Spes Magna Games

Mighty Cthulhu sends its Deep Ones from the AD&D Deities & Demigods into 5E D&D to establish new cult centers. Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

The Deep Ones are humanoid, amphibious men-fish, cold-blooded creatures of great strength (18). … They live near the land on ocean shelves and are able to travel to the land at any time and for as long as they wish.

They have been known to interact with evil humans and interbreed with them. This results in human-appearing offspring who undergo a gradual transformation after the age of 21 that causes them to become as the Deep Ones who spawned them. Deep Ones are soulless and apparently immortal. (Deities & Demigods, page 45)

Deep One
Medium humanoid (Deep One), chaotic evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 30 (4d8+12)
Speed 30 ft., swim 60 ft.
Ability Scores STR 18 (+4), DEX 14 (+2), CON 17 (+3), INT 12 (+1), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 11 (+0)

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Deep One
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Amphibious. The Deep One can breathe air and water.

Regeneration. The Deep One regains 3 hit points at the start of its turn as long as it has more than 0 hit points. If the Deep One takes damage, this trait doesn’t function until the start of the Deep One’s next turn.

Soulless and Immortal.. The Deep One never suffers negative effects from aging. When subjected to an effect that causes necrotic or radiant damage, the Deep One takes only half damage, or no damage if a saving throw is permitted and successful. The Deep One cannot regain hit points from cure wounds or similar spells. A dead Deep One cannot be restored to life by means of raise dead or similar spells.

Actions

Multiattack. The Deep One attacks twice with its claws.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) slashing damage.

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Deep One Warlock of the Great Old One
Medium humanoid (Deep One), chaotic evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 75 (10d8+30)
Speed 30 ft., swim 60 ft.
Ability Scores STR 18 (+4), DEX 14 (+2), CON 17 (+3), INT 14 (+2), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 17 (+3)

Saving Throws WIS +5, CHA +6
Skills Arcana +5, Deception +6, History +5, Persuasion +6
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Deep One, telepathy 30 ft.
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Amphibious. The Deep One warlock can breathe air and water.

Innate Spellcasting. The Deep One warlock’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14). It can cast disguise self at will.

Regeneration. The Deep One regains 3 hit points at the start of its turn as long as it has more than 0 hit points. If the Deep One takes damage, this trait doesn’t function until the start of the Deep One’s next turn.

Soulless and Immortal.. The Deep One never suffers negative effects from aging. When subjected to an effect that causes necrotic or radiant damage, the Deep One takes only half damage, or no damage if a saving throw is permitted and successful. The Deep One cannot regain hit points from cure wounds or similar spells. A dead Deep One cannot be restored to life by means of raise dead or similar spells.

Spellcasting. The Deep One warlock is a 6th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). It regains expended spell slots when it finishes a short or long rest. It knows the following warlock spells:

Cantrips (at will): eldritch blast, friends, prestidigitation
1st-3rd level (2 3rd-level slots): arms of Hadar, detect thoughts, dissonant whispers, enthrall, hellish rebuke, major image, sending

Actions

Multiattack. The Deep One attacks twice with its claws or casts eldritch blasts to create two beams.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) slashing damage.

Eldritch Blast Beam. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) force damage.

Reactions

Entropic Ward (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). When a creature makes an attack roll against the Deep One warlock, it can use impose disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses the Deep One warlock, its next attack against the creature has advantage if the Deep One warlock makes the attack before the end of its next turn.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, monsters

Yesterday it was the servants of He Who Must Not Be Named. Today’s trip into the AD&D Deities & Demigods brings us the fiery minions of Cthuga, the “master of the fire element”, statted for 5E D&D.

These creatures appear to be smaller versions of their master. This means a flame creature resembles a flaming amoeba with tentacles that appear to be flames emanating from its body. (Deities & Demigods, page 44)

Flame Creature of Cthuga
Huge elemental, chaotic evil

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 184 (16d12+80)
Speed 60 ft.
Ability Scores STR 14 (+2), DEX 21 (+5), CON 20 (+5), INT 10 (+0), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 9 (-1)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Ignan
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)

Amorphous. The flame creature can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Elemental Nature. The flame creature doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Flame Aura. At the start of each of the flame creature’s turns, each creature within 60 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage, and flammable objects in the aura that aren’t being worn or carried ignite. A creature that touches the flame creature or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage.

Illumination. The fire creature sheds bright light in a 45-foot radius and dim light in an additional 45 feet.

Magic Resistance.. The flame creature has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The flame creature attacks twice with its tentacle and/or its heat ray.

Heat Ray. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 30/90 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10+5) fire damage. If the target is a creature or a flammable object, it ignites. Until a creature takes an action to douse the fire, the target takes 6 (1d12) fire damage at the start of each of its turns.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8+5) bludgeoning damage plus 10 (3d6) fire damage. If the target is a creature or a flammable object, it ignites. Until a creature takes an action to douse the fire, the target takes 6 (1d12) fire damage at the start of each of its turns.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, monsters

My next stop in the AD&D Deities & Demigods is the sanity-threatening Cthulhu Mythos. For the first post, I present the Byakhee, those monstrous servants of He Who Must Not Be Named, statted for 5E D&D.

