a move action), and they get a penalty to Melee and Accuracy. Anyone attacking a Prone target at Close range gets a bonus to Melee and Accuracy, but attacking a Prone target from outside Close range gives an increasing penalty to Accuracy the further you are away. Restrained creatures cannot move and get a penalty to Melee, Accuracy and Defence. Stunned creatures can only take a move or an action, but not both, and may not spend Mettle to get extra actions. Stunned creatures are always Slow speed, as well, and they get a penalty to Defence. Unconscious creatures immediately drop everything they're holding and become Prone and Incapacitated. Further, they can't move or speak and are totally unaware of their surroundings. The End
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 17:19
|
|
|
Thanks for the look through.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 17:38
|
|
|
If I was to ever seriously use Inevitables as a big part of a campaign, my feeling after reading the 3.5E Manual would be to make them a holdover from an earlier version of the cosmos. There's a lot of hints and hooks provided in this book for the idea that the Great Wheel isn't always how the Outer Planes have looked, and I think Inevitables could work as being mostly irrelevant now but they were far more common and powerful in whatever multiverse existed before the Great Wheel. But even though the cosmos has changed and most of the Inevitable factories and supporting infrastructure and everything they used to be a part of are gone, a few still survive and keep building Inevitables to do their duty, unaware and uncaring that their place in the cosmos is gone.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 17:57
|
|
|
 Chapter 5: The Known Universe (World Characteristics) The intro story’s pretty simple this time; a Terran ship comes into the system housing the local Imperial capital, its crew has some commentary, and they head in to investigate. Traveller’s second unique feature (after the setting) is subsector generation, a complex process that involves generating planets with specific economic characteristics; after going through it you end up with a play area containing dozens of unique star systems, each with its own UWP (Universal World Profile, an alphanumeric string that can in theory tell you everything you need to know about a planet at a glance). The GURPS equivalent is far more granular and generates a single solar system several times more slowly in exchange for greater realism. Interstellar Wars tries to average the two together and gets a clunky Frankenstein of the system that combines a dumbed-down version of GURPS world creation with an even sparser emulation of Traveller’s system, but it at least gets the job done and also UWPs postdate this era so  you take what you can get. Space in Interstellar Wars is represented by subsectors 8 pc. wide and 10 pc. deep with each parsec represented as a hex; each hex contains at most one star system, and systems almost always have a single important planet or settlement (though you can generate others for them). Each system capital has a bunch of different descriptors all listed/generated separately:
 And that’s just the physical characteristics. You also have to cover its social characteristics:
Just a short update for now; my life is suddenly more complicated and I don’t have as much free time, so updates will probably be shorter and less frequent. But next time, we’ll start looking at the setting the book put together for us and begin to make sense of this: 
Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Jul 27, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 22:49
|
|
|
Oh is this where that whole Control Rating thing in GURPS came from? I remembered their tech levels too but that mostly seemed like a generalized "if you want to be doing world hopping et cetera." The main funny thing is that we've moved from TL7 to TL8. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:05
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Oh is this where that whole Control Rating thing in GURPS came from? I remembered their tech levels too but that mostly seemed like a generalized "if you want to be doing world hopping et cetera." The main funny thing is that we've moved from TL7 to TL8. In GURPS Control rating of a society interacts with the Legality Rating of a thing, stuff that’s Legality much higher than local Control is lightly regulated, Legality equal to or a little higher than Control is strictly regulated, and Legality less than Control is some kind of illegal for regular citizens to have. Much lower Legality isn’t even legal for police or military.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:09
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Oh is this where that whole Control Rating thing in GURPS came from? I remembered their tech levels too but that mostly seemed like a generalized "if you want to be doing world hopping et cetera." The main funny thing is that we've moved from TL7 to TL8. At least in 4th ed, CR comes straight out of the corebook (well, the second book in the corebook set). I don’t know how much farther back it goes. Also, there will be plenty of stuff to talk about involving TLs later in.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:19
|
|
|
NGDBSS posted:I mean, if you want to review that book then That's already been done hasn't it?
