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Angrymog posted:@libertad! Not much, to be honest. It doesn't have a sample list of adventure seeds or a section talking about ideal adventures in and out and out manner. The text seems to presume that what's already present will help give the DM inspiration, as was covered in the prior posts via Points of Interest and the like. Such as the Asura Queen gaining more territory, or the location of Ravana's crashed flying chariot as a treasure hunt. That may not have been the answer you were expecting to hear. But the vibe I get is that it's going for Epic Fantasy tropes where the PCs are adventurers going around the land, fighting monsters and bad guys/girls, exploring ruins and remote wilderness, adding artifacts and relics to their treasure hoard, getting involved in the plotting of nobility, and all that classic fantasy stuff. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 11:22 on Dec 9, 2024 |
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Dec 9, 2024 10:26
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  Monsters is our final chapter of Devabhumi, with 29 unique stat blocks, two of which are repeated entries for mounts from the prior chapter: the Gajasimha and Makara, to be specific. When it comes to type, the most common is fiend standing at 9, followed by Monstrosity and Undead at 5 each. We have 3 types of Beasts and Celestials each in this chapter, and 1 of each for Construct, Dragon, Elemental, and Fey. So paladins and other banishers of the unholy will be quite effective in this setting. In regards to Challenge Rating, a little over half hover around being suitable for Tier 1 campaigns at CR 4 or less, being 16 of the 29 entries. Tier 2 is the next most common at 8 entries, with Tiers 3 and 4 being rare yet formidable figures at 2 and 3 entries respectively. The Airavata is a unique being, a three-headed elephant who is the king of its kind and guards the ways into Svarga. Its great wisdom and power makes even asuras think twice before crossing it. Airavata is a CR 18 Celestial that has excellent mental ability scores, is formidable in melee, and specializes in lightning and weather-based magic. Asuras are one of the three major groupings of monsters in this chapter, beings that were first created by a vengeful woman named Diti to war against the gods after Indra killed her son. They more or less serve similar roles to demons and devils in other settings: they have no moral compass, seek to corrupt mortals, and destroy the gods. But unlike typical demons and devils, asura do have genuine bonds of loyalty to each other in spite of their overall lack of conscience. There are many kinds of asura out there, but we have a basic stat block for a CR 1 monster who specializes in illusion and enchantment magic, fights with a khanda (big sword) in melee, and has a frightening appearance. Daityas are large, bulky asura who can back up their words with their strength. They are also keen on trickery-based tactics like the base Asura, but are Large in size instead of Medium and thus have more hit points and a more damaging melee attack. Danavas live in isolated mountains and are much more magically proficient than the average asura, possessing up to 6th level Sorcerer spells with a penchant for damaging elemental magic. Other asura take pains to recruit them for their battles, for their spells make them a potent force multiplier. Kalakeyas are among the weakest of the asura, being similar in role to fantasy goblins in relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm opponents. They live in caves, forests, and ruins where they conduct raids on nearby settlements. They have Pack Tactics and can spend their remaining movement moving away from a target they just struck in melee as a bonus action. This last ability avoids opportunity attacks, which makes kalakeyas suited for mobile skirmishing. Nivatakavachas are amphibian asura with the features of predatory fish, such as dagger-like teeth and razor-sharp scales. They live in luxurious undersea palaces decorated with plunder from land-dwellers, and sometimes their oceanic kingdoms manage to invade and conquer human settlements. They fight with tridents that deal bonus cold damage, force creatures holding their breath to begin drowning if they score a critical hit against them, have an Evasion-like feature that works on all saves rather than just Dexterity, and their spell options are a blend of illusion and direct offense. Rakshasa are the most powerful of asura, embodiments of a particular vice that they go on to further as wicked champions. Every asura hopes to become a rakshasa, as they are regarded as the pinnacle of their kind. Every rakshasa has a unique type of Boon, which makes them only able to be killed under one particular set of circumstances. For example, one rakshasa may not be killed on land, another may only be killed by someone who is more evil than it, and so on. Rakshasa are designed for being major villains, the kind who would be the evil overlord in an adventure path or video game RPG. An asura is a CR 19 fiend who cannot be reduced to 0 hit points by any means that falls outside its Boon. They have a variety of Intelligence and Charisma skills, and their truesight and passive Perception of 21 make them hard to fool. They can cast 9th level wizard spells, including fan favorites such as Counterspell, Contingency, Simulacrum, and Time Stop. They can attack in melee up to six times, and they can Twist Fate as a reaction which functions in a similar manner to the Silvery Barbs spell. They don’t have any Legendary or Lair Actions, which kind of blunts their usability as BBEGs. An Azhdaar is a winged, dragon-like serpent who traditionally lives in mountains, hunting large animals such as bears and even humans. They are the subject of many tales, taking the role of dangerous monsters who threaten nearby settlements. In terms of stats they are pretty much aerial creatures whose primary attacks focus on melee. In spite of being CR 16, they look rather weak for this range, as they have 147 hit points and 16 Armor Class which even lower-level groups will easily cut through. And while they have blindsight and flight, they don’t have a lot of means for dealing with long-range attacks and casters who know to stay away. Bhootas are our next major grouping of related monsters. They are spirits unable to reincarnate, usually due to a strong desire to fulfill some task in life, a particularly traumatic death, or appropriate funeral rites not being performed for the corpse. They usually hang around your typical haunted places, and while a bhoota can be temporarily destroyed, they will reform unless someone performs an elaborate funeral rite. They also cannot touch someone covered in dirt, which is regarded as holy, and they are attracted to milk and can inhabit it if left out. They can then possess whoever next drinks the spoiled beverage. While there are all kinds of bhootas, and the book suggests making each one unique in how they came to be as well as their stats, Devabhumi details a few sample stat blocks. Content Warning: Child Death Acheris are the spirits of children who died from disease or starvation, and tend to target living children with their maladies or barring that, the youngest and frailest creature in an area. They are incorporeal undead with a life-draining attack, can mimic animal and humanoid voices, and can shapeshift into Medium and smaller humanoids they’ve previously seen. Churels are spirits who died at the hands of another in an unnaturally cruel way, and are filled with a strong desire for vengeance. A vengeance that they instead take out on anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths. They tend to take the forms of beautiful people as a means of catching victims unaware, but their feet are always backwards in whatever form they take, so this is a giveaway that the person you’re dealing with is undead. They are similar to Acheri save with more hit points, better stats, and their primary attack drains Strength as well as dealing necrotic damage. Pretas are the spirits of addicts, those who were dependent upon one or more kinds of earthly pleasures and couldn’t abide the thought of existence without it. They are similar to the other two bhootas in being incorporeal undead that can shapeshift, but their touch attack instead robs a target of their lowest-level spell slot if they fail a Constitution save. Vetala are our final kind of bhoota, particularly canny and powerful undead who manage to possess a physical body long-term. This possession lasts indefinitely, and they spend their pseudo-life accumulating supernatural power and knowledge before discarding the now-dead body to go on to another, repeating the cycle. The only way to make its spirit pass on is to find the original body and cremate it. Vetalas have physical bodies unlike other bhoota, and they have a variety of spells up to 4th level such as Arcane Eye, Animate Dead, Shield, and Hallucinatory Terrain. They have four arms which they can use to do a variety of melee attacks, such as strangling targets with a necklace of beads or hitting someone’s chakra to deal slashing and necrotic damage.  Bhramrachok might be a low CR 2 monster, but it is a unique creature that has already built up a frightening reputation. It is a cyclopean being with a burning plume of flame on top of its bald head, and the light from this fire can supernaturally charm and captivate creatures to get closer to the monster. Those so entranced are ordered to take Bhramrachok home with them, where it kills and devours them along with any other inhabitants before burning down the house. Bhramrachok can also use a gaze attack that causes a target to believe that their allies suddenly vanished, being unable to perceive and interact with them for 1 minute. Chatiboy is a wolf-like elemental that is the precursor to landslides and flash floods, marked by howls and midnight. It creates such natural disasters as a means of fulfilling the natural cycle, and it doesn’t take pleasure in the death and destruction it creates. Slaying a chatiboy will end said disaster prematurely, although this often has long-term negative environmental consequences, and the next such disaster may be even greater. In terms of stats, chatiboy is a CR 4 creature that has a melee rend attack along with rechargeable Landslide and Flash Flood AoEs that impose forced movement or the prone condition on top of damage. Chumur Deki is a bipedal monster whose legs are made of iron, and it stalks the vicinity of snowbound towns on the hunt for victims. Anyone who has the misfortune to see it are chosen to be hunted, so it is customary in such towns to immediately go inside and close all doors and windows upon hearing the sound of trudging iron legs. In terms of stats, Chumur Deki can cause any creature within 30 feet who can see it (and if the monster can see the target) to become paralyzed on a failed Constitution save, and its primary attacks are a fist that can knock targets prone and can stomp on prone creatures as a bonus action. Dvarapala are stone statues built to be guardians to historic landmarks, tombs, palaces, and other places of importance. They are intelligent and can speak, unlike most constructs, and have a unique form of telepathy that allows them to sense a creature’s intentions. In addition to fighting with a gada (mace), they can also throw electrically-charged beads whose lightning can arc between targets. Gangine are fey who sustain themselves on pleasant scents, and thus live in fields of flowers and near the homes of nobles who enjoy perfume. Alchemists and sorcerers have been known to search for them as servants, using their olfactory creations as payment. Gangine are more or less noncombatants, as their only means of offense is a 1d4 fist. But their forms are unsettling to most, causing those who would make an attack roll within their presence to suffer disadvantage unless the target succeeds on a Wisdom save. A Hemaraj is a crocodile-like monster that lives in swamplands. They are named after an ancient king by the name of Hemaraj, whose impossible standards made him unable to see any of his children as a worthy heir to the throne. After praying to Brahma for a perfect child, he still found something to criticize, so out of anger the deity transformed his children into what would become known as the monsters bearing his name. They are pretty much crocodiles on steroids, being CR 5 with better stats and ambush-based tactics such as advantage on stealth in their native terrain, advantage on attack rolls vs surprised creatures, and can death roll a restrained creature as a bonus action to deal additional slashing damage. Kamadhenu is another unique entity, a celestial cow born during the Great Churning and represents the bovine creatures of Devabhumi. She has the power to grant wishes, and history is filled with greedy and ambitious rulers who sought to take her for themselves before inevitably falling under some kind of just punishment. Those who are lucky enough to come upon her, will be granted a wish as per the spell of the same name should they display genuine respect. In terms of stats Kamadhenu is mostly defensive in nature, such as reflecting an equivalent amount of radiant damage back onto an attacker, radiating an aura of blinding light, and debuff curses.  Kirtimukha is another unique monster, created from Shiva’s third eye after an arrogant asura king had the gall to challenge the god to a duel for his wife’s hand, Parvati. Kirtimukha ate the asura, and his current duties involve guarding remote temples from the unworthy. The creature does this by disguising itself as a beggar asking for alms, and those who refuse are later hunted and attacked by Kirtimukha in its natural form. In terms of stats it is akin to a predatory feline, with claw and bite attacks (the latter is poisonous), can move up to half its speed at a target when hit with a ranged attack, and can shoot rays from its mouth as a rechargeable ability dealing radiant damage. Pishacha is a type of undead that is the personification of hate, and is known to be even more evil than most asura. They take sadistic pleasure in hunting, capturing, and torturing prey, and prefer victims unable to fight back. They radiate a constant deathly aura that deals necrotic damage to non-undead and non-fiends, has a claw attack that can curse a target to not be affected by magical healing and a tongue attack that heals the monster, and as a reaction can redirect a healing spell within 30 feet to affect the pishacha instead of the intended target. Timingila is a unique monster, and also one with the highest Challenge Rating in the book at 23. It has only been spotted by sailors in the most remote corners of the ocean, appearing from below as a mouth of gigantic proportions large enough to swallow multiple whales. In reality it is a serpent of unmatched size, and while its current territory is unknown the book gives some suggested sightings and areas. As can be expected, it is a melee-focused sea creature with a bite and swallow whole attack, and generates such tremendous force that creatures within 15 feet take damage and lose unspent Hit Die (drop to 0 HP if they have none remaining) as fluids are ripped out of their lungs. The Timingila also has potent defenses in the form of truesight, a permanent Freedom of Movement effect, Legendary Resistance, and can choose either to ram a vessel or perform an AoE tail smash as one of its Legendary Actions. Uchaishrava is a unique celestial being, a seven-headed horse that can not only swim and fly, it can travel between planes once per day. It is believed to be the ancestor of all horses, and many throughout history sought to tame it, often meeting a violent end in trying. But only a rare few managed to succeed, most notably the god Indra. In terms of stats, Uchaishrava isn’t that powerful, being a CR 5 creature whose only offensive feature is its hooves and the ability to get in a free attack and flee without provoking opportunity attacks as a reaction to someone moving adjacent to it. But its real prize is in its value as a steed, as even its walking speed is an impressive 80 feet. It also has multiple defensive features, such as proficiency in 3 saving throws, an immunity to Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, and Paralyzed conditions, and its multiple heads grant it advantage against becoming blinded, deafened, or stunned. Ulama are medium-sized birds of prey that live in jungles. They are predators that developed an appetite for human flesh, and are known to feed off of travelers and unlucky villagers. It is like a hummingbird in agility, highly energetic and in constant motion, appearing as a red blur which grants it advantage on checks to hide and imposes disadvantage on checks to target it. The monster fights with talons and a peck that can blind a target on a failed Constitution save.  Yakkas are our third and final grouping of related monsters, shapeshifting fiends who are forbidden from directly killing mortals lest they incur the wrath of the gods. So instead they specialize in just about every other way in causing people to die. They dislike asura, for they both disagree on the means in how to bring about mortal woe, and both groups of fiends are given to warring against each other. Their Challenge Ratings are all within Tier 1 of play, so unlike the asuras they won’t be much of a direct threat at middle to higher levels. We have a stat block for a basic yakka as well as two subtypes. The basic one is a CR 2 fiend that can shapeshift into a harmless animal such as a mouse, insect, or small bird. They have a claw attack that deals 2d6+2 slashing damage, but the book has a misprint at 22 damage average, which initially took me by surprise. They are capable of possessing humanoids, but the recharge rate is only 1 on a 1d6, making it a very unreliable ability. Content Warning: Suicide, Implied Sexual Assault Kalu Kumaraya is a fiend that takes a similar role to an incubus, visiting people at night to grant them sexual pleasure. It is so great that the victim becomes addicted and suicidal if denied, which inevitability happens as the yakka moves on to its next victim. In terms of stats they have a claw attack, can cast Charm Person three times per day, and a Maddening Kiss that deals psychic damage and incapacitates a target on a failed Wisdom save. Reeri Yakka are monkey-faced fiends who spread diseases, and like the base yakka they can take the forms of mundane animals. They are repelled by the scent of incense, so it is common for those in the know to burn it in their homes to ward off illnesses. In terms of stats they are the strongest type of yakka at Challenge Rating 3. Their claw attacks cause a target to continuously bleed for 1 minute on a failed Constitution save, and they can also impose a short-range Blood Curse on a target that takes one of three effects, also lasting for one minute: unable to cast spells with verbal components, are deafened, or blinded. After the bestiary, our book ends with an Epilogue from the author, talking about their surprise in seeing the interest in their setting from a surge of KickStarter supporters, and gratefulness at the opportunity in sharing some of the culture and stories they had growing up via this RPG setting. Furthermore, Patel doesn’t intend for Devabhumi to be a one and done project, and expresses interest in creating more content for their world. We also get a bibliography of texts used in the creation of this setting, which I’ll repeat in quotation below: quote:Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. Thoughts So Far: The bestiary provides a good amount of new creatures for the setting, and while there’s a preference for unholy beings like fiends and undead, there’s still enough variety to provide a host of foes for adventurers to fight. I also like how several entries are less traditionally combative and can in fact be helpful to PCs who prove their worth, such as the celestials Kamadhenu and Uchaishrava. The entries also do a good job of world-building, particularly in descriptions of how society has adapted to the threat of monsters with a mixture of “practical folklore.” Such as avoiding bhoota possession being another reason people don’t leave milk out to spoil. Unfortunately, I spotted errors in several stat blocks throughout that chapter. Sometimes they are small, such as the Danava stat block having a melee attack is +5 despite being CR 5 and a 17 Strength, in which case it should be +6. Other times it’s more substantial, such as a Daitya: that one’s a Challenge Rating 4 and thus has a Proficiency Bonus of +2. But their Strength is 18, and their attack roll and Strength save are +7, making it 1 higher than normal. While their Wisdom save is +5, their Wisdom’s only 12. Their spellcasting save DC, spell attack modifier, and Insight and Intimidation proficiency bonuses are also 1 too high as well. Due to these, this chapter is in need of another editing pass even if the monster stats are usable in play. Final Thoughts: In spite of its relatively small page count, Devabhumi is a complete, self-contained setting with enough content for both players and Dungeon Masters to create many adventures inspired by the myths and legends of India. Even in that brevity it manages to do enough world-building to make the setting feel lived-in, with adequate explanations for less-familiar concepts so that gamers largely unaware of Indian culture won’t feel the need to regularly consult Wikipedia and similar sources for understanding. The races, magic items, and monsters are easily minable for other settings in adding some South Asian flavor, and as witnessed with the aforementioned recent content in WotC products,* I can see Devabhumi’s material working for those worlds as well. *to say nothing of existing Fantasy Indias such as the Shining Lands in the Forgotten Realms. But what prevents me from giving Devabhumi top marks is that it is in need of polishing around the rougher edges due to aforementioned mistakes made when covering this review. That being said, I do have hope in improvement, for this is their first gaming supplement made. Overall, I rate this product positively and am eager to see more content for it in the future.
