Spes Magna Games

Today, our journey through the AD&D Deities & Demigods looking for material for use with 5E D&D continues with our first steps into the Chinese Mythos.

Direct quotes all come from Deities & Demigods.

Canon of Changes
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

“This is a book of the gods that deals with redistribution of matter and motion.” By reading the canon of changes, you can create objects. “It takes 72 hours of constant reading to learn the words for one given thing, and after uttering them it takes another 72 hours for another creation of even the same thing to take place.” It requires enormous stamina to read the canon of changes. After 8 hours of reading, if you’re mortal, you must must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. For every additional 8 hours of reading, you must make another Constitution saving throw, and the DC increases by +2 each time. Each failed saving throw imposes one level of exhaustion. If you successfully complete the 72 hour regimen of study, you can create one object of up to 25,000 gp value that isn’t a magic item. The object can be no more than 300 feet in any dimension, and it appears in an unoccupied space you can see on the ground.

Dancing Sword of Lightning
Weapon (any sword), legendary (requires attunement)

You can use a bonus action to toss this magic sword into the air and speak the command word. When you do so, the sword begins to hover, flies up to 30 feet, and attacks one creature of your choice within 5 feet of it. The sword uses your attack roll and ability score modifier to damage rolls. While the sword hovers, you can use a bonus action to cause it to fly up to 30 feet to another spot within 30 feet of you. As part of the same bonus action, you can cause the sword to attack one creature within 5 feet of it. Instead of attacking, up to four times per day, you can use a bonus action to cause the sword to shoot a lightning bolt (as the spell). The stroke of lightning is 100 feet long and 5 feet wide. Each creature in the line must make a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 8d6 lightning damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

After the hovering sword attacks and/or fires lightning for the fourth time, it flies up to 30 feet and tries to return to your hand. If you have no hand free, it falls to the ground at your feet. If the sword has no unobstructed path to you, it moves as close to you as it can and then falls to the ground. It also ceases to hover if you grasp it or move more than 30 feet away from it.

Fire Gem
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

This “extremely rare and magical hand-sized” gemstone shoots flame upon command as a ranged weapon attack that uses your Dexterity score modifier to modify your attack roll. On a hit, the target takes 6d10 fire damage. A fire gem has a range of 40/160 feet, and it can be used once per turn. A fire gem has 2d6 charges when found. A fire gem becomes worthless glass when it expends its last charge.

Giant Black Pearl
Wondrous item, legendary

“This 3 foot sphere negates all wind and earth turbulence in a one mile radius. It does this of its own accord and cannot be controlled to make it stop.” Spells or magical effects that manipulate the wind or earth to cause damage to creatures or objects do not function. Spells or magical effects that would manipulate air, the wind, weather, or the earth to cause hostile conditions also do not function.

Iron Wand
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

When held, invisible creatures and objects become visible as long as the creature or object remains within 30 feet of you. This wand has 7 charges. It regains 1d6+1 charges daily at dawn. If you expand the wand’s last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the wand crumbles into rust and is destroyed. The wand has these other functions:

* Climbing Pole. You can use an action and expend 1 charge to cause the iron wand to “grow to a length of 100” feet. The wand becomes “roughened for easy climbing” (DC 10).The wand has AC 20 and 20 hit points. It regains 1 hit point every 5 minutes as long as it has at least 1 charge. If reduced to 0 hit points, the wand expends a charge and returns to normal size. If it has no charges left, it is destroyed. Otherwise, another action and 1 more charge causes the wand to return to its original size.

* Strike. The iron wand can be wielded as a magical club that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. When you hit with a melee attack using it, you can expend up to 3 charges. For each charge you expend, the target takes an extra 1d6 force damage.

* Superior Invisibility. You can use an action to expend 1 charge to turn a creature invisible. The creature remains invisible for up to 1 minute or until its concentration is broken, whichever happens first.