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:29
|
|
|
Manual of the Planes: 3.5E Creature Templates of the Planes Creature templates are a tool 3E DnD came up with to quickly modify monsters to suit your needs. Rather than having separate statblocks for every celestial whatever, you get a celestial creature template that you add on top of the normal creature's statblock to modify it. Manual of the Planes adds a bunch of these. Anarchic Creatures are creatures that have been altered and warped by the cosmic power of chaos, and they are typically encountered on chaotic-aligned planes of the Great Wheel, from the Beastlands to Carceri. The colors and patterns on anarchic creatures are wild and varied, and many have subtly different body parts that look like they've come from different animals and stuck together. Sentient anarchic creatures are always of chaotic alignment, and non-sentient anarchic creatures are known for their erratic and unpredictable behavior. It's ho hum as a template, comparable in power to the SRD's celestial and fiendish creature templates but with the twist that anarchic creatures have native fast healing. Axiomatic Creatures are the opposite of anarchics, creatures altered and warped by the cosmic power of law. Typically found on lawfully-aligned planes, from Bytopia to Gehenna, axiomatic creatures have a clean and shiny appearance, all plumage or fur or what have you in perfect order, coloration straight out of a textbook, and sometimes a metallic sheen. Sentient axiomatic creatures are always of lawful alignment, and non-sentient axiomatic creatures are rigid and predictable in their behavior. Axiomatic creatures of the same species share a low-level hive mind within 300 feet of each other, automatically alerting fellows to threats and dangers. Elemental Creatures are elementals that closely resemble some other creature, mundane or fantastical. They're all considered elementals, but can be very different from the norm in case you want more variety in the elementals you see. Air Element Creatures look like dense clouds or patches of fog that resemble a more or less (elemental creatures can be based on aberrations among others) mundane creature. They can all fly and have blindingly fast movement. Cold Element Creatures are made of ice and snow. They're not interesting mechanically, and are found in icy parts of the Outer Planes - Venya in Mount Celestia, the Ice Wastes of the Abyss, etc, if the cosmology isn't using the Elemental Plane of Cold I'll get to in a future update. Earth Element Creatures look like facsimiles of the base creature made of stone or dirt or crystal. They can all burrow through the earth with ease and sense any creature in contact with the ground. Fire Element Creatures are made of living flame, black charcoal, and white ash. They deal fire damage simply from contact, and extra fire damage with all physical contact attacks. Water Element Creatures are made of water or other liquids, with coral-like growths for hard pieces like teeth and fangs. They have natural swim speeds and are extremely difficult to detect in the water. Wood Element Creatures are animate masses of brambles, branches, vines, and leaves. They are considered plants rather than animals, and can launch volleys of thorns and spikes. If the cosmology isn't using the Elemental Plane of Wood I'll be getting to later, wood element creatures are mainly found in verdant parts of the Outer Planes - the Beastlands, Arborea, the layer of Shurrock in Bytopia, the layer of Cathrys in Carceri, the Outlands, etc. Half-Elementals are thankfully not typically the result of a mortal and an elemental getting busy (though it does happen on rare occasion). Instead most half-elementals are the result of a pregnant traveler spending much of their pregnancy on one of the Inner Planes who then gives birth to a child permanently infused with the power of that plane, or of powerful magical rituals that bind the power of a particular element into an individual. The specifics of half-elementals depend on which element the elemental parent or 'parent' was, but a hefty stat bonus and a suite of spell-like abilities that grow as the half-elemental increases in level are always included. For +2 CR, this is actually a pretty fair deal, certainly much better than drow or duergar. Petitioners are the souls of dead mortals, drawn to the Outer Plane that most closely matches their ethos in life or claimed by a god they were particularly fervent about worshiping. Every plane bestows its own special properties on petitioners, but all petitioners are immune to mind-affecting spells of all sorts and cannot leave their plane of origin. Most petitioners outside Elysium lose all class levels, skills, and feats they possessed in life, though exceptions are known to happen for no well-understood reason. Shadow Creatures are natives to the Plane of Shadow and have been altered by the power of their home plane. Shadow creatures lose all color they would otherwise have in favor of shades of black, white, and grey; and are typically more slender and darkly colored than their counterparts. All are instinctively nocturnal and at home in the dark. Shadow creatures all have perfect dark vision and naturally blend into dark places, and can gain a variety of supernatural abilities depending in their hit dice, most of them powers of illusion or evasion. Monsters are out of the way, so all that's left in this book is a group of other plane ideas that don't fit into the normal 3E cosmology of the Great Wheel but a homebrew universe might have a use for.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:32
|
|
|
You can do a different take on a book if you want. As for CR/LR I mostly remember seeing that and being like "mm hmm, this is the Gun Control stat."