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Dec 9, 2024 22:05
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 Storefront Page, PDF Storefront Page, Hardcover When it comes to non-European fantasy counterpart settings, Dungeons & Dragons has traditionally been rather sparse. 2nd Edition onwards saw an increased amount of such settings, be it regional examples like with particular domains and city-states in Ravenloft and Dark Sun, and the inclusion of entire lines like Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, and Maztica. But such lines struggled to get any support as complete self-contained settings in later Editions. Indeed, it was often left to fans' homebrew content to keep these lines alive, to say nothing of original worlds. By the advent of 5th Edition, we’ve seen a surge again of writers and designers eager to move beyond the Western standard, both on the part of Wizards of the Coast as well as gamers making use of the OGL. Furthermore, it’s increasingly the norm to have people from aforementioned cultures play a role in the creative process, like we’ve seen with Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. The Islands of Sina Una is one such book in the latter category, the finished product of a team of Filipinos (both residing in the country and the diaspora) who sought to take their culture’s legends, history, and folklore and turn it into a campaign setting for 5th Edition. Meaning “those who came first,” Sina Una is not a term used in-universe so much as a meta-reference to the pre-colonial eras of the Philippines. Sadly, a lot of Filipino history has been lost after colonization, with what survives persists largely via oral folklore, so the book was made to remember and celebrate their ancestors by collecting such fragmented pieces to shine a spotlight on the beautiful tales still remembered. The designers also included an appendix and cited sources on their historical research and how they adapted certain things into a fantasy RPG format, and also what they chose to leave out and why. Before we start, I should note that the book contains Content Warnings for discussion and references to visual depictions of cannibalism, gore and spiders listed by page number. Unfortunately, one of the page references is mislabeled: the book mentions that “there is an extremely large spider on page 143 and 258,” but in both the PDF’s designation and the corner page reference the latter number reference the wrong monster. 258 has a picture of a Minokawa, a monstrous eagle-like being, and page 259 after it has a picture of a Tambanokano, a monstrous crab. In fact, the spider monster illustration (the Tambanokua) is on page 260. A rather unfortunate mistake. Chapter One: Introduction goes over the major themes of the Islands of Sina Una, and what distinguishes its world. Welcome to the Islands paints the setting in broad strokes, covering universal aspects. The known world consists of seven major islands in an archipelago in the middle of a vast ocean. Seafaring is an important means of trade and contact between peoples, although the skill and time conducted to voyages depends upon one’s lifestyle. Most people spend the majority of their lives in their local village, but traders, nomads, those living near the coasts, and of course raiders often stay on the waves for long enough that it becomes second nature. The climate is tropical, which has shaped the common tools used. Particularly for weapons and armor, as the heavy metal common to other settings rusts easily and imposes exhaustion on its wearer. Almost every settlement speaks Common, and a simple form of sign language for nonverbal communication has developed. Every creature and object has its own spirit. Spirits are an important part of the world’s cosmic underpinnings. For mortals they are one’s soul, which moves on to the afterlife upon death. Spirits are also the source of magic, where various traditions of spellcasting have their own methods of using spirits to achieve wondrous feats. While most are unseen and immaterial, spirits can also manifest physically in the world, and every island has particularly powerful and famous spirits that act as figures of importance who locals pay homage to in exchange for favors and protection. People are aware that they’re never truly “alone” even in the desolate wilderness and middle of the ocean, so it’s common to conduct rituals and respectful greetings as a means of acknowledging one’s trespass. For instance, sailors might petition the sea and sky for fair weather and guidance, while a hunter one walking through the grove of a balete tree may politely ask the plant to pardon their steps as they walk. The islands may share a common language and customs, but governance takes place at the local level. Most settlements are led by a figure known as a datu, who acts as a lawmaker, judge, and administrator of protection and resources for the community. Warriors known as timawa defend the datu and enforce their laws in exchange for their patronage. Higher-ranking figures known as rajahs lead larger settlements, with multiple communities having their own individual datus who pay tribute to the rajah. The position of a datu is most often hereditary, making them similar to nobles in other settings, but upon reaching old age they often step down to advisor status in a local council to let their adult children rule. Foods vary wildly depending on local resources, although rice and tubers are staple crops, seafood is common, and spices are used to add flavor. Meals are an important means of social bonding, whether it’s something as small as having a friend over or larger feasts to celebrate holidays and achievements. The betel nut in particular holds a special place in island culture, where fruits from an areca palm are sliced and then wrapped in a leaf from a betel piper vine. People carry tools for this method of preparation at all times, and the betel nut is shared whenever a serious discussion is to happen or someone is invited into another’s house in order to solidify social bonds.  We get a list of Ingredients and Dishes for common meals, such as taro (root vegetables used to thicken stews), luya (ginger plant spices used to flavor dishes and tea), malunggay (leaves used for soups and medicinal recipes), biko (popular snack and dessert made from glutinous rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar served in an oiled banana leaf), lugaw (rice porridge with chicken, ginger, and garlic often topped with a boiled egg and chopped green onions), and ube halaya (jam made from purple yams and coconut milk, either eaten on its own or put on other desserts). This section ends by covering the History of the Islands, which is surprisingly quite short. It begins with the creation of the world, which was originally fragments of land within a churning sea. The god Bathala began to shape reality into something more cohesive, and fashioned the people of the world out of various natural features and spirits taking mortal form, such as the elves who were original plant and flower spirits, or the gnomes who rose from the very earth itself. A few spirits went on to join Bathala as fellow gods,* having children of their own who then went on to form the various celestial objects. They lived as one big happy family, eager to protect the new land they all helped create. *Gods in Sina Una are basically very powerful spirits rather than being uniquely distinct categories of being. Sadly, the gods and the world would soon come to know sorrow, as there were monsters lurking in the dark corners of reality, dating from before creation. They were jealous of Bathala’s works, and one such entity was a shapeshifter known as Bakunawa who sought to devour Mayari, the moon. One night, when Mayari shone bright, Bakunawa emerged as a titanic serpent. He was repelled by Haliya, one of Mayari’s younger siblings, and forced to retreat into the deep reaches of the ocean. The gods, now aware of this new danger, prepared for the next time that Bakunawa would emerge from the waves, and emerge she did. They fought a grand battle across the islands and the heavens, with Haliya dealing a deadly blow to Bakunawa. This eldritch horror would be the first of such Celestial Eaters, so named for their desire to consume the moon and other creations of Bathala. Haliya formed an order of mortals known as the balat-kayo to call upon her blade when the time came to fight such entities. The gods otherwise retreated, leaving mortals among a broken world, who then turned to spirits in order to rebuild and survive. From this came the emergence of the umalagad, dragonborn who are reincarnated ancestral spirits, as well as the shamans known as the babaylan who act as intermediaries between mortals and spirits of the land. Kaylahon was a particularly famous babaylan who helped found the port town of Timanduk, which still stands to this day. But one day, she left for unknown horizons but not before appointing a new leader for her home. Some say that she’s looking for a way to defend against the Celestial Eaters. Kaylahon has reason to be concerned, for all manner of monsters and curses scour the lands, giving rise to the need for healers, warriors, and petitioners of spirits to make the world a safer place.  The book then briefly touches on common kinds of adventures and character-building. The book notes that life in the islands emphasizes connectedness of all kinds. Beyond the ties people have with their families and hometowns, they petition ancestors for insight because they are “connected to those who came before you.” People respect and provide offerings to spirits in exchange for aid because the spirits need mortals’ help as much as mortals need spirits. Faith and worship, thus, is seen in similar terms, of one's relationship to family and community. When it comes to running a campaign, the book is rather vague on this count. It mentions the idea of PCs being traveling monster-hunters who may eventually work up to fighting the Celestial Eaters themselves. For other kinds of campaigns it mentions PCs traveling between the islands as they get involved with the conflicts of the gods, but little in regards to specifics on the gods and their particular conflicts. There is more text devoted to a gaming group’s concerns of doing “something wrong” when it comes to portraying Filipino culture, and that everyone makes mistakes and that the most one can do is to learn from them and strive to do better. The book says that the fact that one is willing to treat these stories with respect is already a step in the right direction. We then get a pronunciation guide, a reference to an appendix for common words and names, and a d100 table of names for those who need help choosing ones for characters. Names don’t have gendered connotations. Chapter One’s final major section concerns Spirits & Religion, particularly the 22 gods of the world. Sina Una’s cosmology is an animist one, meaning that every object, creature, and even natural phenomenon, has an animating soul. Thus, the term “spirit” is much broader in definition than your typical incorporeal undead. Even those who aren’t babaylan take pains to do their part in ensuring that they stay on the spirits’ good side, for respect and offerings earn their aid, while disrespect and apathy can bring their ire in the form of various misfortunes. People reserve special houses and altars for such offerings, and the kinds of offerings depend on the local spirits’ tastes and desires. But some common offerings in the islands are wine, gold ornaments, betel nuts, and animal blood. Salt and spices are one of the few universal dislikes, so such things are almost never offered. Spirits of nature are self-aware, meaning that they have their own names and desires. While they may seem inanimate at first glance, spells and the proper rituals can be used to communicate with them. Some of these spirits can create manifestations of a person or animal in order to properly converse. While spirits of related things can share features in common, each spirit is unique and can have the gamut of personalities and moral outlooks as mortals do. Ancestor spirits are the souls of mortals who still continue to exist, looking over the households of their descendants. Such spirits can interact with mortals via possessing a willing host or an object carved in their likeness, as well as entering the dreams of their descendents. A rare few can reincarnate in the mortal world as umalagad. How does death and the afterlife tie into things? Well, it’s believed that a body can remain alive even without a soul, and that sometimes the soul can temporarily leave the body during sleep or via special magic and talents. True death occurs when the physical body expires and the soul starts its journey to the Underworld. Food, drink, and personal possessions are buried with the corpse during funerals as a means of helping their spirit’s journey by having such things take form alongside them. All souls who die share the same path: they travel northward along forest paths and rivers to Lalangban, a gateway sitting at the edge of the world. While such a place can be physically journeyed to by the living, it is a waterfall spilling into an endless abyss, with jagged rocks and a whirlpool that can destroy inbound ships. Souls enter the whirlpool to go on their next journey to the Black River, whose current is bathed in total darkness designed to cleanse souls of fear and attachment to their prior lives. The goddess Magwayen watches over this river, using a glowing beacon to help guide souls to her boat and thus to the dreamlike Underworld, a paradise-like place where spirits go to live among their departed loved ones. Souls who don’t wish to move on must swim upstream, and mortal barbarians empowered by the Black River itself* are tasked with ensuring that such reluctant souls don’t make their way out. But those spirits who manage to rescape reincarnate as umalagad but lose all memory of their former lives as a result of the ordeal. Spirits unable to make their way to Lalangban in the first place become ghosts, trapped in a pitiable state of aimlessly wandering a world in which they can no longer truly live and experience. *a subclass detailed later in this book. As can be expected, necromancy is a major taboo, for it is a disruption of the natural process of dead bodies returning to the earth which helps ensure the flourishing of new life. On a similar note, magic that brings back the dead is viewed as disrespectful to the deities Siadpa and Magwayen, albeit not to the same extent as the creation of undead. That latter kind of magic is forbidden under any circumstance.  Gods of the Islands covers the most well-known spirits who embody universal forces and concepts. They do not have listed alignments or favored domains, their info being in the realm of flavor text as well as half-page or full-page artwork. They include Bathala, the creator god and god of the sky who is known as a merciful protector. He prefers to act as a guide and takes a less active role in the world, knowing that his children have a good handle on things. Then there’s Apolaki, a stubborn yet compassionate spirit of the sun who shines upon the world every day. She once fought Mayari for control over the sky, but the duel was called off when she lost her eye in the fight, and the two opted to govern half the sky every day as a compromise to avoid further bloodshed. Mayari the moon goddess is known for her wisdom and beauty, and the Moon Siblings are a pair of twins (half-sisters to Marayi) who protect her by enshrouding part of the moon via lunar phases. Mayari’s sister Tala helps manage the stars so as to help the lost find their way home at night. Mayari’s other sister Hanan presides over morning, decorating fields with dew and encouraging roosters to wake people up for another day’s work. For those wondering, Mayari and her sisters are the daughters of an unnamed mortal woman, while the Moon Siblings came from the goddess Anagolay. Anagolay is the spirit of lost things, who fell in love with Bathala and beget their son Apolaki. Bathala would later become consumed by his work as creator, so they parted ways. Anagolay later wed Dumakulem, spirit of the mountains, and spends her days helping people cope with loss and giving guidance for those searching for something or someone. Dumakulem created mountain ranges with his own hands, to help provide shelter for those who explore such regions. Those unable to care for children began leaving them up in the mountains in hopes of having the god provide them protection. People also entreaty the god in order to safely travel through mountains, before an auspicious hunting expedition, or to better defend others. Dian Masalanta is the spirit of lovers and childbirth, and is known for being a peace loving being who people pray to for relationship advice, how to love oneself and others, and to ensure healthy conceptions. Sidapa is the god of death and mortality, a rather introverted, reclusive god who primarily acts as an archivist of those who passed on. People pray to him to make the most of their lives rather than for longer ones, as that’s considered a disrespectful and selfish wish. Magwayen has a similar role as a ferrywoman of souls making their way to the Underworld, and people pray to her to ensure peace for those grieving and to help their dearly departed on a safe journey to the afterlife. Lakapati is an intersex goddess of harvests and fertility, who taught people how to farm the land and observe the changing seasons, and is petitioned by farmers for fruitful harvests and to safeguard their herds. Maylupa is the god of the earth, sometimes taking the form of a crow. He once ate the flesh of a corpse out of curiosity, which angered Bathala who then covered his once-bright feathers with black ink. Eventually Bathala met Maylupa again, and the two reached a compromise: Maylupa would live closer to the earth as a means of penance, but also help encourage his curious nature in exploring the world. Okot is a spirit that prefers to live in forests, his songs sometimes heard but all its inhabitants step to his tune. He is an odd ally of hunters, who often find the spirit guiding animals to them either to lead them out of the woods faster or be more easily caught. Haik is the god of the ocean, but he shares this territory with many other spirits and is more of a respected coworker than an overlord. He works with Anitun Tabun, the goddess of storms who is much less reasonable and is known for her fickle and stern nature, but those who please her are often blessed with rain to help crops grow and cool the lava of volcanoes. Maklium Sa-Bagidan is the god of fire, who encourages mortals to treat this element as a tool to be respected. Dangerous, yet useful for the many functions of civilization, from cooking food to clearing forest for farmland. Lalahon is the goddess of volcanoes, simultaneously an entity of creation and destruction. Destruction for a volcano’s ability to smother and burn all that stands in its way, but also creation for the ash spewed forth which fertilizes soil for farming and cooled lava that becomes obsidian. Ribung Linti is the god of lightning and thunder, an upbeat and energetic deity who knows the danger of his domain so he sends dark clouds ahead of time as a warning. He wields lightning as a precise instrument to quickly and mercifully kill evildoers. Amanikabli is the god of hunting, ever on the move for the next great endeavor. When he is not chasing after a creature, he spends his spare time building and experimenting with new weapons and traps, and emphasizes mortals to perform ethical means of conservation. Those who act foolishly or cruelly find their hunts marked with misfortune, with the god manipulating events so that they’re unable to catch their quarry. Thoughts So Far: The Islands of Sina Una’s opening chapter does a good job in giving us the broad strokes of the setting. The focus on spirits as a common glue connecting things together is a strong theme running throughout the book, and in covering topics such as government, food, and seafaring the reader already has a strong mental image of day to day life. The history section is very brief, but quickly sets up the Celestial Eaters as the main antagonists of the setting. By having their war against the gods be a recent event, it’s something that hits closer to home rather than being an obscure footnote in the distant past. In regards to weak parts, I think the book should more concretely define what kind of adventures the setting wishes to emphasize, rather than saying that fighting the Celestial Eaters doesn’t have to be the default. Defining oneself by what one is expected to do is just as important as departures from the norm. Join us next time as we cover the first few islands in Chapter Two: the World!
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Dec 13, 2024 06:47
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Libertad! posted:
From what I recall, this continues to be an issue throughout the book. There is a lot of interesting material and there are plenty of places described, but quite a few of them don't really have any adventures that a group of D&D PCs could go on.
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Dec 14, 2024 03:24
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  Chapter Two: the World As the longest chapter in this book, the World details each of the seven major islands, along with the ocean and stranger places. The island descriptions follow a format: a broad-focus view on the geography and climate along with demographics and culture, followed by major settlements and the most important spirits. The text makes use of in-character narration for first-time arrivals at the islands and settlements as a means of setting the mood and what PCs might first notice upon approach. Timanduk is our first island, serving as a diverse trade nexus and pilgrimage site, with the volcano spirit Nulkab towering over the horizon and a beautiful coral reef as the most notable features. Kaylahon is the first of the major settlements, a port town founded by people who made a deal with the ocean spirit Tualylupa to gain food, safe passage, and fair weather. Ashen Fields is our second settlement, a tiefling-majority nomadic community so named for making use of Nulkab’s eruptions and their own fire magic to do slash and burn agriculture. Termite nests and dirt mounds pose a danger as being the homes of vengeful spirits, and their presence causes work to halt. Lastly, we have the River Village of Nadasaloy that uses bamboo to build stilt houses and for fashioning into spears to catch fish. It is in a rather fragile peace with the local nature spirits, given the village’s last datu got too greedy and mounted a failed invasion of the forest for its resources. The current datu is doing what he can to restore goodwill, and while most spirits have accepted there are still a few vengeful ones that take out their anger on the residents. The prominent spirits of Timanduk include Nulkab the Volcano, who has many rumored origins but whose sole constant is being cursed with never-ended hunger, and it is through the babaylan of Kaylathon that the spirit hasn’t consumed the entire island in a sea of fire. Tulaylupa is the spirit holding sway over this section of ocean* who was around since the world’s creation, and being split up by many new islands made the spirit angry from loneliness. They found a new community via a deal with the babaylan of a traveling community, who would provide the spirit companionship in exchange for safety and ease of travel. People help keep Tulaylupa’s sense of isolation from coming back via songs and stories along with daily prayers and offerings at sea. *The ocean doesn’t have a single spirit so much as a family of related spirits. The bulul are ancestor spirits who possess wood and volcanic rock, so mortals carve them into humanoid likenesses along with food offerings as a means of helping them connect to their descendents, and in exchange they help ward away pests from fields. The tree spirits of Patpatayin are located in groves where animal sacrifices are performed as part of making sacred oaths, and people use such groves for important promises between each other. There is one type of tree spirit known as the Balete, who is actually one of many and whose trees can be used as gateways between the mortal and spirit worlds. It’s common for large concentrations of spirits to be found around them. Kandaya is our second island, famed for its mangrove forests whose wood bears various magical functions when repurposed for craftsmanship. Such forests, and in fact all plant life on the island, share a common ancestor in the spirit of Malahom, and there’s a pair of small yet dangerous islands off the coast known as Twin’s Folly rumored to be home to aswang. Kandaya’s people live among the coasts, moving inland during monsoon season brought by Habagat the Southwest Wind. Foraging among the mangrove roots for shrimp and fish is common to all communities here, but the northern communities farm taro, rice, and ginger due being less affected by the monsoon and whose rain is more beneficial to the area. The Mangrove City of Pahinga is located in Kandaya’s center. While its location is common knowledge, entry is restricted as the forest and rivers warp the landscape to lead the unworthy astray. The city was formed by a mortal figure known as the Child, who was raised by the river spirit Tagaampon. The Child became curious about the world and left to explore. During that time they made many friends and learned valuable knowledge, but also that the world was full of suffering. Gathering various down-on-their-luck people and helping them live better lives, Pahinga was formed as a place of healing. Another notable community includes Hanapin, a settlement whose homes and gates are formed from blocks of salt harvested from tidal pools. The community was made by people who were continually hunted by aswang, and tired of being prey sought to find ways of harnessing the sea’s salt to turn them into weapons. Tidal pools were built, trapping water which evaporated under the hot sun and left the salt intact. Hanapin is now known as a village full of dedicated warriors, and uses its most precious resource to aid them in fighting the aswang wherever they may be found. While it will be covered in a later chapter, aswang are a new category of monsters in the setting, and share a common weakness against salt. Thus, it is common for people to use salt-encrusted weapons when fighting them. The first of our final two centers of Kandaya includes Taonglupa, a majority-halfling xenophobic community that refuses trade with everyone else and are rude and disagreeable to outsiders. However, this attitude is but an act, for they seek to help protect their patron spirit Malahom. The townsfolk believe that they were born from that spirit’s seeds, and must look after other plants as siblings who are largely unable to move or defend themselves from all manner of animals and people. We conclude our tour with Sininga, famous for being the island’s chief producer of textiles and dyes which is located on the secluded smaller island of Timogtalon. They used to be isolated from the rest of the world, but after a particularly deadly monsoon brought them into contact with outsiders, they found many eager trading partners wanting to purchase their beautiful fabrics.  Kandaya has three major spirits. Sakawayan is a large freshwater lake which is actually an ancient sea spirit who became trapped after lands rose up from the sea. Its anger at being caged caused the island’s water sources to be tainted with salt. When mortal settlers later came upon the island, they first contacted the spirit in hopes of obtaining fresh water. After a rather negative first impression, a more respectful relationship was fostered after people began giving it things from the ocean, such as seashells and coral remnants. This soon turned into an annual ceremony known as the Festival of Exchange, where people bring gifts to Sakawayan in the belief that this prevents it from forgetting old memories and becoming angry once again. Many people regard the spirit as the kind of entity one appeases for safety, but this isn’t universally held. Some people contemplated the idea of freeing Sakawayan and returning them to the ocean, but as nobody knows what ramifications this will have on the environment, no attempt has actually been made. Which honestly feels like quite the missed adventuring opportunity. Tagaampon is the second major spirit, a more beneficent-minded entity who was created by Malahom to help grow plant life across the island, but found an equally meaningful purpose in raising an orphaned mortal known as the Child. As a protective parental figure, the river manipulated the terrain to keep outside threats from finding the Child, but understood their desire to go out into the world and was happy to see them return with more people. Tagaampon currently serves as Pahinga’s guardian patron. Malahom is a spirit who used to be a giant who became a tree after praying for some rain to soften the hard, dry land he was walking on. After slipping and falling, he was unable to remove himself from the mud, and his body eventually became a mangkono tree. Needless to say this was maddeningly lonely, and his sadness caused him to grow fruits whose seeds grew into all sorts of plant life, as well as the first halflings of the island. Malahom occupies the role of a spirit of fertility and life in Kandaya: farmers beseech him for rain and good harvests, while parents pray for successful childbirths. The people of Taonglupa are his most ardent followers, who honor him by asking every plant for permission to harvest them and take only what they need.  Image used for the book contained text, textless version can be found on artist’s Deviantart. Puthawanan is our next island, and one of the largest. Its communities are typically coastal settlements of fishers and warriors who set sail to raid other places along trade winds, while those living at the island’s south carved citadels out of limestone to form the city of Himpapawiran. The island is known for its iron mines, a material that is overall rare. Local piracy is tolerated by villagers, for they also help protect communities and bring them treasures from other islands, which they donate to local traders to ensure good will. But Puthawanan also has a more sinister reputation as being the once-frequent abode of Arimaonga, one of the Celestial Eaters. This gigantic lion-like entity tore off pieces of mountain as it played around the land, which has also helped unearth ore deposits and cut a vast RIdge through the island. Although it has been a century since Arimaonga was last seen here, its presence in the Ridge manifests in the form of effects akin to Lair Actions, such as a 10% chance per hour of an earthquake, claw marks dug deep into the earth, and dry thunderstorms. Puthawanan has three major settlements. The first is Himapapawiran, a city nestled in the mountains home to mines and smithies. The second is Agusan, a northwestern coastal city situated at the mouth of a river, and its people supply Himapapawiran with fish and other goods in exchange for terrace crops and iron. Piracy has generated resentment from the nearby islanders of Nasirakna, and retaliatory raids have become yearly events. Sumilong is the last settlement, a coastal town with half its buildings carved from limestones in the adjacent cliffs. The settlement was founded to avoid having to migrate inland during every monsoon, using stonemasonry to make long-lasting structures for its people. Its location makes it a vital trading hub with the island of Timanduk, and most outsiders prefer to dock here where local warriors and guides offer their services for traveling around the rest of the island. Puthawanan’s three major spirits also have fancy titles to go along with their names. Paglipad is the Mountain Traveler, who chose to remain uninvolved during a great war between air and earth spirits. They became an outcast for their neutrality. Spending long, lonely nights traveling around Puthawanan’s mountain range, mortals took note of the spirit and began leaving offerings of fruit for Paglipad to find later, who is still too ashamed to show themselves directly and instead helps people from afar. The second spirit is the Jeweled Hawk, a materialistic entity who is eager to take advantage of luxurious goods and controls access to mines along the mountains. The bird takes the finest portions for his own and gifts for a favored few, while selling the rest. Unlike virtually every other major spirit, the Hawk has no priests nor maintains other lines of communication with mortals, so people seeking to earn his favor need to physically find him up in the mountain forest and accompany the spirit on one of his fanciful hunting expeditions. Or attending one of his exclusive Parties in the Sky in a manor up in the mountains. The last spirit is Kamatayan the Iron Serpent, who is said in legend to have once slept in the mountain, but her scales were mistaken for ore deposits. Taking violent revenge on the miners who woke her, nine days of prayer and offerings by surviving friends and family convinced her to let them meet their loved ones. As the islanders at this time were immortal and never knew death before, their fate was a great shock to many. Kamatayan now serves the role of a spirit of death and revenge, where people ask for her favor in order to make contact with the dearly departed or to guard themselves from and/or take revenge against foes. Nasirakna is the fourth island, known for being home to many larger-than-normal sized animals as well as water spirits and a multitude of inland rivers. As most wind spirits avoid the land, it is up to the water spirits to manage the climate, resulting in omnipresent fog and mist with no dry season. A species of manta rays native to Nasirakna are capable of flying in the air, and are large and strong enough to bear human-sized riders on their backs. These animals have been domesticated for travel around the island. Sangdaangalon is a nomadic settlement made up of flotillas whose ancestors acted as traveling truth-tellers who helped chart and name the many animals and features of the island. Their demographics are diverse due to their society originating from all walks of life. Sangdaangalon has a tradition where their datu is appointed by anyone who braves the dangerous waters of a spirit known as the Blue Maw for a week, and should they survive they are deemed worthy. The town ended up with two datus because the people wrongly believed that the first challenger died, and the second one also survived. Another interesting feature is the oldest karakoa (a type of enchanted boat that is self-assembling) in the community, which bears many valuable items intended as offerings to the Blue Maw. Anyone who attempts to steal or defile the offerings are executed. The second settlement is the lakeside fishing community of Ingatan, whose original settlers were able to gain the protection of the lake spirit Lisuga to offer them her natural bounty in exchange for sharing stories. Ingatan is also home to a well-guarded artifact known as the Alaala jar. It is said to have been created by the founding babaylan to act as a multi-generational repository of knowledge, and anyone who attunes to it gains access to literal lifetimes’ worth of memories.  Nahulog is the last settlement of Nasirakna, which is where the island’s few wind spirits congregate as can be seen by kites in the air. Threaded cloth criss-crossing between buildings and giant mushrooms serve as good luck charms, and the air is alive with music. The village’s founding babaylan was led to the area by a trickster spirit, who she managed to befriend by locating its cave and playing a nice tune on a flute. Nahulog’s people bear magic in the form of songs that help defend their community,* as well as talismans that can direct the flow of winds if placed on a kite. *no details are provided as to the specifics. All three settlements maintain good relations with each other. During the anniversary of the Eve of Parting, when the original settlers voluntarily broke up into three groups to form their own communities, people from every settlement come together to reenact Nasirakna’s history through song, dance, and stories. Nasirakna has three major individual spirits and a major grouping as its own category. The first major spirit is the Blue Maw, real name Anino, a pool whose bottom is unseen and unknown. It is actually the mouth of a gigantic turtle originally trapped here by its parents, who viewed him as ugly and unworthy. Anino quells with anger at this injustice, which manifests in the form of harsh weather and poisonous animals, and so the island’s inhabitants do what they can to ease his sorrow via prayers of thanks for being able to live on the land and also giving sacrifices and music. If mollified, Anino visits people in their dreams to thank them. Makulit the Trickster Wind is said to be responsible for the splitting up of Sky and Sea, jealous of the two spirits’ bond together and sought to cause the two no end of mischief. One day, the wind spirit stole their treasures of drifting clouds and colored stones. Sky threw a rock at Makulit but accidentally hit Sea, and clouds spilled from the latter’s mouth in pain that formed the mists of Nasirakna. Makulit took the opportunity to hide in a cave, which it still lives in to this day, still troublesome as ever. Even so, people still seek to appease Makulit in hopes of distracting the entity, and weavers in particular earn the spirit respect for their skills at kite-making. Ingkang Putik is the third spirit, a representation of the act of change in all its forms. She was once a large yet sedentary female bullfrog who lived upon the island before the first mortal settlers, and learned that the wind and water spirits were enacting rituals to bind Anino the Blue Maw to the island. Presuming that this was a necessary act to keep the island intact, she started to perform the rituals as well, eventually becoming a hybrid earth and water spirit. When mortal settlers arrived, Ingkang Putik became a male, taking a humanoid form made of mud and living life as an adventurer for a while. Eventually, Putik returned to their old self and now lives among their fellow bullfrogs in the mud. Nobody knows why they gave up their more exciting life, but everyone has their own theory. People still venture into the mudflats in hopes of gaining Ingkang Putik’s favor to change something else or something about themselves. But this is a dangerous journey, for the frog spirit is just as apt to eat the pilgrim as they are to listen. Needless to say, Putik and Anino dislike each other given that the former still supports the latter’s imprisonment. Tutubi are a group of related ancestor spirits who take the forms of flying insects along Nasirakna’s waterways. Souls who die on the island don’t truly move on, and are bound to the area. They devote their afterlives to various vocations, but the tutubi’s duties are to help give safe passage to travelers who pay them proper respect. And hinder those who don’t. How they fly is also a good means of predicting weather, as they fly high when skies will be clear and low when it will rain. Thoughts So Far: The first half of this chapter does a good job in providing a distinctive feel for the various islands, and treating spirits as named figures with important societal roles helps reinforce Sina Una’s animistic themes. Each of the four islands has detailed climates, resources, and cultural traditions to help them feel different from each other and highlight how its people live. But one weakness in this chapter so far is that while there’s several adventuring opportunities presented, said hooks for conflict tend to be vaguely-detailed. For instance, we know that the village of Hanapin created its own cottage industry of salt to fight aswang incursions, but we don’t get much detail on exactly what kinds of monsters are menacing the village. Or how Arimagona’s Ridge still bears spooky remnants of the Celestial Eater’s presence, but we don’t get any sample dungeons, monsters, or sources of conflict coming from the region. While there are some sources of conflict, like Puthawanan’s piracy causing retaliation from nearby islands or termite mounds in Ashen Fields being a threat to farming, many of the locations provided feel that they’re in a relatively peaceful status quo, waiting for trouble to happen to them. As opposed to troubles already happening, where the PCs are needed to put things right. Join us next time as we cover the remaining three islands and what lies beyond the archipelago in the rest of Chapter Two!
