For the time in a while, I’ve finished a new Spes Magna product, this time for 5E D&D. The Ways Of… presents seven new monastic traditions, each one available to a different core rules race. The elven monks of the way of the Blade and Bow practice a different art than do the halfling monks of the Way of the Hearth. A dwarven Cave monk fighting back-to-back with a gnomish Prank monk use their ki in very different ways. Other monastic traditions include tieflings, dragonborn, and drow. This is the playtest version of The Ways Of…. Get it today by paying what you want, and create a monk for your favorite non-human race.
I’ve also completed about two-thirds of The Ninth Face of Cro, my fourth Dangerous Place and the first one written for 5E D&D. (The other three Dangerous Places are for Swords & Wizardry.) The Ninth Face introduces beginning characters to the Mortuary Moot, a frontier region recovering from a natural disaster. As part of the recovery efforts, the barons have put out the call for adventurers to seek fame and fortune in the Moot (and thus help drive out the hordes of evil humanoids and other monsters who threaten settlers and merchants). I hope to have The Ninth Face available as early as this Friday (although next week is probably more realistic).
And now for more thoughts about investigative 5E D&D.
I’ve written three blogposts about The GUMSHOE System’s applicability to a more traditional fantasy game, wherein I’ve mused about clue hunting, gothic Victorian D&D, and what an Adventuress background might look like. The focus on these musings has been TSR’s wonderful Masque of the Red Death campaign expansion with a dash of Chaosium’s excellent Cthulhu by Gaslight. In recent days, I’ve started down a different rabbit trail. Two of my other favorite TSR products are Oriental Adventures and the Birthright campaign setting. Both of these products encourage and reward things like courtly intrigue, spying, et cetera. They’re ideal for investigative roleplaying.
Nota Bene: All of the links in that last paragraph are affiliate links. If you click and buy, I get a pittance.
5E D&D already includes a few nods to what was the Oriental Adventures milieu: monks, assassins (read: ninjas), and samurai. Working up a few new races (spirit folk) or subraces (korobokuru) shouldn’t be too hard. Classes such as the yakuza could become subclasses. Thrown out the PH weapons and armor tables and pull in OA weapons and armor, change a few names, and a lot of the work would be done. Also, I’ve printed for closer reading the 5E conversion of Birthright by Marsupialmancer. The conversion looks promising.
Little by little, after our current d20 Modern science-fantasy-horror campaign draws to a close, I’m leaning heavily toward a less gonzo game of political intrigue with a decidedly OA feel. Time will tell whether my ADHD drags me in a different direction before we’re ready for a new campaign in the fall.
If I were handing out trophies to character classes, the prize for Most Liked But Least Played would go the monk. As a player, I like monks. They look like a lot of fun. Since I started RPGing in the late 70s, I’ve seldom played a monk. (The most I’ve played a monk was in the Neverwinter Nights computer game.) The same situation applies to other games. For example, in super hero games, I dig the martial artist, but when I (rarely) get to play in a super hero game I’m most drawn to the brick archetype.
In earlier editions of D&D, monks tended to all be pretty much the same. The introduction of prestige classes brought with it some variety, to be sure, but we old-timers had to wait until the 3E DMG for those. Before that? Well, there was September 1981’s articles about the monk published in Dragon, and our AD&D campaign quickly switched over to the rewrite of the monk class presented in that issue. That really didn’t introduce variety. I suppose a gaming group could have used both the AD&D PH monk and the Dragon magazine monk, but the former’s clear inferiority would make that an odd choice.
Nowadays, in 5E D&D, the rules rewrite the prestige class concept into various subclasses, with each character choosing a subclass at 3rd level. For monks, this means a choice between various monastic traditions. In the 5E PH, we have the Ways of the Open Hand, Shadow, and Four Elements. Xanathar’s Guide expands choices with Ways for the Drunken Master, Kensei, and Sun Soul. (I’m sure there are others examples out there, but I don’t own those books.) Based on the idea that options are good, this is a good thing, but my grognard sensibilities still pop up once and a while.
Back in the day, all monks were human. Period. That was it, no other choices were officially available, et cetera. What’s more, every monk of X level had the same abilities as every other monk of X level. This wasn’t a bad thing. It wasn’t a bug; it was a feature derived from a specific vision of what a certain fantasy campaign world looked like. Newer editions of the game have gone different ways. Today, any race can be a monk, and (after 3rd level) monks vary quite a bit in terms of class features.