These giant furry bat-like creatures have humanoid legs that enable them to stand like men. They can be summoned by clerics of Hastur through use of a gate spell (1-4 Byakhee will appear). (Deities & Demigods, page 44)

Byakhee
Huge aberration, chaotic evil

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 125 (10d12+60)
Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft.
Ability Scores STR 25 (+7), DEX 11 (+0), CON 23 (+6), INT 10 (+0), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 12 (+1)

Damage Immunities cold, fire
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Innate Spellcasting.. The Byakhee’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: dimension door, plane shift (to and from Carcosa only), teleport

Magic Resistance.. The Byakhee has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. If an Elder Sign is used as an additional material component for a spell, the Byakhee’s magic resistance does not apply.

Unnatural. The Byakhee does not require air.

Actions

Multiattack. The Byakhee makes two claw attacks.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d10+7) slashing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, the Byakhee can automatically hit the target with its claws, and the Byakhee can’t use those claws against another target. The Byakhee has two claw attacks, each of which can grapple one target.

Reactions

Abduct. When a Byakhee has restrained a target with its claws, at the end of a target’s turn if that target remains restrained, the Byakhee may attempt to plane shift to Carcosa. The restrained target must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw. If the target fails, the target and the Byakhee are transported to Carcosa.

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Penance, Texas for The Four Color Hack is up and running. Not only has my Patreon site has been transformed and relaunched, but all three tiers of patron-only perks have been posted. These perks include a new villain for all patrons, a new scenario for Avengers and League Members, and a special surprise for League Members only.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, monsters, TFCH

I say again, welcome to Penance, Texas!

That’s right. My Patreon site has been transformed and relaunched. The first Patron-only PDF has been uploaded and can be downloaded by Defenders, Avengers, and League Members.

You might ask, “What is this PDF?”

Well, it’s Putty: The Malleable Menace, a Penance-born super villain. In a few more days, I’ll also release a new scenario entitled Putty in Her Hands. Available to Avengers and League Members, this scenario gives your heroes a chance to thwart not only Putty but also a mysterious femme fatale.

If you’re thinking about being a League Member, there’s something just for you as well, specifically a way to get The Four Color Hack print-on-demand rulebook for printing costs plus shipping & handling.

Tags: Spes Magna Products, TFCH

Some time next week, I’m relaunching my Patreon site as a support platform for The Four Color Hack. I’ll be writing up new villains, new heroes, new Elements, city details, situations that can be used for adventures for your game’s heroes, et cetera. All of this will revolve around Penance, Texas. What is Penance, Texas, you ask? Read on.

Welcome to Penance, Texas. Penance with its population of 455,000 sits on the Gulf Coast in the South Texas region. Penance’s history reaches back to the early 16th century, but long before the Spanish settled the area, the Kómaháyika lived in the area. Little is known of these people except that they had an evil reputation among both the Karankawa and the Spanish. Long-time residents of Penance say that whatever the Kómaháyika did must have cursed the ground the city stands on, for it seems as if Penance’s yesterday and today have always been caught in a struggle between evil and good….

As a setting, Penance, Texas, combines superheroics with elements from genres closer to true crime and Lovecraftian horror. Material released via Patreon will fall into the categories of The City, The Supers, The Scenarios, and The Rules. Patrons can choose from three tiers: $1 a month to be a Defender, $3 a month to be an Avenger, and $5 a month to be a League Member. Each tier includes Patron-only access to PDFs written specifically for the Patreon site. In short, Defenders get The Supers PDFs, Defenders get that and The Scenarios PDFs, and League Members get everything, plus other perks, such as getting me to write specially requested villains, et cetera.

Speaking of The Rules for TFCH, the ones for creating villains don’t have to be used for just villains. They can be used to create just about anyone or anything that the heroes may encounter, and that includes heroic allies.

The Builder
Level 3 Heroic Ally

Quote: “Can we fix it?”
Real Name: Bob (last name unknown)
Identity: Secret
Place of Birth: Somewhere in the United Kingdom
Height: 4 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 90 lb.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

Hit Points: 16 (3 Vigor)
Base Damage: d6
Powers: Machine Control d10, Telekinetic Drill d8, Tool Belt d8

Background: Little is known about Bob’s background. Based on his accent, he’s probably from somewhere in the United Kingdom, mostly likely from Birmingham, England. He’s been an active superhero for a few years, which is remarkable primarily because of his age. Bob can’t be much more than 10 or 11 years old. Who his parents are, where he goes to school, et cetera, are questions about which there is much speculation, but no definitive answers. The media took to calling Bob “The Builder” early on in his heroic career, and the name stuck. As the Builder, Bob does not operate as a traditional crime fighter, although he has tangled with criminals on more than one occasion. Most of the time, the Builder uses his powers to aid first responders in emergency situations.

Powers: The Builder’s main power is his ability to control machines. This ability appears to be psionic in nature, but it could be the effect of super-technology. With Machine Control, Bob can control the movement and operation of mechanical devices. He can even “program” a machine to operate semi-independently by splitting his Machine Control die to create a lasting effect, such as a Debris-Clearing Tractor d8. So far, the Builder has no shown the ability to change the form or function of a machine. He cannot, for example, make a pick-up truck fly like an airplane. The Builder uses a variety of tools, the most prominent being his Telekinetic Drill. With it, he can manipulate up to 5 tons of material within 80 feet. The Builder has used his Telekinetic Drill to repair damaged objects and to jury rig structures, as he did that the time he manipulated a load of PVC pipes to trap an aggressive dog in a PVC Cage d6. The Builder’s Tool Belt holds an assortment of high-tech devices, such as his Climbing Spike Screwdrivers d6 that he uses to scale buildings.

Tags: Spes Magna Products, TFCH