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Dec 14, 2024 06:14
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 Chapter Two, Part Two: Rest of the World Adlawadto is a humid island covered in rainforest where much of the flora is poisonous, the fauna is fiercer than normal, and spirits guard much of the interior from trespassers. But even so, people found ways to live here, be it advanced knowledge of herbalism in identifying the right plants to sticking close to the shorelines. Most of the island remains unexplored, and in the rest of the archipelago it has a reputation of being an unknown frontier. Linawan is the first major settlement, a gathering of hunters that meet once every full moon to share resources and knowledge, and its Bagsakan marketplace eagerly trades rumors as much as they do goods. Tasulog is a mobile community of boats that serve as living residents for its people, who are fishers, pearl divers, and foragers of shellfish, coral, and turtle eggs. They have been known to visit farther shores, but they regularly return to this island. Every boat of Tasulog houses an ancestral spirit who acts as administrators for resources and labor. Badbaran is the third major settlement, located deep in the rainforest which are protected by Sasayaw, a benevolent lake spirit whose presence deters predators. Descendants of an escaped Tasulog people enslaved by an unnamed group, their current community doesn’t permit the entry of outsiders unless they prove their goodwill by finding and returning rare fruit elsewhere in Adlawadto. The island has four major spirits. The first is Sasayaw the Giant Turtle, who shares a common relationship with Badbaran in having been on the run from hunters, and controls the water level and rain. While people still give offerings the turtle returns in favor, he isn’t very trusting of mortals in general. The other two spirits are Aponipalayok and Huni, the former a little girl who befriended the latter who is a bird spirit. The two met when Aponipalayok was gathering medicinal leaves in a forest. After getting injured, Huni was healed by Aponipalayok over a period of several days, and in gratitude the bird made it so that formerly poisonous fruits would be edible by Aponipalayok and her relatives. Dian Anay is the final spirit, a title rather than a unique being. Dian Anay represents an entity who holds sway over all the termites of the island, and has good relationships with other kinds of insects as well. The first Dian Anay was the child of a human woman and calanget, a spirit of elemental earth. With the human’s community rejecting their relationship, they eloped into the wilderness and were adopted as a found family by a colony of termites. The humans believed that the termites kidnapped the woman. Ever since, humans and termites have been enemies. It’s only been in recent times that individuals among the two groups are finding ways to humanize the other, particularly among children who fostered secret friendships with the other group’s newest generation. Such children learned that the horror stories and propaganda told by their community aren’t founded entirely in truth. The people of Talunan make their living from trade and seafaring, more so than the other islands, as its active volcano makes most people stick to the coast and by rivers. Its bay holds a continuous bounty of fish and thus a source of food. Baga is the first major settlement, a Hidden City on the Water that requires a complicated process of clue-searching among a ghost town to find it. Baga is so hidden due to earning the wrath of a powerful spirit known as the Red Woman. This isolation hasn’t hurt outside relationships with other communities, for its people are still traders despite their hidden nature. Their goods are highly desirable, being pearls, obsidian, and oil and natural gas harvested from undersea volcanic fissures. Iraga is the second settlement, next to a hillside with a castle providing a vantage point of the entire town. The founders were a tribe of the same name who sought to perform daily offerings to pacify the volcano, and other tribes provided them with trade so they can better maintain this duty. Duyan-Duyan is the final settlement, an agricultural village who uses the volcanic ashfall to harvest crops.  The three spirits of Talunan are all women of mortal origin. The first two, Panganoran and Pagtuga, were warriors who sought the favor of Magayon, a datu’s daughter, in order to get her hand in marriage. But Pagtuga, the victorious warrior, ended up killing both her rival and Magayon, and from their corpses sprung the natural features that became the spirits. Panganoran is a cold wind that is the manifestation of the suitor grieving for her beloved, and sometimes her winds end up possessing mortals who can only be freed in one of three ways depending on the spirit’s mood. Some babaylan seek to gather up all of Panganoran’s remnants to unify, hoping that this will provide the spirit with some measure of peace. Pagtuga, by contrast, is a being of earth and stone, but is also equally sorrowful and manifests as a giant stone in a forest surrounded by a pool of saltwater. It is unconnected to the ocean and thus the water is believed to be her tears. Galit Ni Magayon is the third spirit, also known as the Red Woman, for her vengeful ways. Manifestations of Magayon swing between overly fawning to those who are kind to her, but can turn to being hateful seemingly on a dime. The islanders appease Magayon twice a week, along with an annual ritual of blood offerings, food, and a marriage between two mortals. But villagers started to sabotage these rituals in recent times, believing that somehow this will earn her favor but in reality will spell disaster. Kotabalon is the final island, the one physically closest to the Underworld’s gateway and thus sees a high proportion of traveling ghosts and dragonborn. It is a rocky, resource-sparse region home to chilly winds and rainfall. Too many ghosts end up lost in Kotabalon, and the island is home to many mortals running from their past or hoping to reunite with their departed loved ones. There’s also merfolk who hunt the ghosts, using magical nets to drag them into the abyssal depths of the ocean for unknown purposes. As though Kotabalon’s reputation couldn’t get any more sinister, Tambanokua, one of the Celestial Eaters, once weaved her web in the sky around here. The silk remains just as strong, and can trap physical bodies as well as souls. There are only two settlements here. The first, Tungkulin, is home to warriors who stand vigil over the volcano of Mount Balaon, watching for signs should Tambanokua rise from it given that the pit within is her last known prison. Like other Celestial Eater locations, it also has lair-style environmental changes, such as less hit points healed from Hit Dice during a short rest. Makusog is the other settlement, located in a trap-filled cavern with an omnipresent silver light from the goddess Mayari. The people here are also guardians standing watch for the Celestial Eaters and other monsters, and have learned much of the ways of spiders in how they construct their traps. Kotabalon is home to three spirits. The first is Dalagang Balaon, a pit far up in the mountains that can create an avatar of a ten foot tall dragonborn. She has given contradictory stories over her origin and purpose, sometimes claiming to be the spouse of the Celestial Eater hoping to keep the spider asleep, being the spider’s mother and hoping they can both take revenge on the gods, or even a captor seeking to prevent the apocalypse. But what is known for sure is that Dalagang Balaon’s presence keeps Tambanokua asleep. The second spirit is Aguahi, an oceanic spirit who watches over the Underworld’s entrance and for any signs of the returning Celestial Eaters. It maintains a close friendly relationship with the people of Makusog. Pagakpak is the final one, a rather optimistic and mischievous wind spirit who seeks to enliven people’s morale in such a forlorn realm. He often takes the form of a rooster and is one of the easiest spirits in Kotabalon to gain access to, as he loves being in the company of mortals although his non-stop talking quickly wears out his welcome.  The Ocean and Beyond is the final section of Chapter Two, covering the places of the setting beyond known civilization. We first open up with a common overview of sea-dwellers, a broad term for those who spend most of their lives on the waves rather than land and who most often gather in community flotillas. There’s an elite order of warriors known as the Mandaragat who watch over Bakunawa’s Grave, an impossibly calm region of the sea that regularly spawns all manner of monsters which come from the depths to menace the surface world. Should one dive deep enough, one can see the Celestial Eater’s body, or rather its head and throat sticking up from the abyssal plains. The rest of its form is buried in a trench, surrounded by a crater. It is a creepy place, filled with coral that rhythmically glows in tune to the monster’s every unconscious breath, and poison continually leaks from its body and an undertow brings sunken ships to trap and crush unlucky swimmers. Tambanokano’s Basin is another region home to a Celestial Eater of the same name, a giant crab whose movements cause bubbles to rise to the surface. Upon popping when in contact with air, sudden waves and whirlpools cause the otherwise-gentle sea to turn violent. Rocky atolls with cliffs surround the basin, and the trees are strange-looking, warped things unknown elsewhere in the world, and are also home barnacles that sing when people approach. Omnipresent seagrass clings to the body of people swimming inside the atoll, its accumulated weight drags swimmers to a watery grave. Tambanokano fortunately spends most of his existence sleeping, and the seaweed’s disposition (and thus its threat to others) changes depending upon whether the Celestial Eater has nice dreams or fearful nightmares. And even further than that, the Celestial Eater Minokawa makes its nest that is larger than any island. Many believe that the mortal world is fashioned in the likeness of a partially open clamshell, with the bottom half containing the ocean and islands and the top half containing the sky and starry heavens. The sky and sea used to remain close and thus “closed,” but the gods raised the sky after Bakunawa’s rampage in order to prevent the land from being destroyed. The area where the “lips” of the clam are closest is said to be home to Lalangban, and mortal voyagers find all manner of naturally-impossible calamities assaulting their vessel should they come near this threshold. The only things known to safely travel “beyond the clam” are the legendary boat Salimbal, which has since been broken into many pieces, and the Celestial Eater Minoakawa who has a nest and eyrie in a massive tree growing beyond the known world. Thoughts So Far: Concluding the World chapter, one major weakness I notice about the setting is that most of the islands lack substantial sources of conflict. What conflict does exist, such as the termite/human wars of Adlawadto, the covert sabotaging of the Red Woman’s rituals, or the ghost-napping merfolk, are bare-bones in detail. In the first case we might know that these groups hate each other, and that a particular spirit is a dangerous entity in the second case, but we don’t get specific names of instigators or how these troubles can play out in a typical adventure. And in the termite/human case, it’s implied to be a problem that will eventually solve itself via the passage of generational time. Kotabalon is the island with the most danger and thus potential adventuring material, but its inhabitants are instead mostly standing guard for a danger that might come rather than one that is already here. The ghost-napping merfolk are perhaps the most adventurer-worthy material, but they get hardly more than a brief mention in a single paragraph. Regarding highlights, I do like how Sina Una plays up the cosmic horror angle of the Celestial Eaters. Particularly in how the places that they reside are eerily quiet, unnatural territories as though the very land itself is wounded. Where going there is a dangerous ordeal, even should the resident Celestial Eater be asleep or absent. Join us next time as we take a look at character options in Chapter Three, the People of the Islands!
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Dec 16, 2024 04:15
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 Chapter Three: Characters This chapter covers practically everything relevant to PCs in a Sina Una campaign. This post will cover the first half, going over races and classes. The People of the Islands covers the common races of Sina Una. They are all derived from the Player’s Handbook, but with some changes to flavor and in some cases mechanics. Orcs do not exist in the setting, so half-orcs are reflavored as Balat-Kayo, people formed in emulation of Haliya’s tusked mask. They’re a relatively new people who have blessings from the god to be more in tune with the natural world. They are proficient in simple and martial weapons, get +2 Charisma, and their choice of +1 Strength or Dexterity. They also begin play being able to cast Alarm, Detect Poison and Disease, and Identify once per long rest, but as rituals. At 3rd and 5th level they can learn another spell of their choice to cast in such a way, provided that they too have the ritual tag. The half-orc’s Menacing and Savage Attack are traded in for these benefits. As for the dragonborn, they trade in their draconic breath weapon and damage resistance for blindsight of 30 feet, know the Guidance cantrip, and learn Sanctuary and Warding Bond at 3rd and 5th level to cast once per long rest each. Dwarves are pretty much the same as fantasy dwarves in being originally born out of stone, but also volcanoes. We have a new subrace for the latter group, who get +1 Intelligence and once per long rest can summon hardened magma to cover their bodies for 1 hour, giving them temporary hit points equal to their level and those who strike them in melee take the dwarf’s level in fire damage. The elves are similar to dwarves in that they are people who were born from spirits of balete trees who later took on mortal forms. This is represented as a subrace that grants +1 Wisdom, a d4 bonus on all Nature and Survival checks, and they learn the Druidcraft, Entangle, and Barksin spells at 1st, 3rd, and 5th level. Half-elves aren’t born from the union of humans and elves, but instead represent people whose ancestral spirits were wild flowers rather than balete trees. Strangely, the book doesn’t tell us what they’d be called instead, rather than half-elves. Unless this is some form of in-setting case of floral heightism. Gnomes have a niche in the setting different from other fantasy worlds. They are known for being amazing artists, particularly for goldsmithing. The Gold Gnome subrace grants +1 Charisma, proficiency in Perception, and they can enhance one of three item types during a long rest: gold trim on armor to grant its wearer temporary hit points, gilded tools that let the user substitute the gnome’s proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier in place of their own if it’s better, or enhancing a nonmagical weapon to count as magical and the first successful hit is an automatic critical hit. The halflings, by comparison, have a less exciting-seeming subrace option of Mangrove Halflings, with +1 Intelligence and the Mending cantrip. But they can use Help as a bonus action, which makes up for it. The tieflings are perhaps the race that gets the most complete of a makeover in terms of both lore and mechanics. Fiends still exist but don’t interact much with the islands, so instead tieflings have connections to deer and carabao as stewards of the land. Their resistance to fire comes from the use of flame and lava as part of the ecosystem’s natural cycle. In terms of mechanics they are pretty much a new race: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, advantage on saves to avoid being prone, shoved, grappled, and restrained, are proficient in Athletics, and a number of times per long rest equal to their Strength bonus they can choose to deal the maximum possible amount of damage on a melee attack rather than rolling the dice. Thoughts: The race and subrace options are overall very strong. The half-orc is the exception, as the bonus spells are more situational, and the normal benefits of ritual casting are obviated given that they still need to spend 10 minutes to cast but can only use said spells once per long rest. Beyond just getting a very useful cantrip, the Umalagad’s blindsight is extremely strong as it basically lets them pinpoint nearby unseen creatures and objects. The dwarf’s lava armor is decent, but as it’s a limited resource the Hill and Mountain dwarf subraces still have appreciable options in comparison. The bonus spells for Balete Elves are more situational, but Entangle is very good. The Tiefling race is perhaps the most potentially overpowered when used with Paladin and Rogue builds given it’s a multi-use max damage option. Now imagine combining it with the Gold Gnome’s weapon enhancement! The tiefling, along with the dragonborn blindsight, are the two things I’d nerf. Next up, we cover Classes and Subclasses. We have one new subclass for each of the core options, and two outright new classes. The Babaylan is the first class, representing people who communicate with spirits and channel their power. They can occupy a variety of roles in islander society, but become leaders, medics, and defenders in addition to their spiritual duties. Babaylans come upon their powers via training, usually under a more experienced tutor. Completing the training involves finding a particular kind of spirit known as an abayan who is a lifelong guide and peer, and it is through this abayan that a babaylan gets their magic. In terms of mechanics, the babaylan is first and foremost a primary spellcaster, getting up to spells of 9th level. They’re sturdier than arcane casters with a d8 Hit Die, but being proficient only in light armor and a few weapons beyond simple means that they aren’t physical fighters by default. They use Intelligence for their magic, and their skill list is primarily derived from scholarly stuff. Their spell list is quite broad, having a mixture of utility, battlefield control, healing, and offense. A lot of the spells are derived from stuff on the Cleric and Druid lists, plus new spells from this book. The abayan is similar to an animal companion or familiar, but more of a peer relationship and the player doesn’t have complete control over them in play. The abayan is nonetheless an ally in most circumstances and will listen to the babaylan’s requests. An abayan doesn’t have a full stat block, but they are incorporeal Medium-sized transparent creatures, are immune to all damage, and cannot be dispelled by magic means. Furthermore, they have truesight out to 60 feet, act as a spellcasting foci for a babaylan’s spells, and grant the babaylan a metacurrency of Spirit Dice which range from 4d4 to 8d4 depending on level. These can be spent to increase a spell’s save DC, add to attack rolls, or damage rolls. Only a maximum number of dice equal to one’s proficiency bonus can be spent at once. The babaylan doesn’t really have any unique class features beyond these at low to middle levels, but at 10th and higher they start gaining some distinct abilities. Like being able to speak and read all languages, immunity to necrotic damage and advantage on death saving throws, and the 20th level capstone lets them recover 20 hit points whenever they have less than half their total and can choose to auto-succeed on a death save up to 3 times per long rest. The babaylan’s subclasses are known as Callings, representing being chosen by particular spirits to fulfill a purpose. They have three Calls: the Call of Clairvoyance makes them expert diviners, where they learn such things like a concentration-free True Strike cantrip that can be cast as bonus action, can let their abayan temporarily possess them to recall past information better and get free castings of particular low-level divination spells, gain truesight themselves and immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions, and their 15th level capstone lets them perform psychometry on objects and creatures to learn about their past. The Call of Sacrifice enhances their healing capabilities, such as adding their proficiency bonus to hit points restored with healing magic, a short-range aura that grants +2 on saves vs damaging effects, and can sacrifice their own hit points to restore the spell slots of either themselves or a nearby allied creature. Their 15th level capstone grants them a multi-use per long rest healing touch that can remove a wide variety of conditions. The Call of Wrath turns the babaylan into a gish, granting them proficiency in more weapon and armor types (basically everything but heavy armor), can substitute their Intelligence modifier for weapon attack and damage, their abayan can make a melee spell attack dealing force damage against a target whenever they take the Attack action, treat their weapons as magical, can use Spirit Dice to add to weapon attacks and damage, and never lose concentration on a spell due to taking damage. And that last one’s not their capstone! The capstone is being able to spend an action to get possessed by a great warrior for 1 minute, where the babaylan gains temporary hit points, anyone who attacks them takes force damage, and has resistance to all damage types and immunity to nonmagical physical damage. Thoughts: The babaylan is an overpowered class. Their Spirit Dice can be used to to break bounded accuracy, they gain access to an invincible incorporeal ally with a permanent half-range True Seeing effect, and two of their subclasses have extremely strong features just about any casting build would kill for. The features in question being the ability to sacrifice hit points for spell slots, and auto-success on concentration checks whenever you’d take damage.  