Jade Scepter of Defending
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

When you hold the jade scepter of defending and take the Dodge action, you gain a +3 bonus to AC and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

Wind Fire Wheel
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

The wind fire wheel is a 1-foot diameter circular fan. It has 50 charges. It regains 4d6+2 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 20, the wheel regains 1d12+1 charges. While holding the wheel, you can use an action to expend some of its charges to cast one of the following spells (spell save DC 19): conjure elemental (air or fire only, 7 charges); control weather (8 charges); fireball (12d6, 7 charges); flaming sphere (2 charges); fly (3 charges); gust of wind (2 charges); wall of fire (4 charges); wind walk (6 charges); or wind wall (3 charges).

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, magic items

Event Horizon arrived yesterday. By John Reyst and Johua De Santo, this 59-page introductory adventure for White Star takes that game system into the realm of space horror, a genre that I’ve dug since seeing Alien in the theater way back in 1979.

I read the adventure last night. It hits many of the high points of space horror, and presents some really interesting gaming possibilities related to sanity (Sanity Events) and becoming unmoored in space-time (Time Dilation). Sanity Events come into two sizes: Minor and Major. The precise descriptions of Sanity Events are largely left up the GM. The module offers some suggestions to get the imagination working.

In game terms, Sanity Events cause a reduction of Wisdom. If Wisdom gets too low, the affected character becomes a dangerously unstable NPC. Time Dilation events unstick one or more characters from their present time and/or location. For example, a character may “flashback” to an earlier scene in the adventure or “jump” forward in time to experience something that might happen. Like with Sanity Events, examples and advice about Time Dilation effects appear throughout the module.

Without going into too much more detail about the adventure itself, it’s noteworthy that the scenario starts with new characters waking up from cryosleep after Bad Things have happened near a black hole. Event Horizon is a race against time that draws on elements from Alien, Pandorum, and the movie Event Horizon, among others. The characters must beat the clock, repairing their ship before it gets either sucked into a black hole or destroyed by alien invaders.

At first glance, Event Horizon is an attractive book. The cover and interior artwork is well-done, except for the pictures of the aliens, which still aren’t horrible. My aged eyes appreciate the single-column layout without obscuring background art or funky colors. I’d have used a different font for the headers, however; the header font in the book tricked my eyes into misreading a few words.

Similarly, while the ship’s maps are well done, the nebula background behind the maps is pretty but unnecessary, and the maps perhaps could been a bit larger. I found myself squinting at them, especially on the lower and middle deck maps where numbers appear in black over dark grey shading. In the main body of the adventure, italics are used to denote descriptive, read-aloud text, and these sections tend to blend into the main text. Boxed text or different spacing would have helped.

Most distracting, however, are the tables. Their layout is quirky, and some of the time text is missing. Table 5, for example, which uses 1d6, has results for 1, “3 thru 5”, and 6. Nothing for the number 2. (See the pic to right.) These details don’t ruin the look of Event Horizon, but they do distract from it as well as slightly muck up the coherence of the text.

All in all, however, I like Event Horizon, and I want to give it a run. I’d probably use Stars Without Number rather than White Star, since I prefer to form to the latter for sci-fi/space gaming, and that’s another selling point in favor of Event Horizon. It’s for White Star, but it’s still generic enough that Event Horizon would work well with just about old-school game.

Kudos to the d20pfsrd Publishing team!

And now, as promised, the twin heroes Hunapu and Xbalanque converted the AD&D Deities & Demigods for use with 5E D&D.

Hunapu and Xbalanque were conceived when their mother Xquic, daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, the rulers of the land of the dead, spoke with the severed head Hun, Xquic’s dead husband. The skull spat in Xquic’s hand, and the twins were conceived in her womb. Hunapu and Xbalanque are great adventurers and resolute foes of demons and the undead. Both men love games, especially competitive sports.

Hunapu & Xbalanque
Medium humanoid (human), lawful good

Armor Class 14 (20 with barkskin)
Hit Points 153 (18d8+72)
Speed 30 ft.
Ability Scores STR 22 (+6), DEX 18 (+4), CON 18 (+4), INT 16 (+3), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Strength +10, Dexterity +8, Intelligence +7, Wisdom +5
Skills Athletics +10, Investigation +11, Insight +9, Medicine +9, Perception +9, Survival +9
Damage Resistances cold, fire
Senses passive Perception 19
Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal, Sylvan
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

Clever Minds. The twins make Intelligence and Wisdom saving throws with advantage. Their proficiency bonus for Intelligence and Wisdom skills is doubled.