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 23:32
|
|
|
mellonbread posted:I don’t want to do this anymore. I'm done with this area. I’ve got thirty pools here and most of them just kill you. Some of them give you a permanent disfiguring injury, and a few give you money or a special power. But overall they just suck. They would be cool if they were distributed across a more interesting dungeon area, with tricks and traps and creatures and so on, that used the pools’ contents in interesting ways. Instead they’re just all together in a room with all these mushrooms that cast fear on you whenever you go close, until you burn them all. A bit late, but I'd like to note that the "room full of pools that do weird stuff" is swiped straight from the original module B1, In Search of the Unknown. But that module's implementation is much less gently caress-you: there are only two pools that could kill you and/or maim you permanently, and it's blatantly obvious that they're dangerous.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 01:40
|
|
|
The Chad Jihad posted:That's already been done hasn't it? That is irrelevant. Nessus posted:As for CR/LR I mostly remember seeing that and being like "mm hmm, this is the Gun Control stat." It’s the drug control stat, too <  >
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 01:48
|
|
|
Falconier111 posted:It’s the drug control stat, too < Well, it started in Traveller as the gun control stat. Law level was "what guns can you carry" and a target on 2d6 for the authorities to mess with the players.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 02:47
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:Well, it started in Traveller as the gun control stat. Law level was "what guns can you carry" and a target on 2d6 for the authorities to mess with the players. Oh, I was talking about CR in GURPS specifically; from what I remember you’re right, Law Level was absolutely gun control level. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jul 28, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 03:47
|
|
|
 Buck Rogers XXVc: The 25th Century Armor and Smart Clothing: But Does It Have Bluetooth? While armor in Buck Rogers basically uses the AD&D mechanics (descending AC and all that), the way it works out is actually quite a bit different. There aren’t any class restrictions, as with weapons, and I think it’s a bigger deal with armor because it means no class is especially squishy. It’s all about what you can carry and what you can afford. Included with the armor sets are some individual accessories.  Smart Clothes are what most military personnel are wearing in the future. They’ve got all sorts of ultra-tiny computer circuitry woven into them, which can be used to control temperature or run various “packs” including communications and ECM material (We’ll go into those in a bit.) On top of this the wiring also can disperse various types of energy, absorb kinetic blows, and use ECM modules to foil smart bullets. The mesh also gives you a +3 to saving throws vs. radiation. Smart Clothes cost 1,000 cr for a full outfit, but can also be bought piecemeal (tunic, pants, gloves, boots) if one garment needs to be replaced. For 200 credits you can buy a helmet, coverall, and recycler that allow the smart uniform to serve as a spacesuit, providing full protection from the vacuum for up to 24 hours before the recycler needs to be recharged. Also important to the whole ensemble is the belt. A utility belt costs 200 credits and while it does nothing for your defense, it contains a power pack that runs everything the suit uses for 24 hours before needing to be recharged. There’s also an onboard computer that helps run any other attachments, but they can apparently be used without the belt as clip-on attachments. A standalone power pack can also be purchased for 25 credits, either to power things on its own or as a backup, but it lasts only 24 hours. An ECM package costs 50 credits and gives any attack with a smart projectile (rocket pistols mostly) a 50% miss chance. A stealth unit costs 25% and makes you invisible to security systems that use sonic- or heat-based detection. A security pack costs 35cr and projects a field 50 feet around you that detects sound and motion and triggers a silent alarm. Finally, for 50 credits there’s a Communications Pack which includes a radio, speaker, and microphone, and can broadcast signals up to 20 miles. Moving on from Smart Clothes, the next item is Spacesuits. Starting at 200 credits, a spacesuit provides an AC of 6 and, more importantly, provides protection against the total vacuum of space. In fact it’s made from fabric that self-seals in the event of a puncture or tear of any kind. (I suspect this is basically so they don’t have to explain why a spacesuit isn’t instantly ruined by any successful hit.) The variable cost of spacesuits has to do with the air-recycling and radio systems included- at 200 credits these last for up to 12 hours, at 300 they last 24, at 400 they last 72 hours, and at 500 credits they last a week. Each spacesuit also has a water reservoir that can supply you for up to 24 hours, and there’s also a system for water recycling, plus nutrient paste that can last you as long as the air supply. So spacesuits aren’t the best armor for all situations, but they’re relatively easy to get (you have a ton of ‘em in Countdown to Doomsday) and their out-of-combat usefulness is quite good. Body Armor is next, and it comes in two varieties, Light and Heavy. Light armor