The Headhunter is our other new class, representing a specialized kind of warrior in Sina Una. They are tasked with hunting down criminals who breach major taboos, where they make use of spirits to find their quarry. To prevent revenge-killings and blood feuds, a headhunter undertakes a magical ritual of absolution after killing the criminal, cutting off their head and letting them join their community’s ancestors. The reason this is done is that the crimes of the wrongdoer also befell their community in being unable to prevent their wrong behavior. In so doing this ritual, the headhunters communicate that justice has been done and that the criminal’s community had thus “paid the price,” so to speak. In terms of mechanics the headhunter is quite predictably martial, having a d10 Hit Die, proficiency in all weapon and armor types besides heavy armor, and can choose a Fighting Style at 2nd level. Like a ranger they choose from physical and outdoorsman style skills, but we also throw in History, Intimidation, and Religion reflecting a more social and “folklorist” approach. They gain Conviction Dice which deal additional force damage on a single weapon attack once per round, starting at 1d4 at 1st level and goes up to 4d8 at 20th. Unlike the babaylan’s Spirit Dice the uses are otherwise unlimited. Curiously the headhunter doesn’t get Extra Attack like most martials, so I presume that the Conviction damage is meant to be their main method of offense to make up for this. At low levels, the headhunter mostly gains defense and information-based class features, such as resistance to the charmed and frightened conditions, can designate one creature they know to be their quarry and ask the spirits three questions about it (including finding out specific game statistics), and can perform a ritual over a recently-deceased corpse to ask it up to two questions. At middle levels they gain quite a bit of immunities, such as immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions at 9th level, immunity to exhaustion from forced marches at 11th, and no longer provoke opportunity attacks at 13th level due to movement. At 9th and then 18th level they increase their critical threat range by 1. The headhunter’s subclasses are known as Omens, representing a spirit-granted collection of knowledge to better refine their purpose and skills. The Omen of Knowledge represents one who learns from the dead over time, including those they kill. They can learn unique techniques known as Memory Options as they gain levels, choosing from a list of 11. They rang from persistent benefits to rest-based uses, such as gaining darkvision or increasing that sense type’s range, using a bonus action to add their Intelligence modifier to their AC, can rend a foe and cause them to have disadvantage on attack rolls for one round on a failed Constitution save, or gaining proficiency in Stealth and being able to Hide as a bonus action. Their non-Memory features involve gaining temporary knowledge after a rest, such as gaining proficiency in a saving throw, skills, tools, or even resistance to one damage type. The Omen of Strife heavily emphasizes offense and psychological warfare in harming the morale of wrongdoers. They start out with proficiency in Intimidation and heavy armor, and their various class features revolve around debuffs. Such as being able to slow an enemy’s movement and gain advantage on attacks against them as a bonus action due to the headhunter’s presence, bonus force damage when using Conviction Dice, and reducing an enemy’s AC by 1 cumulatively with each attack (but can do this only up to their Charisma modifier per long rest). The Omen of Swiftness is the Eldritch Knight/Arcane Trickster equivalent for the headhunter, representing magical favor from the god Amanikabli. They choose spells from the Cleric list and can learn up to 4th level spells. Their other abilities include gaining temporary hit points whenever they use their Conviction Dice, treat their weapons as magical, can teleport as a bonus action once per long rest but only to get closer to their quarry, and a capstone that lets them use a bonus action to gain two weapon attacks with advantage whenever they score a critical hit with a spell attack. Thoughts: Technically speaking a Paladin is still better at “burst damage” than a headhunter, and a Rogue’s Sneak Attack increases faster in the damage department. But with the bonus damage being force, headhunters rarely have to worry about contending with damage resistances and immunities. Their information-based core class features are nice, but they’re still outshone by actual spellcasters with divination spells when it comes to more general matters. The immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions stand out the most, particularly in getting it at the relatively low level of 9th, but given that the class doesn’t get much else by default it doesn’t feel as overpowered as it would be for most others. In regards to their subclasses, the Omen of Swiftness looks the weakest and least appealing, as their spell progression is quite minimal. Their ability to continually restore temporary hit points is a nice feature, but that’s not enough to make up for the rest of the rather subpar features. Knowledge and Strife look rather serviceable, with the former likely the most appealing due to its large selection of Memory Options. So, how do the core classes fit into Sina Una? Well, the book doesn’t really go into detail on things like what separates a cleric from a druid if they both call upon spirits, or what sorcerous bloodlines are the most common on the islands. Instead we get thrown immediately into subclass descriptions.  Barbarians who follow the Path of the Black River serve a purpose where they ensure the natural flow of souls to the afterlife, and act against those who would defy this. The subclass is overtly supernatural, beginning with the ability to impose limited blindness on a target upon entering a rage (lose sight of anything beyond 30 feet, undead fail the save automatically). At higher levels they can choose to lose hit points in order to end various condition types, cast Dimension Door once per long rest, and a capstone ability where they can become spectral while raging which grants undead-like abilities such as becoming incorporeal and reducing a struck target’s maximum hit points. Thoughts: Very strong yet balanced subclass. The limited blindness is a great way to hinder long-range attackers, Dimension Door helps the Barbarian close the gap across vast distances, and choosing to lose hit points to end conditions is a small price to pay given the class’ hit point reserves. Bards of the College of Siday act as historical lorekeepers, undergoing training in memorizing all manner of poems and legends, and many join adventuring parties to chronicle epics as they happen. The subclass is very much a team player, with their main feature being expending Bardic Inspiration to perform Folkloric Epics. They are minute-long short-range boons that require concentration. They benefit nearby allies in a variety of ways, such as granting the bard’s Charisma modifier to attack rolls, the Bard’s level as bonus force damage, or +1 bonus to Armor Class and can blind enemies who miss a character in melee. The bard can also cast Enhance Ability a number of times per long rest equal to their Charisma modifier, and their capstone grants them the ability to turn an ally’s missed attack roll into a hit once per turn when performing a Folkloric Epic along with personal resistance to all damage types and advantage on Dexterity saves. Thoughts: This subclass looks fine on an initial read, but it doesn’t stack as highly against other bardic subclasses. As Folkloric Epics require concentration, they don’t synergize well with many bard spells, and their short-range aura of 15 feet means that the bard has to be more front-line or clustered near allies rather than hanging in back and helping from afar. Volcano Domain Clerics understand not just the power of these mighty mountains, but also their capability to change and create. They honor both sides and learn to tap into this power. Their domain spells lean mostly towards defensive and thematic battlefield control options. They gain Light and Mending as cantrips along with proficiency in either Medicine, Nature, or Survival, and Channel Divinity lets them cause lava and ash to erupt around them as an AoE, but allies are healed instead. At 6th level they can cause a nearby ally to heal damage whenever the cleric makes a critical hit, at 8th and 14th level their weapon attacks deal bonus fire damage, and their 17th level capstone is a 1 minute 30 foot radius aura of erupting magma and ash that can stun hostile creatures, grants +2 AC to the cleric and their allies, and a concentration-free one use casting of Beacon of Hope. Thoughts: In terms of theme I like how this subclass reflects the multi-faceted aspects of a volcano’s impact on the ecosystem. Its offensive options aren’t so impressive, as fire damage is a very common resistance for enemies, and as for healing they are outshone by the more specialist Life Domain. What we get is a subclass that tries to do two things but excels at neither. Druids of the Circle of Tides view the ocean as something that cannot be controlled, and to truly gain its favor one should instead study it in order to adapt to its ways. At 2nd level they can gain an hour-long buff that grants themselves and allies bonuses on Stealth checks to hide in natural terrain (Wisdom modifier) as well resistance to one of the elemental energy types. The book notes that this requires a use of Wild Shape, but as it says it near the end and only in the context of replacing an energy type rather than adding to the energy resistances, it could be made more clear. They also can expend Wild Shape to gain sea-themed enhancements for 1 minute rather than changing into an animal, such as tremorsense out to 60 feet or granting themselves or a creature they can see a bonus to AC equal to half their Wisdom modifier rounded down. At higher levels they can spend a reaction to take no damage from an attack and regain half the hit points the damage would’ve ordinarily done, swap initiative counts with a hostile creature when combat begins, and gain more powerful adaptive features to spend Wild Shape uses on, such as a fly speed or ending a condition and gaining immunity to that particular condition for the duration. Thoughts: The reaction-based ability to negate a damaging attack stands out as the most powerful, as its use is based on Wisdom modifier per short rest. So not only is it something the druid can use multiple times, they regain them all with just an hour of resting rather than at the end of the day. Furthermore, while it’s not as powerful as Pass Without Trace, granting the party bonus to Stealth checks is also very good when it comes to triggering surprise on foes, and being able to swap initiative counts with an enemy can make the Druid act quicker a lot more often. For these reasons, this is an incredibly powerful subclass I’d be reluctant to approve.  The Kawal is a special type of Fighter, one who acts as a defender of their local community to ensure that any harm directed at their loved ones will instead fall upon them first. Their initial features include gaining the maximum amount of hit points possible for Second Wind, advantage on saves and ability checks on a broad variety of conditions, and once per short or long rest can let out a roar as a bonus action that targets three creatures. This last ability imposes disadvantage on attack rolls vs everyone but the Fighter. At higher levels they can parry damage dealt to them back to an attacker if they succeed on a Constitution save, gain immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions, can take 2 reactions per turn and 3 as their 18th level capstone, and their 15th level feature lets their ancestors buff them for a minute once per long rest, granting them a variety of beneficial features. Thoughts: There aren’t many tank/taunt abilities in 5th Edition, with the closest being Compelled Duel and enemy lockdowns such as Sentinel and Polearm Master combos. The Guardian Roar is good because it’s multi-target and doesn’t cost an Action, and being able to “reflect” damage does a good job in ensuring that enemies will be punished one way or another whether they attack the Fighter or someone else. Of course, the Fighter is still limited in that more mobile enemies can go around them or stay out of reach, but I think this subclass looks fine for what it does. The Way of Kaluluwa for Monks teaches not just physical and mental perfection, but learning how to split the body and soul apart so that the two can act in tandem as partners. This way, they can accomplish far more than what they could while stuck together. Their initial features include causing all of their unarmed strikes to deal psychic damage by default (this can’t be turned off), and can spend ki points to cause their soul to be “summoned” for 1 minute or until they’re incapacitated. This soul effectively acts as a clone of the Monk, but they share the same pools of hit points and action types. When they’re within 10 feet of each other, they both gain advantage on attack rolls as well as Strength and Dexterity based skill checks. At higher levels they can use their Deflect Missiles against ranged spell attacks and spend ki points to further reduce the damage, can spend ki points to grant either their soul or physical form resistance to a wide variety of damage types. Their 17th level capstone ability lets them spend 3 ki points to grant their physical form and soul their own separate actions, bonus actions, and reactions for one round. Thoughts: The ability to lower the damage of ranged spells is nice, and psychic damage is one of the least-resisted damage types. The summoning of a “split soul” is a bit more situational on account of sharing the same action economy, and the 1 minute duration makes it of limited use for scouting purposes. Curiously, the psychic damage replacement makes the monk unable to damage objects via unarmed strike, which is a bit of an unstated debuff. This subclass might be effective if played right, but at the moment it doesn’t look as attractive as some existing ones. A Paladin’s Oath of Blood encourages one to dedicate themselves to another. The moral outlook, means, and ends of their charge aren’t as important as living their lives for their sake, and the paladin’s tenets reflect this. The bonus spells are geared heavily towards defense, such as Revivify, Death Ward, and Remove Curse. Their Channel Divinity options let them either move up to and attack creatures who attack their allies, or grant temporary hit points to an ally. Their higher level features include an aura where they deal additional damage on their next attack every time an ally within the aura’s damaged, regain hit points once per long rest whenever both they and a designated ally have less than half their total hit points, and their 20th level transformation lets them substitute their Charisma save for Dexterity and Constitution saves vs damaging effects, can regain uses of Channel Divinity by voluntarily losing hit points, and treat spell slots spent for Divine Smite as one level higher. Thoughts: This subclass is going to be inevitably compared to Oath of the Crown, given that they both focus on protecting allies. However, I believe that Crown does a better job at this, for several of the Oath of Blood features take effect only when an ally gets hurt. So in a weird way, this class sees the best use when allies are placed directly in danger. Additionally, while Blood gets some good spells like Revivify and Wall of Force, I still think that Crown wins out by getting fan-favorites such as Spirit Guardians and Banishment. Mangangayaw Rangers are pretty much monster hunters in theme, so what differentiates them from the Monster Hunter subclass is mechanics. Starting out they gain a bonus proficiency in a Charisma skill besides Performance and can substitute Wisdom for Charisma ability checks. Additionally, the ability Strider’s March increases their movement speed by 15 feet whenever they’re targeted by a creature’s attack. When so increased, they avoid opportunity attacks triggered by movement and can reroll one weapon attack. At higher levels they can perform a bleeding strike once per turn that deals additional damage until an action is spent to staunch the wound; can choose to spend a reaction to shield a creature from a damaging AoE to have them take no damage in exchange for the ranger auto-failing; and a capstone that lets them benefit from Strider’s March at all times and add their Wisdom modifier to their AC when wearing medium armor. Thoughts: The Charisma-based initial abilities are a poor person’s Fey Wanderer, as it replaces Charisma with Wisdom rather than adds on top of it. As for the other features, the ongoing damage can be useful, as while it doesn’t do much individually (1d4 to 3d4 based on level), it cannot be cured by magical healing and only the bleeding target can staunch the wound. Adding Wisdom to AC has the potential to push them out of Bounded Accuracy, but as the best medium armor in the setting is equivalent to half plate and Rangers rarely push their Wisdom beyond 16 at best, they won’t really outperform typical heavy armor tanks. And since being targeted by an enemy attack is a very common trigger, the Ranger should be getting bonus speed and weapon rerolls all the time, so this is a very strong subclass. A Rogue who becomes a Graverobber has trespassed against one of Sina Una’s great taboos, and in so doing was touched by a curse. However, unlike most of their unlucky peers they managed to turn this curse into a strength. Their initial features let them learn three warlock cantrips, which they use Charisma for. They also choose whether their curse manifests as Pestilence, Avarice, or Destruction, which determines the specifics of subclass features They can also manifest their curse as an Anathema whenever they use a Cunning Action, which can deal Sneak Attack to an opponent who fails a Wisdom save if Sneak Attack hasn’t already been dealt on the Rogue’s turn. At higher levels they gain one feature and a once per rest based spell to cast depending on their manifestation, such as Destruction granting resistance to nonmagical physical attacks and the Lightning Bolt spell. At 13th level they can curse a target as a bonus action, increasing their critical threat range by 1 against said target, imposing disadvantage vs their Anathema abilities, and can spend a reaction after damaging the target to regain hit points equal to half the damage dealt. Their 17th level capstone grants them a powerful offensive ability, such as making their weapon attack paralyzing and deal bonus poison damage via Pestilence, or Avarice letting them apply half the damage they take from an attack to a target within 30 feet. Thoughts: This subclass looks pretty strong and compelling. Being able to trigger Sneak Attack via Cunning Action can make for a nice rebound if their regular Attack action misses, and their defensive features are pretty broadly useful. Destruction is a lot better than the others for most builds, as the damaging abilities involve force damage which is the least-resisted damage type in the game, and resistance to nonmagical physical attacks is extremely common. The Diwata Bloodline of Sorcerers trace their ancestry from a mighty spirit, such as one of the celestial bodies or an ocean or volcano spirit. Their 1st level features grant proficiency in Nature, can speak Sylvan and advantage on Charisma checks when speaking to creatures with that language and understand them, and can pick spells from the druid spell list in addition to the sorcerer list. Their higher level features involve spending Sorcery Points to summon an icon of their ancestral spirit, which is immune to all damage and can be used to deliver touch attacks, but requires 1 Sorcery Point for each turn after to maintain its existence. At 14th level they can teleport to any square within 30 feet of their icon, and their 18th level capstone lets them spend additional Sorcery Points while their icon is present to gain a variety of buffs, including immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, auto-succeeds on concentration checks when they take damage, and restore hit points to themselves and nearby allies. Thoughts: This subclass grants the Sorcerer access to a good variety of druid spells such as Entangle, Fire Shield, Pass Without Trace, Revivify, Lesser/Greater Restoration, and Heal. As for the rest of its features, it’s very reliant upon the icon, which can get expensive to maintain given Sorcery Points must be dumped into it on subsequent rounds. Its real good features only come into play at tiers of play beyond most campaigns, so this subclass will mostly be used for druid spell access, which isn’t as impressive.  The Mooneater Patron ties a warlock to one of the BBEGs of the setting. Unlike other patrons this can be an unwilling partnership, and often comes about by a Celestial Eater taking advantage of a would-be warlock’s fear, anger, or desperation. The expanded spell list focuses heavily on offense and control, such as Inflict Wounds, Dominate Beast, and Planar Binding. Their initial abilities let them add Charisma to initiative rolls and gives them a pool of d6s equal to 1 + warlock level that refresh every long rest. The dice can be spent on weapon attack and spell attack rolls (maximum number equal to proficiency bonus), which add to the d20 roll and also add as bonus force damage. At 6th level they can absorb a dead creature’s essence as a bonus action once per short rest to gain some pretty nice buffs for one minute, such as adding half their warlock level rounded up to attack rolls and gaining resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage. At 10th level they are immune to the frightened condition, and any attempts to frighten the warlock let them reflect the effect back on the creature as well as dealing psychic damage. Their 14th level capstone grants advantage on initiative rolls, and once per long rest on the first turn of combat, they can spend their action to target a number of creatures equal to their Charisma modifier who suffer force damage on a failed Constitution save. We also get five new Eldritch Invocations, each themed after one of the Celestial Eaters. Crab’s Wrath lets them summon shell-like armor for 1 minute that grants them various buffs such as a swim speed and a spectral crab claw that attacks as a bonus action; Eagle’s Rapacity lets them summon a pair of wings for 1 minute that grants a flying speed and can shoot out an aura of sharp feathers; Lion’s Revelry grants proficiency in Acrobatics, can Dash as a bonus action, and whenever they Dash in such a manner they generate an AoE roar dealing thunder damage; Serpent’s Ire grants proficiency in Intimidation, and can summon a fearsome image over themselves for 1 minute that gives buffs such as psychic damage to nearby enemies as a reaction and can add their proficiency bonus once per turn to the damage of a weapon or spell attack; Spider’s Cunning grants proficiency in any two skills, and as a bonus action the warlock can target a creature within 30 feet with ethereal spider webs, restraining them on a failed Dexterity save. Thoughts: Cool concept, overpowered execution. The pool of d6s and essence-devouring buffs let them easily hit targets by breaking bounded accuracy, making the DPR-intensive class even more so. Adding Charisma to initiative is not as OP but still really strong, so it makes this subclass practically a no-brainer for most warlock builds. As for the invocations, none of them seem strong enough to be worth selecting over existing mainstays like Agonizing Blast, although Spider’s Cunning is perhaps the most tempting on account of bonus skills and an at-will debuff as a bonus action. The Mentala school of Wizardry teaches a mage how to inscribe spells on scrolls of bamboo, inspired by that plant’s strong and versatile properties. Their initial features let them add their Intelligence modifier to AC when unarmored and on Constitution saves to maintain concentration, and as part of a long rest they can make a number of bamboo scrolls equal to their spellcasting ability modifier (also Intelligence). They must be spells they know but don’t have to be prepared, and their combined levels must be equal to half of their wizard level, rounded down (cantrips count as 0 level). The scrolls function much like regular scrolls, but a creature doesn’t have to be a spellcaster or know the spell in order to use them, and they use the Wizard’s spell attack bonus, save DC, and Constitution modifier for maintaining concentration. At higher levels the subclass grants more varied abilities, such as cursing a target once per short rest at 6th level to deal psychic damage, and the cursed target subtracts a d6 from attacks and saves for the next hour or until the curse is removed; at 10th level they can modify a spell a number of times per long rest equal to their Intelligence modifier, increasing its AoE, range, or having a damaging spell ignore all resistances or do half damage if immune; and the 14th level capstone lets them gain a minute long buff once per long rest as a bonus action after they cast a leveled spell. This buff includes a radius of damaging sunlight, doubles their movement speeds and grants a flying speed of 30 feet, and can spend a reaction whenever a target within 30 feet reaches 0 hit points to have them regain hit points equal to the wizard’s class level. Thoughts: Another overpowered subclass, this effectively grants bonus spell slot castings each day for the wizard, but with the added benefit that the castings can be performed by their allies. The higher-level features are also broadly-useful, particularly the 10th level means of enhancing spells. Thoughts So Far: The race and class options for this setting hew towards the higher end of the power spectrum, in several cases being far too much. More so than usual, a DM would need to be careful in what they allow for PCs given the higher than usual amount of unbalanced options. Join us next time as we finish this chapter by covering everything from naval vessels to spells!