Favored Enemies. The twins have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track fiends and undead. The twins also have advantage of Intelligence checks to recall information about fiends and undead.

Innate Spellcasting. Hunapu’s and Xbalanque’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16). They can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

1/day each: barkskin, call lightning, divination, freedom of movement, plant growth, spider climb

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If either of the twins fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Magical Weapons. Hunapu’s and Xbalanque’s weapon attacks are magical.

Spellcasting. Hunapu and Xbalanque are 10th-level spellcasters. Their spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). They prepare spells from the druid and wizard spell lists, gaining the latter without need of a spellbook. Neither twin can prepare 5th-level wizard spells, but either may use a 5th-level slot to cast a lower level wizard spell. They have the following spells prepared:

Hunapu

Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, fire bolt, message, produce flame
1st level (4 slots): charm person, cure wounds, disguise self, jump
2nd level (3 slots): darkvision, pass without trace, phantasmal force
3rd level (3 slots): conjure animals, dispel magic, slow
4th level (3 slots): grasping vine, polymorph
5th level (2 slots): tree stride

Xbalanque

Cantrips (at will): guidance, message, prestidigitation, shocking grasp
1st level (4 slots): burning hands, cure wounds, grease, longstrider
2nd level (3 slots): blur, darkvision, spike growth
3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, haste, speak with plants
4th level (3 slots): conjure woodland beings, polymorph
5th level (2 slots): wall of stone

Wild Shape (2/Day). As a bonus action, a twin can magically assume the shape of a beast that has a challenge rating of 1 or lower that the twin has seen before. The twin can stay in a beast shape for 5 hours. He then reverts to his normal form unless he expends another use of this feature. He can revert to your normal form earlier by using a bonus action on your turn. He automatically reverts if he falls unconscious, drops to 0 hit points, or dies. While in beast form, the twins attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Actions

Multiattack. A twin makes three hand axe attacks, or one ranged weapon attack with a blowgun.

Hand Axe. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d6+6) slashing damage.

Blowgun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, ranged 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage plus 21 (6d6) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. A target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Reactions

Foe Slayer. When a fiend or undead creature within 5 feet of a twin hits or misses a twin with an attack, either twin can use his reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided the twin can see the creature.

Legendary Actions

Both Hunapu and Xbalanque can take 3 legendary actions each, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary option can be used at time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The twins regain spent legendary actions at the start of their respective turns.

Detect. The twin makes a Wisdom (Perception) check or a Wisdom (Insight) check.

Move. The twin moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Tackle. The twin makes a Strength (Athletics) check against an adjacent creature contested by the creature’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the twin wins the contest, he either knocks the target prone or pushes it 5 feet away from him. In either case, the target takes 8 (1d4+6) bludgeoning damage.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, horror, NPCs, reviews

It’s been more than a month since I wrote anything that converts content from the AD&D Deities & Demigods for use with 5E D&D. (If you missed those other posts, you can check them out here.) Since I left off with the Celtic Mythos, it’s time to move across the Atlantic and into ancient Mexico for a look at the Central American Mythos.

When we start our look, we find eleven deities and two heroes. Six of those deities are evil, which makes sense given the mind-boggling lust for blood that was part of Aztec life. Of the five remaining deities, two of them are good-aligned. Also, there’s a dearth of material for conversion. I’m not converting deities into 5E versions. I am willing to give it a go with the two heroes, the twins Hunapu and Xbalanque, but I’m going to save them for a later post. So, that leaves me for this post with the last paragraph of the introduction to the Central American Mythos, that explains why “[f]irst level clerics must choose a compass direction for their own (east, west, north or south)”.