costs 250, weighs 15 lbs., and gives you AC 7- Heavy armor costs 1,500, weighs 35 lbs., and gives you AC 2. It’s all made of high-density plastic, and the heavy version also uses beryllium crystals. Simple enough right? Well, no. This armor is modular, meaning you can buy and wear pieces separately, or use the armor if some pieces are lost or damaged. You’ve got the torso protector, pieces for the arms and legs, and a helmet. Not wearing the torso piece reduces the armor’s effectiveness by 5, and since there’s no AC higher than 10, there’s no point in wearing light armor without the torso piece- unless you wear both the helmet and two other pieces of gear, in which case you at least get AC 9 (6 for heavy armor). Going without the arm or leg protectors increases your AC by 1, as does going without the helmet; if you are missing three or four pieces (counting each arm and leg separately) AC is increased by 2. And as long as you have the torso piece your AC can never be worse than 8 (light) or 4 (heavy), and MAN the switch to ascending AC did not come fast enough. Also you can wear your armor on top of spacesuits or smart suits if you still want the mechanical benefits of either. Moving on. Battle Armor is the real heavy stuff. It’s a full suit of armor, made up of the same stuff as heavy body armor with a supporting exoskeleton. This exoskeleton includes various enhancers to muscle and joint movement, basically so that you don’t suffer any penalties to your reflexes while wearing it. Battle armor costs 2,500 credits and gives you an AC of 0. It takes ten minutes to don or remove it, and you can’t do it unassisted. You can wear smart clothes inside and still get all the benefits, but a spacesuit helmet won’t fit- fortunately battle armor itself has the sealed and self-sustaining capabilities of a spacesuit. But it actually gets better, somehow- for 3,000 you can get Battle Armor with a set of defensive fields, lowering your AC to -2. The fields themselves are an ECM field that gives smart bullets a 75% miss chance, and an aerosol mist sprayer to diffuse laser fire. The major drawback to battle armor is the battery powering the movement enhancers- it lasts for 24 hours, but if it goes dead you suffer a -4 penalty to Dex and can only move half speed. The ECM field has its own 12-hour battery, and both can be recharged by exposure to sunlight or being plugged in for an hour. The section finishes up with a couple of devices that aren’t armor themselves but help with it. An Aerosol Mist Shell/Grenade creates a spray of dense mist that diffuses and basically completely neutralizes laser fire coming in. The shells are self-propelled and can be loaded into a rocket pistol/rifle, cost 50 credits for a pack of 5, and create a field with a 25-foot radius. Aerosol grenades are 50 credits a piece and create a field with a 100 foot radius. You gotta be careful using it near yourself, though, because if you’re in 10 feet of the initial detonation you take 1d4 damage. (And any laser weapons you have are useless too, of course.) The battle armor’s mist sprayer works like the shells. Chaff Shells, like Aerosol Mist Shells, can be loaded into rocket guns, and on exploding some 50-100 feet from where they were fired, release a sphere of metal chaff which completely blocks any smart bullets or radar beams fired into it. The sphere is 25 feet in radius, and lasts around 10 minutes unless there’s a strong wind, or you’re in zero gravity, where it only lasts a round. Again you have to watch for contact damage if you’re close to where it explodes. Anyone who goes into the field without eye protection, or is close to the shell when it explodes, has to save vs. explosion or be blinded for 1d4 rounds. That wraps up armor, and we’re very close to the end of the book now!
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 05:38
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:... These were one of the few things that ended up in 3.x from Spelljammer, where they were called Arcane (because that wasn't ever going to be confusing at all). They existed pretty much to justify being able to buy and sell magic loot.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 07:06
|
|
|
Falconier111 posted:Oh, I was talking about CR in GURPS specifically; from what I remember you’re right, Law Level was absolutely gun control level. quote:CR2 – Free. Some laws exist; most benefit the individual. Taxes are light. Access to items of LC0 and LC1 is controlled. Regulating the CB band is basically like heavy and unfair taxation. The complexity of the US legal code means that it's basically a totalitarian dictatorship where ownership of computers with Internet access, let alone a firearm, is illegal.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 11:53
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:23 |
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:
The only smartsuit add-ons in the Genesis version of Countdown to Doomsday were the ECM packs. The stealth pack, security pack, and comm pack aren't in the game (I guess because you don't really need them.) Light body armor isn't in the game either; it just goes Spacesuit > Smartsuit > Heavy Body Armor > Battle Armor > Battle Armor w/ Fields, and the armor seems to be a bit more expensive compared to the pen and paper version. On the other hand, there's an exploit you can take advantage of to get the entire team equipped with Battle Armor w/ Fields in the Genesis game!
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2020 15:40
|
|