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Dec 18, 2024 05:14
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 Chapter Three, Part Two: Rest of the Character Options With race and class covered, the remainder of this chapter covers smaller yet still relevant features for character creation. Pretty much every Background from the Player’s Handbook can be adapted without much trouble, but we still get six new ones with more explicit ties to the setting. The Lorechanter is akin to a Sage but chooses from History, Nature, or Religion as their bonus skills. They are flavored to be more of a collector of their own people’s tales, and thus have advantage on checks to recall histories and legends of their home island. Mangangalakal are merchants who conduct inter-island trade, and are proficient with water vehicles, two trade-related skills, one bonus language of their choice, and their feature gives them advantage on haggling and discerning the value of goods. A Panday is an artisan who dedicates their life to mastering one particular type of craft. They get three bonus skills instead of 1 (Perception, Performance, and Sleight of Hand) along with one set of artisan’s tools, and their feature lets them spend half the usual cost of materials for their specialization. A Sea Raider is basically a warrior experienced at naval combat and not necessarily a pirate. They get proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation along with water vehicles and a bonus language, and their feature lets them reroll one damage die when making a successful attack against a boat. A Voyager is a more generic traveler of the oceans, and gets Perception and Survival along with proficiency in a hunter’s kit (new tool type) and water vehicles, and can hold their breath for a minimum of 5 minutes regardless of their Constitution. The final background, Aswang Lineage, is explicitly supernatural, representing someone whose family tree contains an aswang monster, and some of that lineage has rubbed off on the character. They are proficient in Deception, Stealth, a single tool of any type, the Abyssal language, and have advantage on any checks made to instill fear in someone else. Thoughts: The backgrounds overall look more or less balanced, although the Panday’s half cost might need consideration if the DM is using a dedicated crafting sub-system, and Aswang Lineage’s feature makes it really good for Intimidation and fear-based abilities. I do like it when Features are made to give explicit benefits, and giving half the backgrounds water vehicles proficiency is also a good choice given the setting. The Feats section is short, with 5 new ones all fitting on a single page. Adept Conduit can only be taken by spellcasters, representing someone who managed to gain the favor of some spirits even if they’re not a babaylan. They get +1 Intelligence, learn a babaylan cantrip, and gain 2d4 Spirit Dice which they can use like the babaylan’s class feature. Cannoneer represents one who makes the lantaka (handheld cannon) their weapon of choice, where they ignore that weapon’s loading property, don’t suffer disadvantage on ranged attack rolls when adjacent to an enemy, and roll one bonus weapon damage die when they get a critical hit with a lantaka. Headhunting Master grants proficiency with the bunang (axe with a point on the butt of the axehead), lets the user ignore its two-handed property, and adds their ability modifier when making a bonus action attack with the pointed side of the weapon. Oceanborne Warrior grants a swimming speed equal to walking speed and ignores disadvantage on weapon attacks when underwater. Unrelenting Hunter increases Strength or Dexterity by 1, grants proficiency with the hunter’s kit, and as a free action on their turn can apply a substance on a single melee weapon or three pieces of ammunition. Thoughts: Adept Conduit is a great feat given its granting of Spirit Dice. Oceanborne Warrior is more situational, but is likely to be useful in the setting. Unrelenting Hunter is ideal for quickly poisoning weapons while in the middle of combat. As for the weapon-specific feats, the latanka is a very strong ranged weapon so ignoring its loading property really ups the damage potential. As for a bunang, it’s clearly inspired by Polearm Master but the weapon isn’t as good (1d8 with the axe, 1d6 with the pointed side) given that it lacks reach. Equipment provides us with new armor, weapons, and adventuring gear. While some kinds of warriors can go unarmored, most people choose such protection before heading off into battle. An armor’s weight and ‘breathability’ are highly important, as gear that can weigh someone down risks drowning and heatstroke. Since metal tends to be reserved for weapons and tools, most armor is made from bamboo, bark, and animal hides and parts, with corded fibers used to make some armor waterproof. We get a list of armor types in the setting along with new ones, and the good news is that heavy armor lovers still have options in the form of Chain Mail (costs twice as much) and Pakil armor (AC 18, made of interlocking bamboo/hardwood/ebony plates, costs 800 gold). For light armor we have Reinforced Leather which is basically Studded Leather. Habay-habay replaces normal Leather but is half that armor’s price. For medium armor, Chain Shirts still exist but cost 4 times as much and has a base AC of 14, Carabao Hide is AC 13 at 30 gold, and Barote is akin to half-plate’s 15 AC but costs 400 gold, imposes no disadvantage on Stealth checks, and is made from abaca fibers or bark cords and is waterproof. As for weapons, almost everyone has access to ones that can be easily used as tools or for hunting, and spears and swords are the most common melee weapons. Shortbows, blowguns, and spears with tied cord to serve as harpoons are the most common ranged weapons. Headhunters are known to wield the bunang which is ideal for beheading someone, and the latanka portable cannon can be mounted on ships. Some weapons are designed specifically for fighting aswang. While any weapon can be plausibly coated in the substance, it degrades iron quickly, so people typically forge anti-aswang weapons from materials found in the sea.  We have 18 new weapons, 5 of which are Simple Melee, 2 Simple Ranged, 7 Martial Melee, and 4 are Martial Ranged. Several of them are made to substitute for or are modifications of existing PHB weapons, such as the baladaw which is basically a dagger that cannot be thrown, a kris which is like a shortsword but is simple instead of martial and deals slashing damage, the kalawit is a 1d4 throwing spear that has the Harpoon property which lets you bring it back to hand as a bonus action, and the Sumpit is a blowgun whose ranged attack deals 1d8 but has a sharp blade that can be used in melee for 1d6 damage. Regarding some of the more interesting options, the Stingray Tail Whip is akin to a regular whip but is permanently treated as though it’s salt-imbued, and the Coral-Tipped Spear has this same property but is otherwise a spear that costs 5 gold. The Astinggal is a matchlock rifle that deals 1d10 piercing and has a range of 100/400. The Songil is a big spear that deals 2d6 damage and has reach and the finesse property, so you can easily play as an agile polearm-user in this setting. The Lantaka is a hand cannon made out of a large segment of bamboo or bronze, and its ammo is gunpowder-propelled arrows and stones. It deals 2d8 piercing damage and has a range of 120/480. Adventuring Gear covers everything else, a lot of which includes setting-specific flavor touches on existing items such as arcane foci. Some of the more interesting pieces include new poison types like the buta-buta leaves that can blind someone if they touch bare skin; tambal bundles which can be used with a herbalism kit for specific remedies (mostly flavor, but lists real-world plants and their common medicinal properties); and common forms of gaming sets such as spider-fighting where two spiders are placed on the ends of stick and they try to knock each other off, or sungka which is a board game similar to mancala where players move small shells or stones between pits. The book has a sidebar discussing what existing core equipment can be adopted to Sina Una easily, but otherwise says the classic “talk with your DM” when it comes to more culture-specific stuff like rapiers and scale mail. Thoughts: The armor replacements more or less cover the AC ranges well enough, although there are no bludgeoning weapons so I do feel that the weapons don’t cover all bases. There’s still quite a bit of neat and innovative ones, and given the cheapness of salt-imbued weapons PCs shouldn’t have a hard time finding stuff to harm aswang. Sailing the Seas of the Islands covers common water vehicles and pre-colonial Philippines had all kinds of vessels, but this section simplifies the many types into three general categories. Baroto are dugout canoes without sails and are designed for river travel, balangays are seafaring fishing vessels and merchant ships, while the karakoa are huge warships that can hold up to a hundred people. We also get expanded rules for seafaring action and adventure, such as boats getting increased speed when commanded by someone proficient in water vehicles, applying modifiers to AC, hit points, and damage threshold based on a ship’s intended Purpose, and new condition types to apply to vessels based on weather. We even have optional rules for ship conditions should they be damaged by a critical hit, such as a flooding hull that increases the DC of movement-related checks. Thoughts: The new rules are quite light and relatively undetailed. I feel that this section was unfinished, as I spotted two times where the book refers to “see page xx” when referencing something, and we don’t get sample gold piece prices for ships and Purposes. It’s just enough to make seafaring encounters feel deeper, but other rulesets and sourcebooks dedicated to naval combat and travel are a lot more detailed in covering this type of stuff. Magic Items is self-explanatory, and provides us with 28 new pieces of supernatural gear. In terms of rarity we have 5 each of Common, Rare, and Very Rare, 7 Uncommon, 3 each of Legendary and Artifact, and 12 of the 28 items require attunement. Some of the more interesting items include Anklets of the Trembling Earth, which grant tremorsense of 60 feet to the attuned; a Bamboo Messenger, which allows a letter or small item to be inserted to magically teleport to a target landbound creature in 1d10 days, as a bamboo shoot with the contents magically grows next to them; a Black Egg which is spawned from an aswang and one who eats it is cursed undergo a transformation process into such a monster over 2d10+10 days, but the eater gains immunity to nonmagical physical damage and can speak Abyssal; Enchanted Limbs are typically made from wood and clay to serve as prosthetics, and can even have muted tactile sensations and are immune to dispelling effects; Piercings of the Wind Spirits are similar in function, which use air spirits to allow deaf people to hear; a Golden Death Mask can be placed on the face of a recently diseased humanoid, copying their memories which can then be transmitted to someone who then wears it; Mango of the Pure Maiden is a magical fruit which requires an Arcana check to identify, and can be sliced into 6 pieces which if consumed individually can immediately cure the charmed, frightened, or poisoned conditions, but the eater is unable to lie for an hour on a failed Charisma save; Salimbal is a unique balangay boat which can fly, cast Plane Shift once per day, and has a host of damage immunities and resistances; Singing Spears, which are +1 weapons that can sing as a bonus action, the music summoning a local nature spirit that grants +1d4 damage whose type is determined by the environmental spirit in question; and Sword of the Earnest Moon, an artifact kampilan sword that is a +3 weapon, can cast Moonbeam at will, Celestial Chaos (new spell) once per long rest, grant a use of Legendary Resistance once per day, and deals 2d12 bonus radiant damage when the attuned’s current hit points are half or less than their maximum. Thoughts: There’s quite a bit of interesting magic items here. I do like the worldbuilding implications of several of them. The ear piercings and limb prosthetics are of common rarity, showing that the islanders have easy access to magical aid to help disabled people. The bamboo messenger is also common, which allows for relatively quick long-range communication between islands. The Singing Spear is perhaps my favorite, even if it’s simplistic in concept, as it encourages the party to take into account their surroundings to better understand what enhancements they can get.  We have 24 new magic Spells as well as a handy table showing what classes get access to them, as well as the complete Babaylan spell list. Clerics, Druids, and Wizards get the most, the Sorcerer a decent amount, and the Bard and Warlock don’t get too many. The Paladin and Ranger, predictably, get the least. Like several of the subclasses and races, quite a bit of these spells are higher on the power scale, but a few deserve mention for being easily able to break the game, particularly the rituals. Bonded Spirits is a 2nd level spell which grants +1 to saving throws and +1d6 weapon damage based on the spirit type, and the damage die increases by 1 for every spell slot above 2nd. It lasts for 1 hour, so it’s enough to last for a few combats. Colors of Hanan is also a 2nd level ritual lasting 1 hour, conjuring a magical tattoo on the target which can either grant +1 AC, have their weapon attacks count as magical, gain advantage on Dexterity and Constitution saves, or have them heal 1d4+1 hit points per turn as long as they aren’t incapacitated. As a minute has 10 turns and 60 minutes are in an hour, this ritual spell pretty much obviates the need to spend Hit Dice to heal during short rests. Mayari’s Embrace is a 4th level ritual that lasts 8 hours, conjuring a tattoo on the target based on one of the moon’s phases. Some of them are fine, like being able to see in magical and nonmagical darkness and granting advantage on Charisma saves and saving throws, but Crescent Moon and New Moon are strong to the point of being build-defining. Crescent conjures an illusory double, granting the target advantage on all melee attacks given the double’s distracting nature, as well as a 15 foot boost to all movement types they have. New Moon allows the target to turn invisible until the end of their next turn as a bonus action, and they gain immunity to all effects that can read or sense their thoughts and emotions. Lastly, there’s Tropical Paradise, a 5th level ritual. It is akin to Tiny Hut but is 15 foot radius, can hold up to 10 creatures, and has plants growing magical fruit that increase a consumer’s hit point maximum by 1d8 + spellcasting modifier as well as immunity to poison. Doesn’t specify if this is poison damage, the poisoned condition, or both. And none of these rituals require concentration, so a party with time on their hands can easily buff everyone with powerful magic! As for the other spells, some interesting ones include Apolaki’s Light, a 1st level spell cast as a reaction to an attack, dealing radiant damage and also blinding the attacker should they fail a Constitution save; Celestial Chaos, a 9th level spell that summons moonbeams and solar flares as an AoE attack, dealing radiant damage and blinding people in the storm, and the caster can choose up to 8 creatures to be immune to the spell; Control Lava, a 4th level spell that can control up to 100 cubic feet of lava to overflow, part, or redirect; Coral Cage, a 3rd level spell that deals force damage and restrains a target who fails a Dexterity save, and aswangs automatically fail the initial save; False Self, a 1st level spell cast as a reaction to being grappled or restrained as the caster replaces themselves with an effigy and teleports to an unoccupied space within 5 feet; Lizard Skin, a 2nd level spell that grants temporary hit points and +1 AC to a target for 1 hour, and can shed skin upon being grappled or restrained to end the condition and move 5 feet away; Ride Lightning, a 4th level spell where the caster zips to a point up to 90 feet away, dealing lightning damage to all those in their path; Viper Eyes, a 1st level spell that grants the target the ability to detect heat signatures and thus grants blindsight 60 feet for 8 hours, but the effect is ended early if they take fire or radiant damage and fail a Constitution save; and Wrath of Lalahon, an 8th level spell requiring a consumable material component up to 500 gold, but in exchange the caster gains a protective rocky shell that grants temporary hit points, immunity to the elemental damage types as well as thunder damage, can deal fire damage against up to 10 creatures within 30 feet once per turn, and auto-succeeds on concentration checks to maintain spells that deal fire or radiant damage. Thoughts: This section of the chapter is perhaps the lowest point, as quite a bit of the spells here are just way too strong. Even for the non-ritual spells, we have some potent choices like the Viper Eyes that grants long-term blindsight for a 1st level spell slot, and given Colors of Hanan and Lizard Skin don’t require concentration they can easily be stacked with other AC-boosting spells such as Shield of Faith and Warding Bond. While there are quite a few spells here which I like, particularly Coral Cage, the overpowered ones weigh the rest down. Thoughts So Far: I’m fond of the backgrounds and items, feel a bit mum on the ships, and am unimpressed with the balance of the spells. Chapter 3 as a whole is thus a very mixed bag, and DMs would do well to prune the more broken options from play. Join us next time as we review the first half of the bestiary in Chapter Four: Monsters!
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Dec 19, 2024 04:02
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Yeah, it seems like a lot of people try to take their own cut at a vehicles subsystem. Is there somebody you think has got it broadly right that other people should adapt?
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Dec 19, 2024 04:16
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 Chapter 4: Monsters It wouldn’t be a D&D game without dangerous critters to fight, and the Islands of Sina Una delivers in spades! We have 37 stat blocks for general varieties of monsters, 16 stat blocks for spirits, and 18 for mundane animals. Technically the Celestial Eaters add 4 to the first category, but they don’t have stat blocks. Due to space limitations I won’t cover every monster here, but will try and highlight enough to give people a good sense of this chapter’s content. Aghoy (CR 3) are large humanoid-shaped plants who hunt at night, their eerie whistling the first thing victims hear. They act as scouts and guardians of forests, and can be alternatively helpful or dangerous to people depending upon the latter’s relationship to the local ecosystem. They are melee-focused monsters that can blend in with trees when standing still, and their whistling can supernaturally slow listeners down on a failed Wisdom save. Aswang are a new monster type. They are dark reflections of societal expectations, embodying taboos and the moral depths to which mortals can descend. Many aswang possess the ability to change shape, and they are supernaturally resilient to mundane attacks save for weapons immersed in salt. Aswang are also universally cannibals, preferring the taste of humanoid flesh and blood. While they can reproduce, their children cannot become “full” aswang until they eat a cursed black egg harvested from a dying elder. We have eight different types of aswang, and their Challenge Ratings range from 1 to 15, although all but one fit within the first two Tiers of play. The balbal are like ghouls, lurking near graveyards to feast on the flesh of the dead, magically changing corpses they steal into pigs before feasting. The gabunan are aswang elders who refuse to pass on their powers via black eggs, and instead seek positions of entrenched social power via shapechanging. They are accomplished spellcasters and have Legendary Actions, being the highest-CR aswang at 15. Malakat look like hunched-over anthropomorphic predatory cats whose long prehensile hair can be used to grapple and choke victims. The Mamananggal appears as a regular person during the day, but at night performs a ritual where they separate the upper half of their body and grow wings, with entrails hanging out the bottom as they hunt for sleeping victims to suck their innards out with their tongues. The Mangkukulam is different from others of its kind, for while still wicked its presence is tolerated in one too many communities as a dark secret. For the monsters are accomplished spellcasters wise in the ways of curses, and people hire their services to take revenge on someone who wronged them (or believed wronged them). The aswang can then use this as blackmail material, with the unspoken threat that those who made dealings with the monster can face a similar fate as their enemies. Bungisngis are CR 12 tusked one-eyed giants whose fickle nature swings between a nonviolent, helpful attitude and sudden bouts of violence. And no matter what they are always smiling, so people can’t easily tell their moods. Like most giants they are focused heavily on melee, but can swallow Medium or smaller targets and can use water buffaloes as thrown weapons in addition to boulders.  The Celestial Eaters get their own category, and are the only monsters detailed who have no stats. They are primordial horrors with an all-consuming desire to devour the celestial bodies. But one of them isn’t truly malevolent in attitude: Arimaonga is a lion-like spirit who views life as one big game, treating the world like a child would in playing with their favorite toys. The lion-like entity is unaware of the importance the moon holds in the world. Bakunawa by contrast, is much more malicious and envious of Bathala’s divine family. Minokawa’s motives are comparatively unknown regarding its desire for divine consumption, and islanders in the north use unique rituals that create fake moonlight to mislead the monster. Tambanokano is driven purely by wrath and spite, and the stormy waters and weather around his abode come from even his merest breath. Tambanokua is unique in that she doesn’t want to consume Mayari; she just wants to watch the world fall apart by capturing the moon goddess in a webbed prison. Giants are our next category of monsters. Other varieties of giant like the bungisngis are considered lesser kin, and “true” giants in Sina Una are unique named beings large enough to rival mountains and other natural features. The average giant’s feet can reach the ocean floor and still have their chest rise above sea level. They all share an origin as creations of Bathala before the concept of death was created for mortals. Of all the beings mighty enough to stand against the Celestial Eaters, the giants have the best odds of defeating them, but they are loath to stop the end of the world. As to why, the first mortals did something terrible in Bathala’s eyes, and for this transgression they were banished from his creation and cursed with regret. Therefore, the giants welcome the end of the world. I presume that this last part is the giants’ in-universe explanation, for it doesn’t line up with Bathala’s nature earlier in the book. And it may be poor wording, for mortals certainly haven’t been banished from the world at large. Perhaps the text meant to refer to giants as the banished ones? We have 4 giants, each with a unique name. They range from CR 15 to 19 and are predictably melee-focused monsters with legendary actions. Angngalo is the oldest surviving giant, who was originally tasked with sprinkling salt upon the islands to kill aswang but one day clumsily tripped and spilled all the salt into the sea. Aran is Angngalo’s wife, and while she hates the aswang and hunts them, she is an abusive partner who likes to guilt-trip her husband over his failed duty. She believes that this will re-embolden his desire to hunt the monsters, but in reality this does the opposite. One of Aran’s daughters also became an aswang, which is an adventure hook as she does not truly know if she can bring herself to kill her own daughter. We don’t have any stats for this aswang-giant, so a missed opportunity. Burinkantada is a one-eyed giant who lives on an island housing a mansion containing countless luxuries, which attracts many would-be thieves and has since turned the giant violently hostile against anyone who ends up on the island. He has lair actions centered around use of the environment, such as a spilled plant pot causing mountains of dirt to smother people or using a huge earthenware cup to trap someone. Gawigawen is the final listed giant, a multi-headed monster who collects the bones of those he’s slain in the mountains of the far north, and near his home grows a fruit tree whose food can cure any disease. A Kibaan (CR 1) is a small fey with backwards feet who plays on a musical instrument and is attended to by fireflies. They are inveterate thieves, always on the lookout for pretty and valuable things to add to their treasure pile, and can shapechange into a bamboo shoot to blend in with nature. They aren’t very dangerous, but their primary ability is a Bag of Tricks that can produce one of four effects, such as blowing powder that can cast Bestow Curse on a target or summoning a malfunctioning clockwork chicken. No stats are referenced for this robot chicken, but we do have stats for Fowl later on in this chapter. Mambabarang (CR 5) are wicked druids who use their magic to control swarms of insects which they treat like their own children. They send out these creatures to the homes of those who cross them, burning into their skin and eating them from the inside-out. Statwise they are 10th level druids who can polymorph into a swarm of insects, and can use insects as material components by dealing damage to themselves. Mameleu is a CR 13 sea serpent who lives in deep ocean trenches, and instead of breathing fire they shoot it out of their eyes. Their presence is forewarned by a bellow coming from beneath the waves, and their ability to tear through ships with ease cause most vessels to flee the area upon hearing such a noise. While most people would ordinarily avoid such a monster at all costs, the mameleu’s body parts are a valuable resource, for they can be used as components for medicine potent enough to heal grievous injuries and broken bones. Some rumors say it may even be possible to use the dragon’s body parts to bring the dead back to life. Maranhig (CR 2) are emaciated undead creatures driven by a never-ending hunger, and those they kill arise as one of them. It is not known how they were originally created, but the most common theory is that the aswangs made them. They have quite the fragile Armor Class of 10, but are truly immortal and will rise with full hit points in either 1 minute or during the next full moon depending on whether or not they died from radiant damage. The only surefire means to kill them is if they are immersed in running water, which deals damage to them much like a vampire’s weakness.  Merfolk are sea-dwelling humanoids who are generally xenophobic and distrustful of land-dwelling humanoids, and the feeling is largely mutual. In spite of this, merfolk can produce children with humanoids, so there are many tragic romantic tales that arise from lovers of the two civilizations striving to live together in spite of the judgment of their people. There are some settlements where humanoids and merfolk manage to befriend each other, and are economically prosperous as the groups trade each other materials from their respective civilizations that are otherwise hard for the other to come by. Sadly, more than a few unscrupulous humanoid traders sold them iron, which quickly rusts when immersed, so merfolk react with offense at the material’s presence. We get four different stat blocks for sub-species and societal roles of merfolk, ranging from CR 1 to 5. Amanbuti are guardians of unhatched merfolk eggs, bearing poisonous spines and acidic mucus like a pufferfish. Kataw are the nobility of merfolk who possess a pair of legs instead of tails but still look unmistakably fish-like. They all can innately cast spells, with a tendency towards elemental stuff like Control Water and Control Weather. A Magindara is actually an aswang that takes a merfolk form, and have a similar role as sirens where they befuddle seafarers by singing before they murder the crew. They also hunt and kill merfolk, so they’re equally feared and hated by underwater civilizations. Mambubuno are merfolk who live in caves among brooks and rivers, containing ample amounts of gold and gems. They use such bounties to lure people in to kill and eat them. They are spellcasters and have the limited ability to cause people to jump forward in time as an attack, causing the target to pop out of existence for 1 round on a failed Wisdom save. A Sigbin (CR ½) is a foul-smelling creature that looks like a cross between a dog and an over-sized rat, and are usually the summoned minions of aswang spellcasters. They hunt people traveling on the roads, cutting open corpses to take organs back to their masters. Such depredations popularized the practice of armed caravans traveling between settlements with large portions of wilderness between them. There isn’t much to say about them statwise other than that they are ambush hunters, with a pounce attack that can knock targets prone, the ability to turn invisible as an action until they attack or lose concentration, and radiates an AoE odor that imposes the poisoned condition on a failed Constitution save. Tiburones (CR 7) is a Huge-sized sharklike monster capable of flying in the air, and they were such a persistent danger to the islanders that a hero from times of old named Handyong went on a one-person crusade to kill as many as possible. Handyong’s handiwork was one of the factors that allowed civilization to grow and thrive, but the monsters still exist and can be found among rivers and coastlines. Statwise they are basically flying sharks, but can only breathe out of water for up to 8 hours. We also have stats for Tiburones Pups who are CR 3 and weaker but otherwise have the same abilities. A Tigbalan (CR 6) is a trickster fey who loves to play pranks on people in the wilderness, often with life-threatening results by using illusions to cause people to wander into hazards, be frightened to death, or become lost and starve to death or die from exposure to the elements. They do this because they view themselves as guardians of particular wilderness spaces, viewing encroaching outsiders as harmful against the growth of flora. Those who politely ask for permission to travel through are allowed through the tigbalan’s territory. Their main attack is a melee kick and Vicious Mockery, but they are most dangerous when using their spells such as Maze and Phantasmal Killer, or when grappling people and flying away with them. They deal psychic damage to grappling targets as they impart horrifying sensations to the victim. Content Warning: the following monster deals with miscarriage A Tiyanak is an undead that is an unborn humanoid fetus. They dig out of their graves, umbilical cords still attached, and can shapechange into a humanoid baby to appear harmless. They possess an innate hatred for all living things, angered at being denied the opportunity to live. Their sole offensive feature is a bite attack that can paralyze a target much like a ghoul can. Individuals are CR ¼, but a swarm of them are CR 2. Thoughts So Far: I like the diversity of monsters here, and the ones that have unconventional tactics or methods of defeating them are my favorite. Those are the Kibaan, Maranhig, and Tigbalan. I also liked Burinkantada’s Lair Actions which are themed around fighting in a house sized for a Gargantuan occupant, and I imagine it can make for a very interesting dungeon crawl and battlefield. I am let down that none of the Celestial Eaters were given stats. It feels all the weirder given that we have stats for giants, who are implied to be on par with them in power or at least a significant enough threat. Join us next time as we finish this book by covering the rest of the bestiary and the Appendices!