Facing the Sacred Direction

A 1st-level cleric that serves a deity of the Central American Mythos must choose a compass direction (east, west, north, or south). Once this choice is made, it cannot be changed. The cleric prays and meditates facing his sacred direction. Failure do so means the cleric regains no spells after resting. Each day, when the cleric starts off to adventure, he must travel at least four steps in his sacred direction before moving in any other direction. Failure to abide by this requirement incurs the deity’s displeasure. At some time during the day, the cleric is sure to experience bad luck (roll with disadvantage on any single attack roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check of the GM’s choosing). Furthermore, the cleric’s sacred direction dictates the color of his vestments: red for east, yellow for south, black for west, and white for north. These vestments must be worn in plain sight, or else the cleric either suffers disadvantage with spell attack rolls or else his target’s gain advantage on their saving throws against the cleric’s spells until a long rest is spent that includes proper supplications and abasements.

In exchange for these restrictions, the cleric enjoys these benefits when casting a spell while facing his sacred direction:

* The cleric makes spell attack rolls with advantage.
* The cleric’s targets make saving throws against the cleric’s spells with disadvantage.

In situations where the cleric’s facing may not be immediately obvious, simply roll 1d4: 1 equals east, 2 equals west, 3 equals north, and 4 equals south.

******

In Spes Magna news, I’ve ordered the second proof copy of the print-on-demand version of The Four Color Hack. I should have the book in my hands in about a week. If it looks good, the POD version will go on-sale as quickly as possible.

I’ve also released Map Collection II, which presents thirteen hand-drawn maps, including two decades-old campaign maps, one for a historical-fantasy world and the other for a post-apocalyptic world. There are also eleven other maps, including isometric dungeon maps. Each map’s minimalist style maximizes your ability to customize the dungeons. Print a page, and add your own key and encounters for your favorite game. These maps aren’t fancy, but at a about dime each, they’re a bargain. Also, they’re all released under the terms of the AttributionShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, Spes Magna Products, TFCH

July is almost over. My experiment with self-employment since leaving my teaching position at a charter school in April (largely due to health reasons) has been a bit of mixed bag, but overall has been positive. I’m establishing myself as a tutor.

Most of my tutoring is via the Internet with students in China, but I also facilitate a combination writing/story gaming course in the Houston area. So far, I’ve worked with five students via Ludi Fabularum, and it’s been a blast. For years, I’ve facilitated a story game club when I taught in a school, and I’ve long thought combining teaching with gaming was a no-brainer. Of course, I’m not alone with this thought, nor did I think it first. Many talented and wonderful people have been using all sorts of games as teaching tools for centuries.

Speaking of roleplaying and teaching, you must check out the adventures of “Kelema the wolf girl”, the star of a delightful podcast hosted by DM Dad under the title Dungeons & Dragons Kidventures. It’s a lot like listening to an early 20th century radio play. DM Dad and his 4-year-old daughter provide the voices and action, and it’s a hoot. DM Dad’s descriptions are worthy of emulation, and include sound effects, voice acting, and the quick inclusion of details provided his daughter to help her become more a part of the story. Dungeons & Dragons Kidventures is part story time with a child and part roleplaying game session, and it’s got lots of heart and humor.

In other news, it’s Shark Week. To help you celebrate this annual feeding frenzy of science shows, I’ve released three Shallows & Sharks products, each for a different game system and featuring a half dozen shark-themed monsters.

* The 5E D&D Version includes the ixitakoth, a combination of the ixitxachitl and morkoth from the AD&D Monster Manual.

* The Mutant Future Version includes the electrifying shock shark.

* The Sword & Wizardy WhiteBox Version includes both exotic monsters as well as stats for more mundane sharks inspired by the 1981 first printing of the Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rulebook.

Each of the Shallows & Sharks PDFs currently sell for a mere $0.75 over at DriveThruRPG, and, of course, all three versions feature my take on the infamous sharknado.

Tags: 5E D&D, Mutant Future, Spes Magna Products, Swords & Wizardry, WhiteBox Adventures

If you follow this site (and why wouldn’t you?), you’ve certainly noticed that I’ve lately posted a bunch of material, mostly new monsters, for 5E D&D. Why? Well, because that’s the game that my Saturday group currently plays, and I tend to focus most of my writing on whatever most recently has caught our attention. I’m even enjoying 5E, which is a surprise. Nothing I read about 4E, for example, tempted me to give it a test drive. 5E, however, hits a lot of sweet spots while at the same time staying away from the number-crunching, optimal-build-fetishizing that, in my opinion, has come to dominate 3.5 and Pathfinder.