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Dec 20, 2024 03:47
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Glazius posted:Yeah, it seems like a lot of people try to take their own cut at a vehicles subsystem. Is there somebody you think has got it broadly right that other people should adapt? I've never played or ran a vehicular combat encounter in 5e, so I can't really say if there's one ruleset out there that "gets it right" unless I myself try it out. But for sea vessels in particular, the next book I plan on reviewing is the Silk Road Guide to Seafaring, which has some cool-looking and in-depth rules for playing merchant explorers in an historical fantasy sandbox. There's a ship combat supplement on the DM's Guild called Captains & Cannons that's an Adamantine Best-Seller and got largely positive reviews, but given what else I've seen get high reviews on OneBookShelf (coughCR27Strahdcough) I don't always trust the common consensus.
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Dec 20, 2024 03:50
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Libertad! posted:Bungisngis are CR 12 tusked one-eyed giants whose fickle nature swings between a nonviolent, helpful attitude and sudden bouts of violence. And no matter what they are always smiling, so people can’t easily tell their moods. Like most giants they are focused heavily on melee, but can swallow Medium or smaller targets and can use water buffaloes as thrown weapons in addition to boulders.  quote:Bungisngis is a one-eyed giant in Philippine folklore. This giant, purported to dwell in Meluz, Orion, Bataan and Cebu is described as always laughing. The literal meaning of the name Bungingis is derived from the Cebuano word ngisi which means "to giggle". The opportunities to channel your inner Joe Pesci as you DM are self evident.
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Dec 20, 2024 05:28
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It’s been a while since I did one of these surveys. But as I’m equally eager to cover any of these books, I don’t mind letting the crowd have their say on what I should focus on for the immediate future. With Islands of Sina Una nearing completion, it will most certainly be my last Let’s Read of 2024. Several RPG books I KickStarted released PDFs to backers, two more are on their way, and I’m reading up more on Pathfinder 2nd Edition given that I may be a player in such a game, so I’m eager to make 2025 a time for new beginnings in more ways than one. As I post my reviews on multiple websites, keep in mind that I’m drawing from a larger pool than the responses in just this thread. Who knows, maybe your top choice will come around next time?  The Silk Road Guide to Seafaring: From the writers of Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible, this is an historical fantasy open world sandbox for 5th Edition D&D, where the PCs are explorer-merchants in the 1st Century, visiting foreign locales, searching for legendary treasure and ample economic opportunities while dealing with scheming nobles, maritime monsters, and the fickle whims of Mother Nature on the high seas!  Itza’s Guide to Dragonbonding: A original fantasy setting for 5th Edition, of warring kingdoms, eldritch horrors, and marauding dragons from the moon threatening to tear civilization apart. PCs can undergo soul-deep bonds with true dragons to utilize each other’s power as they fight alongside each other.  One-Shot Wonders: An adventure anthology of over 100 5th Edition adventures requiring no to minimal prep. Is excellently formatted with an emphasis on briefness and clarity, with each adventure comfortably fitting on 1-2 pages, utilizing options entirely from the 5e SRD.  Undying Corruption: A 5th Edition/Pathfinder 2e campaign setting and adventure path in a realm inspired by Korean myths and legends, written by Koreans. The PCs are members of a caste of traveling exorcists, where a job in attending to a nobleman’s possessed wife buries them in a deeper conspiracy seeking to unleash monstrous horrors wrought from mortal suffering upon the kingdom.  Xcrawl Classics RPG: A campaign setting taking place in an alternate history Earth where magic, monsters, and Olympian gods are a fact of life, and the most popular sport are pay-per-view dungeon crawl tournaments modeled after heroic sagas of old. A formerly 3rd Edition D&D setting, now updated for Dungeon Crawl Classics.
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Dec 20, 2024 09:58
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Xcrawl classics would be my vote.
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Dec 20, 2024 11:06
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Xcrawl
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Dec 20, 2024 11:07
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By popular demand posted:Xcrawl
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Dec 20, 2024 12:33
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Hell yeah, Xcrawl!
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Dec 20, 2024 12:55
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Xcrawl, hands down.
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Dec 20, 2024 13:26
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Well, let me put in a doomed vote for One-Shot Wonders. It's always a time to see somebody's adventure ideas.
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Dec 20, 2024 20:30
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My vote is for seafaring!
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Dec 20, 2024 21:08
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 Chapter Four, Part Two: Rest of the Bestiary Spirits are a diverse range of beings animating the forces of reality. This chapter covers the ones intelligent and powerful enough to interact with mortals and be a threat, but not so all-powerful as to be gods. Beast Spirits represent the souls of animals unable to move on to the afterlife for whatever reason. This is a template that can only be added to giant/dire versions of animals, changing their type to fey, giving them maximum possible hit points for their hit dice, increasing their mental ability scores to 10 unless already higher, and gaining a limited number of spells whose power depends on their Challenge Rating. Danag (CR 11) are sky spirits who used to help mortals during farming, but got corrupted when a farmer started bleeding from an injury. When one of their number tried to lick the wound to help the farmer, the spirits discovered that blood was delicious, and the danag as a whole now hunt and eat mortals. They fight with manufactured weapons which gain a unique “blooded” condition whenever they damage a target, which deals bonus necrotic damage and can expend said condition to perform a variety of special abilities, such as casting Lightning Bolt or gaining temporary hit points. Diwata (CR 12) are fey who hold supreme dominion over a stretch of nature such as a holy glade, ancient tree, or pristine river. They are worshiped like gods, with mortals offering tribute and respect. They have a variety of druidic-flavored spells, can shapechange into humanoids and giants, and can telepathically communicate with all allied beasts and spirits within their demesne. Hukluban (CR 18) is a unique spirit who has the form of an old woman. She presides over the passing of dead souls, but unlike Magwayen she enjoys hastening the process via murder. She was banished by the rest of her kind for her perversions, and she looks for ever more ways to kill large amounts of creatures in the most efficient manners possible. In terms of stats Hukluban is an 18th level spellcaster specializing in death and insect-themed magic, has a rechargeable multi-target life-draining attack, and legendary actions and resistance. Kumakatok (CR 3) are spirits who come in threes, all wearing black cloaks that shroud their faces in darkness. They travel to people’s homes to deliver premonitions of illness and misfortune, and people guard against them by lining their doors with salt. In spite of common belief, they do not possess the ability to bring curses and destruction on others. They are but diviners, and bring people bad news as their duty. They share a single stat block and space in combat, their sole offensive ability is a very damaging dagger attack, and their divination talents let them be aware of all doors within 100 feet, teleport between doors when passing through them, and cannot be surprised. Litao (CR 2) is a unique fey spirit, who grows from bamboo thickets alongside rivers. He is kind to those who bring him gifts of fish, awarding them gifts in return. But he responds violently to those who cut down or despoil his bamboo, which he views as his home. Litao is in love with the daughter of the datu of a nearby village, but she rejects him due to knowing her father will never allow her to marry a spirit. In terms of stats he can teleport between bamboo like a dryad does between trees, knows some low-level druid spells, and fights with bamboo tendrils that have a long 20 foot reach.  Nagined, Arapayan, and Makbarubak (collective CR 18) are the Aspects of Desire, War, and Poison, representing metaphorical concepts of inter-mortal harm. Such negative things have made them very powerful, and they travel the islands posing as mortal mercenaries. They believe that the more misery they spread, the more power they’ll get, which will eventually allow them to become gods. Although the Aspects manifest as three different spirits, they all share one mind and intelligence, although they still use separate stat blocks. They almost always fight together, reflecting the collective Challenge Rating listed earlier. The Aspect of Desire is primarily a spellcaster who uses powerful enchantment magic, the Aspect of War is a physical fighter who uses “death by a thousand cuts” with a bunch of individually weak Multiattacks, and the Aspect of Poison has a venomous gaze attack, can poison people as part of their bite, and ignores resistance and immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition with said attacks. Tamawo (CR 6) are spirits who live in trees, appearing as beautiful humanoids but can be recognized by the lack of a philtrum. Their trees are a common gathering spot by babaylan training proteges, as the tree helps them undergo spirit visions. Yet tamawo can be indirectly dangerous, for they often abscond mortals they fall in love with into their tree and never allow them to leave. In terms of stats their primary method of offense is using a Songil weapon that is also poisoned, and they can cast a spell called Spiritual Spear at will. But this spell is not one I can find in official sources, and it’s not referenced anywhere else in the book. Tamawo don’t have very damaging attacks otherwise, being mostly utility and defensive; such as having perfect beauty that can force people to be unable to attack them on a failed Charisma save, or casting Dominate Person and Magnificent Mansion (entrance is in the tree) once per day each. Beasts is our final category in Chapter 4, covering existing and new mundane animals. As you can expect, creatures that are native to tropical islands are found here, but one can also find cats that live in forests, deer who forage for food in mountains at night, and eagles who can be found on every island. The new stat blocks cover animals that are either virtually harmless or have low Challenge Ratings, with the Dire Eagle and Giant Coconut Crab being the strongest at Challenge Rating 3 each. Appendices The book’s final 16 pages cover 3 appendices. The first appendix discusses the writers’ real-world research and sources of inspiration, as well as what aspects they changed either for game design or modern sensibilities when transporting them into an RPG setting. The second appendix is a Glossary of common terms in the islands, while the third appendix is a Pronunciation Guide for common words. The writers of Sina Una really brought their A-game when it came to research, and go into detail on just about every major facet of the world along with covering the major character options. For instance, the Mangangayaw Ranger subclass was inspired by the timawa warrior class of ancient Visayan societies, who were their own social class somewhere between the commonborn and nobility. Or how the spirit Paglipad was inspired by a Filipino folktale of a bat refusing to join the war between birds and mammals. quote:Our Sources, and Other Recommended Readings Thoughts So Far: I like a lot of the spirit monsters, as they have particularly interesting mechanics or backstories and thus adventure hooks in the case of the unique individual spirits. The Danag’s ability to draw from a pool of abilities when they damage targets in battle, Hukluban and the three Aspect’s ready-made roles as high-level villains, and the Kumakatok’s misunderstood role as harbingers of bad news are all quite thematic and can make for some memorable adventures and encounters. I don’t have much to say in regards to mundane animals, as they won’t be dangerous enough for most gaming groups to feel all that memorable. When it comes to Druid Wild Shaping, none of the beasts have any out-there abilities that make them ideal picks over existing official creatures. I really enjoyed the Appendix going over research material. It’s nice to see where aspects of the setting originally came from. As a lot of D&D gamers aren’t as likely to be familiar with the Philippines in comparison to Western Europe, Japan, and China, it does a good job of showing that this culture is also full of neat ideas for fantasy gaming. Final Thoughts: The Islands of Sina Una is very much a book with a lot of work put into it. The authors did their due diligence in pulling from their culture’s legends and myths to create a fantasy setting, they made ample use of evocative illustrations of lands, people, and creatures, and made sure to include material for both players and Dungeon Masters. But in spite of this content, I cannot recommend this product for two major reasons. The first is in regards to balance, where many options for PCs are outright broken and break the system’s math. The other is that as far as settings go, it’s lacking a lot of detail that helps drive adventure and conflict. To say nothing of smaller errors, like the mislabeled content warning of the spider illustrations, the nonexistent Spiritual Spear spell, or the out-of-nowhere mention of Bathala having banished mortals in the giant entry. These last few things individually aren’t much, but when combined with the bigger picture lowers the book’s overall ratings. The Islands of Sina Una can be a useful resource in taking elements of inspiration from Filipino legends and folklore for 5e games, and has a sizable bestiary for monsters and adversaries. But as a general product, it would take a lot of work to make it usable at the game table.
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Dec 21, 2024 05:49
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I would like to thank CitizenKeen for their His Majesty the Worm write-up, I ended up buying it based on that.
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Dec 24, 2024 16:26
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So it's been a week since I asked people here and on other sites what book I should review next. Xcrawl has been a consistently popular choice on them all, with One-Shot Wonders tied on EN World and RPGnet. I'll start my Xcrawl review sometime in January, then follow up with One-Shot Wonders. Also, Devabhumi is now on Drive-Thru RPG, for those who prefer that over Itch.io Libertad! fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Dec 28, 2024 |
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Dec 27, 2024 23:08
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Warden posted:I would like to thank CitizenKeen for their His Majesty the Worm write-up, I ended up buying it based on that. I got a hardcopy of the book as a Christmas gift as a direct result of that review!
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Dec 28, 2024 04:51
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 Drive-Thru RPG store page. Goodman Games store page. During the early Aughts, a third party setting for 3rd Edition D&D was released. Its production schedule would be sparse, interspersed with long periods of time between system updates. In late 2014 it got an update to the Pathfinder system as Maximum Xcrawl, and several adventures would be released for it under that system as well as Dungeon Crawl Classics under new ownership by Goodman Games. Even just going by the title, Dungeon Crawl Classics (or DCC for short) seemed like a match made in heaven for Xcrawl. So Goodman Games sought to revive Xcrawl once again, this time as a standalone rulebook and setting using the DCC ruleset. Xcrawl is set in an alternate history Earth where not only did monsters and magic exist, dungeon-crawling evolved into the most popular televised death sport known as Xcrawl. And given that this Earth’s antiquity had all the classic fantasy tropes such as legendary swords and monstrous evil overlords, Xcrawl is also a sort of historical reenactment. Many tournaments emulate the deeds of heroes and villains of old in a gladiatorial obstacle course format. The setting is also a satire on contemporary America. The United States doesn’t exist, insteading being an aristocratic North American Empire (NAE for short) that worships the Greco-Roman pantheon and is ruled by Emperor Ronald (Reagan) I. Politics Tangent: Given that it’s in the pre-Introduction artwork, I should get this out of the way for readers, especially given the USA’s recent presidential election. The parodic elements of Xcrawl Classics make reference to real-world political groups and movements, along with many copyright-friendly brand products, albeit given in-setting twists. In the first two-page spread portraying an Xcrawl event in a colosseum, there’s a banner saying “Make the Empire Great Again.” In the following two-page spread at a bar filled with humans and various fantasy creatures, there’s a guy wearing a baseball cap with MEGA on it, and his tee shirt says “Our Pillow.” Although I haven’t really seen any other overt political references in the book besides an anthropomorphic rat waving a Soviet flag, a lot of racists and fascist types like to use dog whistles to fly under the radar, so that can be understandably concerning to would-be readers. From what I’ve seen of them, Goodman Games is on the progressive end of the political spectrum. They’ve supported Black Lives Matter, criticized Trump for sabotaging COVID relief efforts, support vaccination, and retconned racist and problematic elements out of their own products. Unless there’s some massive political shift that I’m unaware of, the people at Goodman Games are a far cry from the kinds of people who’d get punched by Captain America in Golden Age comic books. XCC starts off with a two-page Introduction covering the setting’s main pitch, its core mechanics, and how it differs from earlier 3rd Edition versions. For those not familiar with Dungeon Crawl Classics, it’s an Old School Revival style RPG, but its ruleset is less faithful to TSR-era Dungeons & Dragons Editions and instead goes for a nostalgic feel of 1970s tabletop gaming and pulp fantasy media. For instance, classes have more dramatic randomness, such as Wizards risking spiritual and physical Corruption via spell rolls, charts of devastating Critical Hits and Fumbles, and Luck is one of the six ability scores which can be spent to empower die rolls.  Chapter One: Characters The first chapter of Xcrawl Classics covers how to make PCs, along with related rules such as the oddly-numbered Zocchi dice Goodman Games is known for. Anyone who’s read Dungeon Crawl Classics would recognize a lot of things here, but there’s some notable changes that it’s still worth giving a read. First off, Xcrawl has six ability scores which closely map to D&D, such as Agility being akin to Dexterity. Personality more or less doubles the roles of what Wisdom and Charisma would do in other games, and notably is vital for the new Mojo Points metacurrency and the sole spellcasting score,* as every caster class in this game uses that. Luck is the most unique in that its modifier applies to rolls where pure chance would be a factor, one’s Birth Augur (an astrological sign a PC’s born under which applies their Luck to a particular action or activity), and certain attacks and actions based on one’s class. Luck can be spent to add a bonus to a roll on a 1 to 1 basis, and the score, and the stat can be regained/increased over the course of adventures. The saving throws are Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower, the latter of which is modified by Personality. *A big departure from DCC, where the Elf and Wizard use Intelligence for determining spell power, and the Cleric uses Personality. One other thing that separates the ability scores from other OSR games and D&D Editions is that PCs who have particularly low scores in certain abilities suffer additional consequences. APC with a Strength of 5 or less can wield a weapon or a shield, but not both, regardless of their weight. PCs with a 7 or less Intelligence can only speak one language even if they’d ordinarily get a bonus language due to their race, class, or occupation, while those with 5 or less cannot read or write. Those unlucky characters who have a Stamina of 5 or less take double damage from all poisons and diseases. While modifiers to rolls based on circumstance are still a thing, Xcrawl makes use of the Dice Chain to represent particularly dire or ideal conditions. What this means is that d20 rolled to resolve most tasks is replaced with a die type one step lower or higher. For instance, a warrior who finds their accuracy with a weapon impacted might roll a d16 instead of a d20, while a mage channeling a ritual when ideal supernatural conditions are fulfilled might roll a d24 for their spell roll. Xcrawl uses the three-axis Alignment system of Law, Neutrality, and Chaos, each one representing a side in cosmic struggles between gods and universal forces. But while Dungeon Crawl Classics more or less had Law being a reflavored Good and Chaos as Evil, Xcrawl is different. Law encourages charity, honor, and community spirit, but it can also give rise to oppressive institutions, xenophobia, and bigotry. Chaos can champion the ideals of destruction and selfishness, but also freedom, equality, growth, and adaption. Neutrality can include people prizing a balance between the ideals just as much as someone who doesn’t wish to involve themselves in cosmic struggles. PCs start at level 0 in a process known as the Character Creation Funnel. Each player rolls up and controls multiple PCs (usually 3 to 4) and runs them through the first adventure. Survivors typically level up to 1st, and the player picks a single PC to bring into future adventures. PCs at this point are classless, with their randomly-rolled Occupation determining their starting equipment. But unlike DCC, they can choose their starting weapon from a club, dagger, sling, or spear and also purchase starting equipment with any of their starting gold. The available occupations are a d100 chart, focusing on more modern world ones such as call center rep, firefighter, and truck driver. As the PCs are contestants hoping to become the next big name in Xcrawl, they also start play with one of five starting Adventurer’s Packs labeled A to E, representing a collection of armor, weapons, and common gear. One occupation in particular, Nobility, is particularly good in that it grants the highest-quality pack, a monthly income of 100 gold, and begins play knowing Latin as a bonus language. Of course, you have to roll for that, so you can’t just choose it. Overwise, the occupations are relatively balanced against each other in that they all at least give something of use to a PC. When it comes to character classes, this book dispenses with the common Warrior/Cleric/Thief/Wizard of its predecessor, instead drawing upon ones that existed in the 3rd Edition version of Xcrawl. They reflect specialized training regimens for sportsmen seeking to compete in the games. For example, various kinds of mages exist in the greater world of Xcrawl, but the Blaster class reflects a specific tradition focusing on flashy, offensive magic. Like many OSR games, race is class, although the Specialist class is a subversion of this in having a variety of subclasses, several of which are restricted to certain races. Lastly, while this doesn’t apply to most classes, some classes are less socially accepted in the setting. For example, half-orcs aren’t legal citizens of the North American Empire, preventing them from buying real estate, having a driver’s license, or leaving their homes. Or the Crypt Raider subclass for Specialists, who aren’t popular among XCrawl fans due to being too uptight and morbid vs the more “blood and glory” contestants. Generally speaking, these cause penalties on certain social rolls on the Dice Chain, but such penalties can eventually go away during play, such as the Half-Orc obtaining legal citizenship or a Dwarf Mechanic earning grudging respect for their skills from other dwarves once they get high enough level.  The Athlete is one of Xcrawl’s two Fighter/Warrior equivalents, being someone who focuses on physical training to overcome obstacles and enemies. They have the best Hit Die at d12, can automatically inflict damage and drag around opponents they grapple, reduce subdual damage by an amount equal to their class level, and also get bonuses to Armor Class and increased movement speed as long as they’re not wearing armor that’s too heavy.* For DCC veterans, they have a mechanic similar to the Mighty Deed of Arms where they can add a Training Die to attacks and damage for grappling, athletic maneuvers, and performing specific wrestling moves known as Techniques of Wrestling Prowess. They aren’t proficient with all weapons, having a more limited set plus some sportsman equipment as improvised weapons. *Generally speaking, if armor has an armor check penalty of -4 or worse, it can negatively impact class features that call out being limited by armor.  Blaster is the Wizard equivalent. While spellcasting is a common art throughout history, a lot of the time it doesn’t make for showy displays of crowd-pleasing eldritch might. Emperor Ronald I didn’t want to risk talented mages dying in the sport, but wanted gladiators who could accurately mimic the mighty spellcasters in the legends of old. In the late 90s, an obscure Greek school proposed the art of spellweaving as a viable alternative. Spellweaving is a talent where one uses sheer force of will to summon and reshape magical energy, and is popular in poorer societies given that arcane magic typically requires a great deal of formal education and expensive material components. Spellweavers were quite good at battle magic, and so became the most common kind of Xcrawling mage, nicknamed Blasters. The Blaster class is your typical unarmored spellcaster who knows a limited set of spells. They have a D5 Hit Die and use a Blaster Die which they add to their d20 spell rolls. They can sacrifice pieces of their soul to empower spells via a technique known as Spellburn, which has its own set of rules later in the book but can be summed up as sacrificing points of your physical ability scores to add to your spellcasting rolls on a 1 for 1 basis. Finally, Blasters may optionally take on a supernatural being known as a patron. Those who do so gain the spell Invoke Patron, which allows the Blaster to call upon their patron to enact unique themed magical effects.  The Brawler is Xcrawl’s other human martial class. Whereas the Athlete has Monk and Acrobat-style defensive and movement features, a Brawler is much closer to the standard Warrior. They are proficient in all melee weapons, bows, and crossbows, have a d10 Hit Die, deal 1d4 to 1d12 damage when fighting unarmed, reduce melee damage dealt to them by their base Fortitude save, and have Mighty Deeds of Arms. Mighty Deeds are one of DCC’s most popular mechanics, and they work pretty much the same in XCC. Basically, in addition to a standard attack, the Brawler calls out a particular maneuver, such as pushing over an obstacle or furniture onto an opponent, kicking a monster’s shins to hobble it, or some other dramatic action. The Brawler rolls a Deed Die ranging from 1d3 to 1d10+3 based on level, which adds to the attack and damage roll. If the attack roll hits and the Deed Die is 3 or higher, they also successfully perform the Mighty Deed of Arms. As Mighty Deeds aren’t limited-use or apply penalties to the basic action, PCs are more or less encouraged to use it as often as possible.  The Jammer is a modern-day Bard, using the power of music to inspire their allies to new heights of success and sap the morale of their enemies. They have a d8 Hit Die, are trained with a meager assortment of bladed weapons, and they can choose one kind of weapon they’re trained with to be their Chosen Weapon which adds their Armor Class to their level when wielding it as well as a bonus on damage rolls ranging from 1d3 to 1d16, provided they aren’t wearing heavy armor. The bulk of the Jammer’s class features revolve around performances. Performance makes them skilled in one type of performance specialty per level, which can range from electric guitar to poetry to comedy. When engaging in skill checks with a specialty, they add their level on top of their Personality modifier when rolling. For abilities of more direct use in adventuring, Disrespect is an audio-based debuff where they roll a contested Performance check vs a target’s Willpower, imposing a penalty to various rolls based on level. Lionize is the main ally-buffing ability, where the result of the Performance check determines the magnitude of bonuses to their allies, which last a number of rounds equal to the Jammer’s level.  The Messenger is the Cleric equivalent, but like the Blaster represents a more specific magical tradition that is relatively new. The descendents of one or more Olympian deities, Messengers received divine visions from their ancestors to compete in Xcrawl. By participating in the grandest game of the North American Empire, they bring glory to their god/dess. They are humans but can otherwise come from all walks of life, which has caused no small amount of concern among the Empire’s political establishment. The class has a d8 Hit Die, can use any armor without hindering their class abilities, and are proficient with their deity’s signature weapon but otherwise are limited to daggers, clubs, staves, and slings. They must match the alignment of their deity, which determines what creatures count as unholy for turning checks and add to the damage rolls against said enemies when hitting them. Messengers also need an appropriate holy symbol to make use of their powers, but in lieu of the latter they can sacrifice their own blood by dealing one point of damage to themselves to gain the benefits of a holy symbol for one encounter. Unlike Blasters and other magical classes, Messengers do not learn spells of the Vancian variety. Their supernatural powers are Holy Acts, whose resolution is based on a d20 roll that adds the Messenger’s class level and Personality modifier. As the Gods can be fickle and want champions who know how to handle themselves, failed rolls can result in the deity’s Disapproval. Disapproval is measured in points that increase the chance of an auto-failure based on the number of points. For instance, 5 Disapproval causes Holy Acts to auto-fail on rolls of natural 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Disapproval is cleared after one hour of religious rituals performed during the morning. There are five different types of Holy Acts which cover the major Cleric abilities: Lay on Hands which can heal those with a touch (and when doing so they gain a free melee attack during their turn with a d14 rather than a d20 attack roll); Turn Unholy which can frighten, damage, and/or kill enemies deemed unholy; Bless which is a general-purpose buff on a touched target that grants allies a bonus to attack rolls, and also damage rolls and other broad rolls on higher spell check results; Summon Weapon, where the Messenger can materialize their deity’s favored weapon in their hand, whose specific properties are based on the spell check; and Divine Aid, which calls upon the deity to intervene in a major way that causes 10 Disapproval for the act alone, but if successful can cause a variety of open-ended effects based on the result.  The Specialist is the Thief equivalent, but is a bit of an odd bird. First off, it can reflect a variety of archetypes beyond the stereotypical criminal, generally being people who make use of a variety of roguish skills with further focus based on a Specialization. Being much like 5th Edition D&D’s subclasses or Pathfinder’s archetypes, they have a Specialty starting at 1st level which adds or modifies class features to make that particular Specialist stand out. The Specialist by default has a d6 Hit Die, is proficient with daggers, short swords, slings, shortbows, hand crossbows, and armor check penalties apply to Specialist Skills. Speaking of which, Specialists have a variety of Skills they can use, which is generally a 1d20 check adding a relevant ability modifier and a bonus based on their level and Specialty. They more or less cover your typical OSR Thief stuff such as Climb Sheer Surfaces, Pick Lock, Find and Disable Traps, Handle Poison, and so on. Backstab is different in that they add a bonus to their attack rolls and damage based on level when they strike a target who is unaware of them. The Specialist has 9 Specialty subclasses, 4 of which are restricted to particular nonhuman races. In fact, they’re the only one of two ways to play as a nonhuman in XCC, the other being playing the racial class of the same name such as Dwarf or Half-Orc. The Specialties are Acrobat (can perform feats of agility in and out of combat such as reducing fall damage, bonuses to Armor Class and Reflex saves, leaping far via pole vaulting, etc), Commando (more martial Specialists who have a d7 Hit Die, more weapon proficiencies, and more powerful backstabs), Criminal (social-based subclass where you have a network of underworld contacts to provide goods and services via an appropriate check, can forge documents and make convincing disguises), Scout (has a sixth sense that can detect hidden creatures via a flat d20 check, but can only Backstab with shortbows and slings), Crypt Raider (undead/demon monster hunters who get free rolls to detect secret doors, add one step up the Dice Chain to identity and backstab undead and demonic monsters, speak Latin as a bonus language, and can turn said monsters like a Messenger can), Dwarf Mechanic (have typical dwarven race features such as infravision and reduced movement speed, proficient with hand axes, have additional skills such as detecting architectural oddities, add one step up the Dice Chain when finding and disabling traps), Elf Trickster (hybrid mages who can cast a limited set of spells from the gnome spell list, have elven racial features such as immunity to magical sleep, but due to lack of training cannot spellburn or voluntarily take corruption to gain bonuses on spell checks, and take damage over time when wielding iron weapons and armor), Half-Orc Slayer (d10 Hit Die, infravision, wide variety of weapon proficiencies, better backstab results, add their base Reflex save to initiative, better resistance from disease and poison and naturally heals faster) and Halfling Rogue (reduced speed, has infravision, can backstab with ranged weapons which also increase the base weapon damage when doing so).  Much like DCC, Dwarves are one of the primary demihuman classes. In the setting, they are much like their Tolkien inspirations in being mountain-dwellers who have a penchant for artisanship. Dwarves settled in the mountain ranges of the North American Empire when its founding Emperor George Augustus sought to attract their skills. Dwarven culture looks down upon Xcrawl, viewing it as a dishonorable trade, although those dwarves who participate often justify it as being something their ancestors would approve of for exemplifying their warrior prowess. Most of them live in Colorado, but small groups can be found throughout the Empire where they are relatively integrated but are faced with the problem of fading cultural traditions. When it comes to classes they are the closest to their DCC/OSR forebears, being heavily martial with access to Mighty Deeds of Arms and gain a shield bash as a bonus d14 attack roll. They have infravision, a slower movement speed, and Underground Skills such as being able to smell gold. Dwarven Mechanics don’t get this last one, for some role protection.  Gnomes are short fey beings with innate magical powers, whose history in the North American Empire is similar to the dwarves in being sought-out immigrants being promised economic opportunities and self-rule. They are pretty much integrated into human society, being well-accepted but still retaining their own cultural traditions. Although many trade guilds restrict the amount of gnomes that can join, as a means of minimizing human unemployment rates. As a class they can be summed up as a thief/mage hybrid with a d6 Hit Die, a variety of mildly-damaging weapon proficiencies, choose spells from a distinct gnome spell list, can distract enemies with Draw Agro which is a contested Personality vs Willpower rolls that forces a failed target to attack the gnome even if it’s disadvantageous or illogical (or suffer one Dice Chain reduction on relevant rolls if they cannot target the gnome), gain a limited set of Specialist Skills, and as a Team Mascot they can generate additional Mojo Points when the gnome rolls a natural 20. Additionally, if a team member loses all of their Mojo Points by rolling a natural 1, the gnome gains 1 Mojo Point.  If the gnome is a thief/mage hybrid, then the Half-Elf is something of a jack-of-all-trades. Half-elves are rare due to human and elven cultural incompatibilities, to say nothing of radically different lifespans. Half-elves tend to have difficulty in being fully accepted in either society, and perhaps as a result of that make up a disproportionately large number of Xcrawlers. As a class they get a d7 Hit Die, are trained in a small variety of bladed weapons and bows, draw their spells from the Blaster spell list, have a 1d2 to 1d7 Charisma Die that they add to skill checks modified by Personality, have a limited number of Specialist Skills known as Adventuring Skills, get +1 on the Dice Chain vs magical paralysis and sleep effects, and suffer -1 on hit rolls and Armor Class when wielding cold iron weapons and armor.  The Half-Orc is our final class, and all of them come from the Zura’ah’zurah, the setting’s Underdark equivalent. They do not start play as citizens of the North American Empire, with Xcrawl participants being recruited by talent scouts and sponsored by the Adventurer’s Guild.* Most orcs and half-orcs live in Orc City 1 or Orc City 2. The cities have formal names, but their violent and unstable political structures cause their names to change so much that outsiders use the numbered titles instead. Ordinarily, most orcs and other Zura’ah’zurah inhabitants lack the means or desire to immigrate to the surface world, and traditionally Emperor Ronald I was against legal immigration from such places. But given that half-orcs are an iconic fixture in the legends of old that popularized Xcrawl, there was a demand for them as contestants. So the first Xcrawl DJ,** DJ Herobane, slyly got the Emperor to grant visas to half-orcs by running tabletop games for his nephew that featured a sympathetic half-orc NPC. *The chief regulatory body for Xcrawl. **Dungeon Judge. As a class, Half-Orcs are heavily Warrior-inspired. They have the best Hit Dice in the game at 1d14, are proficient in all weapons and armor, have infravision, can do Mighty Deeds of Arms,* gain +1 on the Dice Chain when saving against disease and poison, recover more hit points and physical ability scores from natural healing, and can perform a Wild Attack where they forego defense in exchange for greater offense. This last feature grants an opponent a free attack against the Half-Orc in melee, but in exchange the Half-Orc gets an additional attack that uses their Deed Die but cannot perform a Mighty Deed of Arms with this bonus attack.** However, they have a better chance of scoring a critical hit with a Wild Attack; normally critical hits occur on a natural 20, but depending on their level a Wild Attack can range from 19-20 to 15-20. *The Brawler has a better progression, for some role protection. **A character can only attempt one Mighty Deed of Arms per round. Thoughts So Far: Say what you will about the setting, Xcrawl is a clever twist on the dungeon-crawling aspect by turning it into a literal sport. Placing the setting in the “real world” as opposed to a completely fictional yet modern setting is something I think detracts from the concept rather than adds to it. Mainly in that it ends up raising all sorts of worldbuilding questions. The ruleset is close enough to Dungeon Crawl Classics, a system that has been extensively playtested, so it will be familiar enough to those players to easily pick it up. Being a self-contained book means that one doesn’t need anything else in order to run a game with it. The classes have narrower roles than the broad archetypes as seen in DCC, but they still cover enough ground to have something for everyone. The Messenger’s lack of spells may take some getting used to for newcomers, and the simultaneous use of race-as-class but Specialists as the exception can also be a bit confusing. You might also note that there’s no default Elf or Halfling class in Xcrawl Classics, which means that the only way you can play them as a PC in the game is to be a Specialist. I find this a bit odd, but as this RPG already has 10 classes I can understand the designers not wanting to make this chapter too large. I am not so fond of making all of the spellcasters use Personality: this more or less turns that stat into being important for all PCs much like Stamina/Constitution, as it also is useful for Grandstanding which is vital in the generation of Mojo Points. Intelligence then becomes more of a dump stat, as its only explicit benefit is additional bonus languages. Join us next time as we get into the nitty-gritty of the rules in the chapters for Skills, Equipment, and Combat! Libertad! fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jan 22, 2025 |
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Jan 22, 2025 02:58
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I kind of get why Personality becomes an important stat for essentially a professional sport given how many star athletes make it on as much force of personality as actual talent, but as said - it does end up encouraging a certain uniformity in characters.
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Jan 22, 2025 04:39
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The setting remains the biggest head scratcher to me for XCrawl. You need a bit of window dressing, sure, but the idea "American Gladiators but Dungeon Crawling" is already much more evocative than all the weird baggage they've dragged along from the original book.