All that said, I still want to play what I started with.

I’ve already talked a bit about how I got started with D&D. That was way back around 1977 to 1978. (I feel old.) We had some great games back then. The rules we had didn’t always make sense, and we argued about what this or that really meant, but in the end we were friends getting together to pretend we were adventurers in a fantastic world that at times seemed so much more interesting than the lower-middle-class, middle school world of broken families, drugs, and even gangs that existed at least on the peripherals of our lives.

I recently hosted a comedy-of-tech-errors game that used Swords & Wizardry with The Keep on the Borderlands, originally published in 1981, about three years after I started gaming and about four years before I graduated high school. We played via a videoconference system. The first session was just my son Christopher and me, but Mike and his son joined for session two. Mike was one of the people I gamed with way back when. He’s in California now, and that too far to drive to from Texas, so I don’t see Mike much. If you’re interested, you can watch the videos over at my YouTube channel.

Thanks to the quirky benefits of technology, I got to game with Mike again. It was a lot like old times, almost as if no time had really passed, although both he and I are noticeably older. Those friends I gamed with back in middle school and high school have either died too young or else have pretty much dropped out my life (or me out of theirs) completely. My current circle of face-to-face gaming friends? I didn’t know them in high school. Some of them weren’t born or else were toddling around in diapers when I was in high school.

So, I think I’m going to keep on with the Borderlands game. I’m pretty sure I can swing the various schedules so that we can meet twice or so a month. I might have to upgrade some of my technology. Maybe headphones or earbuds or something like that to help cut down on the background noise would be a good place to start.

Who knows? I might even try to figure out how Roll20 works.

But enough of that. “How about a new monster?” you say. Sure, but first check out David Masson over at Art Station. This guy has some serious talent. Today’s new monster is based on this piece by Mr. Masson.

The secrets of building a sword golem have been lost in the foggy reaches of history. While a spirit from the Elemental Plane of Earth usually infuses a golem, sword golems differ, for it is a spirit from the Elemental Plane of Air that gives the sword golem not only life, but also remarkable speed, intelligence, and will, albeit a will subordinated to the wishes of its creator.

Sword Golem
Medium construct, lawful neutral

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 68 (8d8+32)
Speed 45 ft.
Ability Scores STR 16 (+3), DEX 19 (+4), CON 18 (+4), INT 10 (+0), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 10 (+0)

Skills Acrobatics +8, Perception +5
Damage Resistances lightning
Damage Immunities fire, poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with adamantine weapons
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages understands and speaks the languages of its creator
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)

Elegant Defense. At the start of its turn, the sword golem may choose to make fewer than six melee attacks. The benefits of its elegant defense depend on how attacks it forgoes:

* One Attack: When a creature misses the sword golem with a melee attack, the sword golem can use its reaction to riposte. The sword golem makes a melee attack against the creature that inflicts an extra 4 (1d8) points of piercing damage.

* Two Attacks: As above, plus sword golem’s AC against melee attacks increases by 2 points until the start of its next turn.

* Three Attacks: As both effects above, plus the sword golem’s elaborate sword maneuvers defend its allies. When a creature the sword golem can see attacks a target within 5 feet of the sword golem, the creature’s attack is made with disadvantage.

Elemental Absorption. Whenever the sword golem is subjected to fire damage, it takes no damage and instead regains a number of hit points equal to the fire damage dealt. Whenever the sword golem is subjected to lightning damage, it takes half damage and becomes energized. On its next turn, its rapier attacks inflict an extra 4 (1d8) lightning damage.

Immutable Form. The sword golem is immune to any spell or efect that alter its form.

Magic Resistance. The sword golem has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The sword golem’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Multiattack. The sword golem makes up to six melee attacks.

Rapier. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage. The sword golem’s rapiers score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

Gust of Wind (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). The sword golem unleashes a line of strong wind that duplicates the spell gust of wind.

Tags: 5E D&D, game play, monsters, Swords & Wizardry