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Jan 22, 2025 08:52
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  Chapter Two: Skills A rather nasty power outage put me offline for most of yesterday, so to make up for it I have write-ups for two more chapters than I initially planned for tonight. As they are quite short, it wasn’t too onerous of a task. Much like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics has a minimalist skill system. Skills are separated into binary trained and untrained categories; instead of having explicit lists of skills, a character training at a particular task is determined by GM Fiat and common sense based on the PC’s occupation and background. Trained skills are a d20 roll plus the relevant ability modifier, while untrained checks are d10 plus the ability modifier. Skill DCs range from 5 (cakewalk for trained people, should only be rolled when there’s consequences for failure) to 20 (heroic feats that are difficult to do even for professionals). As ability score modifiers range from -3 to +3, this means that every modifier matters. This chapter also covers Grandstanding, which has more specific rules. It represents “working the crowd” as a d20 + Personality modifier + level vs the Crowd DC. The DC is 14 by default, but can differ depending on the crowd’s overall disposition to the PC’s team. Up to 2 times per combat encounter a PC can attempt to Grandstand: once during combat, which can be done as part of a regular action, and again after the round combat ends. A successful check earns a PC 1 Fame point, optionally 2 points on a 20 or higher if the GM deems the circumstances suitably spectacular. Thoughts: As a pretty minimalist system, I don’t have much to say on it. The d10 vs d20 is a very significant difference that packs some oomph if the player can justify their PC having workable knowledge in some activity. The opportunities to grandstand are pretty generous, and given that Xcrawl classes (and the formation of most published XCC adventures) have more of a combat focus, this isn’t as punishing as it would be in other OSR games. Games where treasure-hunting is the primary means of advancement, and combat is generally seen as a hindrance and resource drain to avoid.  Chapter Three: Equipment It wouldn’t be a dungeon-crawling game without gear and treasure! The North American Empire has a mixture of coinage and fiat currency for transactions, with the latter being favored for larger purchases. The gold/silver/copper standard is still used, but for eyeballing conversion of real-world goods 1 gold piece is roughly equivalent to 3 US Dollars. Given that PCs who make it big are going to be swimming in cash, Wealth Points are a separate subsystem detailed later in this book for representing rough purchasing power while in “the real world” outside of Xcrawl. Contestants can only purchase dungeon crawling gear with prize money obtained in Xcrawl as a means of leveling the playing field. As Xcrawl games are meant to be fast and flashy, the lengthy subterranean and wilderness excursions common to other fantasy games isn’t a factor to worry about, meaning that Encumbrance isn’t tracked and the DM uses common sense. Generally speaking, PCs who carry half or more of their body weight begin taking speed penalties. Weapons and Armor are mostly fantasy stuff, but some gear has more modern touches. Legal Xcrawl tournaments ban the use of firearms, as they clash hard against the pop culture feel of medieval fantasy. Tight gun control laws in the NAE severely punish commoners who don’t get a license. When compared to Dungeon Crawl Classics, we have a lot more weapons and armor, even for the fantasy stuff such as entries for scythes, whips, hand and repeating crossbows, and 25 total pieces of armor. Some of which have variations based on material. There’s also detailed entries for pieces of equipment with specific rules, such as specialty arrows like Skyfire Arrows that light themselves and the target on fire upon impact, first aid kits that can automatically stabilize a dying character up to 10 times, flashlights which generate 20 foot cones of light and can be used as a club, and spellphones which are basically magical smartphones. Before one starts thinking up various clever uses for this last one, the Internet and computer technology in the setting is decades behind ours and is strictly monitored by the government. *For example, halfling leather adds +1 to checks made to scale ropes, while dwarven plate grants +2 to saves and subtracts 2 damage from all physical attacks. For those wondering about firearms, they cover 5 broad entries: two pistol types based on calibur, and a revolver, shotgun, and rifle. They do more damage than bows and crossbows and the rifles have a greater range than them. But the recoil guns generate mandate a minimum Strength score in order to use them without suffering a one step penalty on the Dice Chain when making attack rolls. Small characters, such as gnomes, treat their Strength as 4 points lower. Our chapter ends with brief write ups on Real Estate and Automobiles. The former has values running into the tens of thousands of gold pieces even for modest dwellings, so many people pay in increments rather than all at once. As for automobiles, vehicles run on alcohol rather than oil and natural gas. Furthermore, the intricate network of highways of real-world North America are much more sparse in this setting. Most of the NAE’s population lives in sprawling urban centers, with most of the continent’s land home to Native Americans who choose to live in technologically primitive lifestyles “in harmony with nature,” as well as vicious monsters such as dragons roaming the wilderness. When people travel between cities, they do so as part of large well-armed caravans, so most commoners don’t travel far from home or for leisure. For those hoping that there are rules for car chases and shootouts, there’s sadly no such material. Instead we cover the purchasing of vehicles as status symbols, and broad gold piece listings based on type and function. Both real estate and automobiles require paying a percentage of cost in upkeep fees each year. Thoughts: One might think that the equipment restrictions in Xcrawl games may make little sense: PCs can use modern technology such as flashlights, but guns are right out. But I’ve been in D&D communities long enough to know that rules for firearms are a particularly controversial aspect in a lot of games, so in a weird way this is rather authentic to how a lot of tabletop nerds feel. There are of course illegal and underground Xcrawl tournaments that use guns, so it’s still nice to have rules for them. I do like the assortment of weapons and armor, particularly the more expensive pieces of the latter as well as the special arrows, which can reflect an advancement in technology beyond the medieval but still feels sufficiently fantasy. The fact that automobiles run on alcohol and interstate travel is rare and dangerous raises a huge amount of worldbuilding implications. It certainly makes the world of Xcrawl feel less and less like a “modern day but with magic and monsters” and more something radically different. It does bring to mind the odd juxtaposition of modern cities and the monster-filled ruins and wilderness areas as seen in some of the more “modern” Final Fantasy games like 7, 8, and 15. This can be a plus or a minus depending on one’s tastes.  Chapter Four: Combat This self-explanatory chapter is on the longer side, but is still relatively short at 36 pages. Xcrawl Classics borrows a lot from its predecessor and other D&D/OSR games: hit points measure overall health and staying power, combat is separated into 10 second rounds, people roll for initiative individually and go from highest to lowest, etc. What separates XCC/DCC from other OSR games is the use of an Action Die. Basically, it starts out as a d20 that represents rolling for various common activities like attacks and spells. But at later levels, PCs gain a second and third action die which starts out a lower value like d14, but can increase in size with level. Bonus action dice basically grant a character multiple actions, but the additional actions have to be in line with their class’ role, like a Blaster casting another spell. The lower action die value represents the difficulty of doing multiple things in a round. Additionally, XCC makes use of charts of critical hits and critical fumbles, which trigger on a natural 20 and a natural 1 for attack rolls respectively. Fumbles all use the same chart, and the fumbler rolls a d20 and adds the reverse of their Luck to determine how they mess up (lower is better for the fumbler), such as accidentally smashing their weapon on a hard surface and breaking it if non-magical, or tripping prone and taking 1d3 damage. Critical hits, on the other hand, are more involved, where in addition to the attack’s typical effects an additional result is pulled from one of five tables. A crit die is rolled, whose size depends on the PC’s class and level and adds their Luck modifier to it. The tables are numbered I to V, and generally speaking the higher-level and martial classes gain access to better tables. Athletes have their own special Grapple Crit Table, 0 level PCs roll on Crit Table I, and in regards to monsters and NPCs the GM chooses one suitable for their attack and nature. There’s an awful lot of possible effects, from cutting someone in the face to blind them with their own blood, piercing a spine that deals additional damage and paralyzes the target if they fail a Fortitude save, knocking a weapon out of the target’s hands, and of course various save or die stuff as the most powerful results such as exploding someone’s heart. Which brings the inevitable question of how a regular humanoid who makes the save in that example would continue living without a working heart. Mighty Deeds of Arms and Techniques of Wrestling Prowess are detailed more fully in this chapter. They both use the same system and resolution as described in their respective class entry, but we get some general guidelines for both of them. For example, the Deed/Technique must be reasonable for the circumstance at hand, the PC must announce their intended Deed/Technique before the attack roll rather than deciding upon a success, the higher the Deed/Technique Die the greater the effect, and Deeds/Techniques do not interfere with or replace critical hit effects. So particularly lucky rollers can potentially inflict devastating combos. We have a few sample Deeds and Techniques, such as Choking which can suffocate a target, Pushbacks which can forcefully move a target away from the character, and an Arm Bar which can immobilize a limb as its lowest effect or dislocate it as its strongest effect. Spell Duel is an activity that only spellcasters can engage in with each other. Basically, it’s a subsystem where two casters enter into their own unique Spell Duel Initiative order, and it’s rolled anew every round unlike regular initiative. During the spell duel the mages attempt to counter each other’s spells and can do no other type of action as long as the duel lasts, where the winner of initiative casts a spell. The defender, if they have a thematically appropriate spell, can counterspell it. The attacker (and defender if counterspelling) makes a spell check and compares the results to a matrix table to see what Counterspell Power occurs. On a tie, a Phlogiston Disturbance happens instead. Counterspell Power results in the spell’s base effect occurring, plus additional effects such as reflecting the losing caster’s spell back at them and dealing damage to their ability scores. Phlogiston Disturbances cause random space-time themed effects, such as the casters being summoned to Jupiter’s Court where the gods watch them battle and grant the victor gold and a short-duration Personality boost for 24 hours, and the loser becomes unable to cast spells for an equal amount of time. For those thinking about getting in a cheap shot on a spell duelist, the gods enforce the sanctity of the duel on a cosmic level. Other casters who attempt to cast a spell to influence the duel or affect a duelist have their roll treated as an automatic failure. On the other hand, there appears to be no consequences for a doncaster interfering, although the text notes that “the wise are loath to interfere” so I suppose it’s a gentleman’s agreement among crawlers.* *The general term for an Xcrawl contestant. But there are some cool things one can do without needing to be a fighter or mage type. Signature Moves are things any crawler can learn to do. The player chooses a certain type of action their PC can do in one round, such as a straightforward attack or something more specific like a specialist swiftly picking a lock. It then becomes their Signature Move, and they can only ever have one such Move at a time during their career, although it’s possible to gain a new one by discarding the old if it makes sense for the story. The Signature Move can only be performed during combat and once per encounter, and needs to have a stylish name and specific narrative text to accompany it. When a PC declares the desire to do their Signature Move, they roll their Action Die with relevant modifiers and add their level as a bonus. If successful, the PC receives 1 point of Fame, or on a 20 or higher result gains 2 points and can use the move again in that encounter. There’s no penalty for failure, besides failing to do the Move and losing access to it for the rest of the encounter. The rest of the combat chapter includes a variety of more situational rules, such as the benefits and penalties of two-weapon fighting, what happens to characters who are drowning/suffocation and how long they can last before dying in such a state, and even how long it takes a character to heal hit point loss and ability score damage: 1 every day, or 2 with a full day of bed rest. Luck doesn’t heal, and must be raised via doing cool stuff during the adventure and honor the Gods of Olympus while doing so, much like gaining metacurrency points in other RPG systems. Thoughts: The various Combat rules look to cover a lot of ground. Quite a bit of it is lifted from Dungeon Crawl Classics, which is fine as the rulesets are meant to be highly compatible in the first place. I would’ve liked to see more Mighty Deeds of Arms and Techniques of Wrestling Prowess, and while the Critical Hit tables still have a lot of choices there are less of them than in DCC. Then again, one common complaint I’ve seen about the latter is that the meatier aspects of DCC’s rules system are intimidating to players, so this could be an intentional streamlining. I imagine that it shouldn’t be too hard for owners of DCC to import said tables and Mighty Deeds into Xcrawl, should they so desire.  Chapter Five: Mojo As mentioned before, the Luck score is sort of a metacurrency in the [Title] Crawl Classics lines. But Xcrawl adds a more explicit kind of metacurrency to keep track independently of a PC’s innate features. Mojo represents the Under most circumstances, Mojo points can be added to Action Dice for attacks or spellcasting, skill checks, or ability score checks on a 1 for 1 basis. The real kicker is that a player can’t spend a Mojo point on their own PC, but instead only on an ally. And they must be given before said ally’s die roll, although Jammers are an exception in that they can add it after the die roll. Players cannot ask for a Mojo point to be spent. If they do, then their PC is blocked from receiving the benefits of Mojo points until the end of the current encounter. There is no upper limit to how many Mojo points a PC can have, but anytime someone rolls a natural 1 everyone’s Mojo points drop to 0. The book doesn’t specify, but hopefully that doesn’t include the enemies fighting the PCs and their allies. Thoughts: I love the idea of Mojo points. GMs can afford to be generous in handing them out, and the players are encouraged to spend them like they’re hot as a single natural 1 can cause them to lose them all. I also like how they need to be added to a PC’s result without asking, which encourages players to be more helpful towards each other and can engender positive feelings.  Chapter Six: Fame The other big metacurrency sub-system, Fame points represent the social connections and influence a PC accrues by making a name for themself in Xcrawl. They are usually gained by completing Xcrawl dungeon levels, completing an entire multi-level dungeon, and by Grandstanding. While Fame is gained and lost during Xcrawl events, the GM can decide that actions outside the games can alter one’s Fame if it fits the campaign. Fame points lean more towards the “good guy/role model” side of things, as Fame points can be lost for unprofessional and anti-social activity. Generally speaking, Fame points determine how likely a PC is to be recognized by the general public outside of Xcrawl games, the bonus a PC gets to Grandstanding and Personality-based skill checks, and for NPCs gathering information about the PC. A PC can Fameburn, where they permanently sacrifice Fame points to gain preferential treatment, goods, and services. In cases where Fameburn carries some amount of difficulty or risk, an NPC opposed to providing help makes a Willpower save, whose DC is 10 + Fame points spent + the PC’s Fame modifier before they spend the points. Should the NPC succeed, the points are still spent but the PC doesn’t get what they want. The bonus on Personality checks isn’t universal, as while Xcrawl is a widely popular sport, it doesn’t translate to universal respect. For instance, adventurers who survived a real world dungeon and crawlers who have a higher Fame score will both be not impressed by a PC, albeit for different reasons. Thoughts: Unlike Mojo, Fame is more open-ended and geared for scenes of “downtime,” as the majority of its effects apply to tasks outside of Xcrawl events. Like several of the other chapters, it’s a bit sparse on content, but I do like what’s there. Particularly Fameburn, as it can still let PCs feel like they’re reaping the fruits of stardom. Thoughts So Far: Barring the new subsystems, a lot of these chapters draw upon core resolution mechanics of Dungeon Crawl Classics. And while I have yet to play or run that system (something I intend on rectifying soon), DCC is a popular system with over a decade of play, and I hear that it holds up quite well for emulating pulpy dungeon-crawling fantasy. I imagine that it’s functional in Xcrawl as well, and what rules are new is easily understandable enough on a first read through. The spell duels and matrix table of results, on the other hand, look to be the kind of thing that one would need to experience in actual play to get the hang of, so I can’t accurately judge that one. Join us next time as we check out the many spells available to Xcrawlers and the people of the world in Chapter Seven: Magic! Libertad! fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Jan 24, 2025 |
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Jan 24, 2025 09:12
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I remember in the original book low-level XCrawling was basically LARPing, complete with boffer weapons instead of the real thing. Guess they've done away with that? I also recall how uniquely terrible the original Signature Move rules were, and it sounds like they've improved on that.
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Jan 24, 2025 20:51
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I really like the XCrawl concept. And yeah, the original setting was just baffling. It was determined to get in its own way. Like, it's a modern world and we take away your guns when you go into the dungeonsports dungeon. They would not embrace the absurdity of the premise and just say that people go to barbarian college or whatever. I lamented that there was no XCrawl or equivalent for 4e, because the system of using Powers in combat just seemed tailor-made to interact with the Signature Moves rules that the 1st edition had a really hard time cramming into the 3e combat framework. That said, failing a system of combat maneuvers that can be used as a basis for Signatures, I think DCC's Deeds system is the most simple yet versatile rules module that you're going to find in the OSR space. Weapon Mastery could also accommodate it, but there's a curious lack of BECMI legacy in the OSR besides Dark/er Dungeons. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jan 24, 2025 |
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Jan 24, 2025 21:00
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 Chapter Seven: Magic The longest chapter in the book, spells in the [Title] Crawl Classics series are known for their diverse, random effects. Much like how a warrior has to make an attack roll with their weapon swings, a caster must make a spell check in much the same manner, adding a d20 + their level + Personality modifier. Beyond just a default failure/success rate, spells also have their equivalent critical successes and fumbles, along with degrees of success detailed in each individual spell where certain thresholds have their own enhanced effects. Unlike D&D, Pathfinder, and most other OSR games, [Title] Crawl Classics spellcasters aren’t limited by Vancian spell slots. They can pretty cast any spells they have access to as often as they want. The real limiting factor is the consequences for failure, which can take the form of deity disapproval (for Messenger’s Holy Acts), misfires (random negative effects that occur on a natural one, with each spell having its own list of misfire effects), and/or corruption (permanent changes to the caster, with its own tables of minor/major/greater effects). Not only that, it’s possible for spells to be “lost” on a low enough roll, where the caster loses access to casting a spell for the rest of the day. Three more things that make magic unique are spellburn, deity disapproval and mercurial magic. Spellburn is when a caster (only blasters, half-elves, and gnomes) draws upon their own souls to power their spells. They take temporary damage to their Strength, Agility, or Stamina score, gaining +1 to their spell check for every point they sacrifice in the score. Those who sacrifice 20 points’ worth of ability scores treat the spell check as a natural 20, and they can burn a number of points equal to the level of a lost spell to cast it, although bonuses to the roll require additional spellburned ability scores. A roll of a natural 1 on a spell check causes 1 point of ability score to be permanently lost. Furthermore, the gods look harshly on those who attempt to find fast workarounds to mitigating spellburn outside of natural healing. Those who attempt to use divine magic to heal it risk the offending parties being cursed on a failed Luck check, whose specifics are based on GM Fiat. Deity disapproval is relatively straightforward, where whenever a Messenger fails a Holy Act spell check, they gain a point of Disapproval. Any time they roll within their Disapproval range on future spell checks, they roll 1d4 for every point of Disapproval modified by their Luck and compare it to a table. The results are basically ways by which the deity imposes penalties on the Messenger, which can typically be cleared until the next day or doing some quest or sacrifice to prove their devotion. Such as donating a portion of Xcrawl prize money to a worthy cause of the deity’s choice. As for mercurial magic, every mage approaches the form and rites of their spells differently, meaning that individual spells can take on unique cosmetic effects or side effects once learned. When an arcane caster (non-Messengers) learns a new spell, they make a percentile roll adjusted by their (Luck modifier x 10%). There’s nearly 300 different results, including Gnomes who have their own mercurial magic table. The mercurial effects are more negative and debilitating the lower the percentile roll, with the higher results overall better and even beneficial side effects. For a few examples, the -5 result summons a spirit ogre who takes a swing at the caster on a failed casting, 34 is a Running Start that requires the caster to move at least 10 feet in order to cast the spell, 76 allows the mage to cast the spell without speaking and auditory effects of the spell can be voluntarily suppressed, and 101 lets the caster treat themselves as being able to treat the total amount of ability score points they spellburn as +1 more whenever they do so. In the event that the mage is unhappy with a terrible mercurial magic result, calling upon an arcane patron can get rid of it, but the cost is reliant upon GM Fiat by undertaking a quest for said patron. And speaking of which, casters with patrons can risk developing Patron Taint as the consequence of a low roll, which is similar to corruption in causing a physical/supernatural/personality change. But taint is in line with the patron’s personality and themes. For instance, one possible taint result with Circe as a patron might cause the caster to be forbidden to harm any natural animals at risk of losing access to their patron spells for the rest of the day. Last but not least, some spells are copyrighted. Basically, a copyrighted spell costs money every time it’s cast, requiring fiat currency worth 100 gold pieces as a material component. The component isn’t actually dissolved upon casting, instead magically teleporting into the copyright holder’s financial reserves. Only 8 spells are copyrighted spells, and they all are Blaster spells and are easily discernible in including the name of its creator as part of the title, like Egolf’s Wizardly Weapon. One might think that said spells are going to be overall better than non-copyrighted spells due to being costly, but this isn’t necessarily the case. They can have nifty effects, but as most XCC spells are situational there might be times when you’d much rather cast something else as befits the situation.  Now on to the spells themselves. Unlike Dungeon Crawl Classics, spells in Xcrawl only go up to 3rd level rather than 5th. There are 46 spells for Blasters to learn, gnomes have 15 spells all of which are 1st level, and each of the five patrons has 3 unique spells learnable only by mages who take them as a patron. While this amount may seem small in comparison to other systems, individual spells can have a wide variety of effects depending on the spell check result, most with a page and a half worth of results. It goes without saying that it would take too long to cover each and every spell in this book, but I can focus on some of the more interesting ones and some of their effects. They include Arcane Aspect (self-buff that summons a fearsome supernatural manifestation marking the caster as a powerful entity, with effects granting from bonuses on intimidation checks to attack rolls and Reflex saves), Blue Streak (makes the caster or touched target move faster, giving increased movement speed, bonuses to AC and Reflex saves, and more powerful effects allowing for running across liquid and vertical surfaces and even additional Action Dice), Cantrip (simple visual, auditory, and kinetic effects that can do a variety of minor things), Countermagic (can be used to counter any spell in a spell duel, dealing damage to the enemy caster as magical feedback), Dungeon Drone (summons a magical drone the caster can see through which is the size of a baseball and can venture ahead, with higher effects granting increased movement, greater maximum range from the caster, and can turn invisible) Spellweaver Blast (an all-purpose destructive energy blast where the caster can choose from a list of effects from AoE shape to damage type dependent on the spell check result), Dungeon-Vision (grants caster and possibly allies enhanced senses, such as infravision at its base and greater effects such as bonuses on finding hidden and invisible stuff), Egolf’s Wizardly Weapon (transforms the caster’s body part into a silly yet deadly weapon, such as their mouth into a megaphone that shoots sonic blasts or their hand into an axe), Melsenschlap’s 2-D Dweomer (warps nearby space-time to do things like bend light to see in magical darkness, turn someone insubstantial as they exist outside the third dimension, or create magical holes in structures to pass through), Power Word: Hero (can one or more effects like that of a comic book superhero, such as x-ray vision, laser eye beams, and being ‘bulletproof’ which reduces all incoming damage which can even reduce harm to 0 points),* and the Cavalry (summons alternate versions of the caster from parallel realities, which instead of having the caster’s stats have a list of general warrior types with different levels of power ranked as tiers). *By default, all successful attacks deal at least one point of damage. The Gnome’s few spells are heavily themed around stereotypical fairy tales and trickery stuff. For example, Creature Companion summons a magical animal whose overall stats and therefore power is based on the spell check result; Entryway Charm can magically lock doors and similar entryway structures to all beings save the caster, where higher results determine duration and the amount of other beings that can pass through; Jinx grants a broad list of debuffs on a target such as penalties to attack rolls or reduced movement speed; and Smoke and Mirrors can cause various “stage magic” style effects, such as being able to teleport between entryways when passing through one of them, or the caster turning invisible and replacing themselves with an illusionary double. There are three spells I’d like to cover on their own: Invoke Patron, Patron Bond, and the Xcrawl Special. Patron Bond is a 1st level downtime spell, requiring at least a week to cast, where the caster forms a pact with some greater supernatural entity. The types of beings this can encompass are quite broad, although only a few beings are specifically interested in crawlers. The Adventurer’s Guild is quite stringent on what patrons crawlers can take, as they want to cultivate a “family friendly” image and patrons deemed too advertiser-unfriendly aren’t allowed. Upon completion of casting the spell, a successful spell check grants the caster knowledge of the Invoke Patron spell but only once per day by default. Higher spell check results can grant other possible boons, such as additional castings per day. In fact, casting Patron Bond on another person grants overall better results than casting it on yourself, such as allowing the subject to gain permanent bonuses on subsequent Invoke Patron/Patron Bond checks for every 10 followers they recruit to the patron’s service.  As for Invoke Patron, it is different from other spells in that it has an explicit limit on how often it can be cast per day, always requires at least 1 point of spellburn to use, and its particular effects are dependent on the patron in question. While they’re detailed in Chapter 10, there are 5 patrons written up which I’ll cover here. They include… The Amazing Rando: first wizard to die in Xcrawl. Invoke Patron has showmanship-themed effects such as summoning shadow adventurers to attack opponents or ‘rewinding’ time to make PCs immediately heal damage/spellburn loss. Bonus spells are things like turning the caster into a martial arts prodigy and blasting loud damaging music. Circe: sorceress of Ancient Greek myth. Invoke Patron gives potions, animals, and sea-based effects to aid the caster. Bonus spells are things like forcing targets to lose their will to fight and thus flee the combat, turning creatures into animals, and being able to brew a variety of potions with various unique effects. Medea: sorceress-turned demigoddess who helps worshipers enact vengeance. Invoke Patron generally imposes misfortune and damage on the caster’s enemies, while bonus spells include the ability to brew various poisons, confusing targets to act randomly or attack their allies, and creating soldiers out of earth to fight the caster’s enemies. Barzodi: the secret leader of the Necromancer’s Guild, fought against British soldiers during the revolution before being betrayed by George Augustus. Invoke Patron has life-draining and zombie-creating effects, bonus spells include rotting touch saps Strength and can cause fear, cursing enemies with debuffs, and learning secrets from the dead which grant temporary knowledge and skill training. Prometheus Firebringer: Titan who stole the secret of fire from the gods, specializes in teaching casters about spellburn, but those who have him as a patron risk the wrath of the gods. Invoke Patron grants a broad variety of buffs such as ability score boosts that can be spellburned, regaining a lost spell, or a bonus to the caster’s next attack/skill/spell check. Bonus spells include restoring spellburned ability scores or creating a reserve of energy to draw from for this purpose without risk of cosmic/divine wrath, summoning the power of Prometheus into their next attack that deals extra damage to the target and the damage is then absorbed by the caster as bonus points to spellburn, and calling divine fire down as an AoE attack. Finally, the Xcrawl Special is a 2nd level Blaster spell. This is not the spell’s true name, which is in fact a single dangerous word that is never shared and must be learned on its own. It is where the caster alters their True Name and thus how they interact with the cosmos. They can choose to cast it unassisted, which takes a year’s worth of downtime, or with the aid of their patron or similar powerful entity which only requires an action but subjects the caster to a subjective ten years’ worth of training under their patron/entity/etc as rapidly sped-up time. Once cast, they choose one spell they know which grants them a permanent bonus on spell checks to cast it, and then another spell they know which takes a penalty of equivalent amount. The bonus/penalty is dependent upon the spell check result Thoughts So Far: The spell system in Xcrawl Classics has a very distinct feel in comparison to D&D, Pathfinder, and even other OSR games. Much like Critical Fumbles and Hits for physical fighters, magic and its interacting subsystems have distinctive risk/reward factors with strong themes that distinguish the classes from each other. A Messenger’s Disapproval is unique in much the samer manner as Misfire, Corruption, and Spellburn is unique for Blasters and arcane types. The wide variety of effects for a single spell, combined with mercurial magic, make spells feel a lot less predictable and formulaic, and even 1st level spells can feel like they’re punching well above their weight class with a good enough roll. The fact that level adds to spell checks allows for a feeling of progression in being able to misfire less often and more regularly attain better results. I particularly like the concept of patrons, which can grant a caster additional power and favors in tangible ways, but at a cost such as with patron taint and perhaps being expected to undertake quests furthering the patron’s agenda in the world. There is a marked difference from Dungeon Crawl Classics, where it was mandatory for Elves and Wizards to take a patron, whereas in XCC it’s optional. Join us next time as we learn more about the darkly satiric world of Xcrawl in Chapters Eight, Nine, and Ten!
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Jan 25, 2025 05:31
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Libertad! posted:As for Invoke Patron, it is different from other spells in that it has an explicit limit on how often it can be cast per day, always requires at least 1 point of spellburn to use, and its particular effects are dependent on the patron in question. While they’re detailed in Chapter 10, there are 5 patrons written up which I’ll cover here. They include… So the greek myth ones are obvious, and I recognize the Amazing Rando from MST3K, but who's Barzodi?
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Jan 25, 2025 08:08
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