A while ago, I published The Dwarf. I wrote The Dwarf because part of me still loves the idea that a dwarf character’s class is Dwarf. Such a Dwarf was my very first character (although he soon morphed into an AD&D fighter/thief while our young selves gradually figured out that B/X D&D and AD&D weren’t quite the same game). To quote me: “Old School meets New School in The Dwarf, a new combination character class/race. Now you can relive the glory days of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game, back when a dwarf was a dwarf instead of a dwarf fighter or rogue or whatever. The Dwarf presents a complete race-as-class, including two new subraces, three new archetypes, and three new backgrounds.”
So, with all of this in mind, I thought, “What if some monk subclasses were race specific?”
In 5E D&D, anyone who wants to can play a dwarf monk, for example. When that dwarf monk reaches 3rd level, the player gets to choose whatever monk subclass seems most fun. The player can have a dwarf Drunken Master or a dwarf Shadow monk. Any other race can also follow any of the monastic traditions available. So, if we compare a dwarf Drunken Master and a human Drunken Master, the thing that distinguishes them is race. The class features are identical.
But ought dwarven monks not have a specifically dwarven monastic tradition? And if the dwarves do, wouldn’t the other races as well?
And so I’ve been working on monastic traditions that are race-specific. I’ve left out humans, half-elves, and half-orcs. They can remain content with the plethora of other options. Dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, and dragonborn, however, have their own unique monastic traditions that reflect a particular way of viewing the world and using ki. As of the typing of these words, I’ve completed rough drafts for every monastic tradition except the one for the gnomes. I’ll almost certainly have the playtest PDF available via DriveThruRPG by the end of this week.
When I’m done, seven (maybe eight) new monastic traditions become possible. So far, I’ve written the Ways of the Blade and Bow (high and wood elves), Brimstone (tieflings), the Cave (dwarves), the Dragon (dragonborn), the Hearth (halflings), and the Spider (drow). The gnomish Way of the Prank remains undone, and may turn into two monastic traditions: the Way of the Prank for forest gnomes and the Way of the Clank for rock gnomes.
To end this post, a sample of a few racial monastic tradition features for tieflings, dwarves, and drow, respectively.
Hellish Castigation: Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your furious indigation at being injured causes your ki to boil. If you spend 2 ki points, you have advantage when attacking with a monk weapon or unarmed strike any creature that has damaged you since the end of your last turn.
Deep Earth Way: At 6th level, you learn to speak, read, and write Terran. Also, you can expand your senses by spending 3 ki points. For 1 minute, you gain tremorsense with a range equal to your bonus unarmored movement. While your tremorsense is functioning, you also have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Greater Spider’s Transformations: At 11th level, your ability to channel your ki along eight-fold pathways improves. As an action, you can spend 4 ki points to transform and gain one of the following benefits:
You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing.
Gain blindsight with a range of 20 ft.
You gain a bite attack that is treated as a monk weapon. Your bite inflicts damage as a monk weapon plus 2d6 poison damage.
This ability has a duration of 1 hour. While this ability lasts, you can end one option as an action to gain the benefits of a different one.
New magic items ought to appear in 5E D&D games. (Well, really, in any version of D&D, not just 5E.) Part of taking the game-as-written and making it my own involves changing, deleting, and adding things that fit my vision of the campaign world I’m sharing the other players. I’ve offered on this site several examples of new monsters, magic items, and spells for different fantasy games. More often than not, some game, movie, book, or picture has inspired these new monsters, magic items, and spells.
Today is no exception. I present below a few magic items for 5E D&D inspired by the 2001 edition of Kenzer and Company’s HackMaster GameMaster’s Guide (HMGMG hereafter). HackMaster is one of many systems which own at least one book for but which I’ve never played. The HMGMG has impressive density. It’s more than 350 pages of two-column rules, commentary, and advice set forth in a too small font. Seriously. The font aspires but fails to reach 10-point.
But I digress, and now move on with 5E D&D versions of my some my favorite HMGMG magic items.
Belt of Diminished Size Wondrous item, uncommon
While wearing this belt, you may speak the command word and use an action to cast reduce on yourself. For 1 minute, your size is halved in all dimensions, and your weight is reduced to one-eighth of normal. This reduction decreases your size by one category — from Medium to Small, for example. Until the spell ends, you also have disadvantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. Your weapons also shrink to match your new size. While these weapons are reduced, your attacks with them deal 1d4 less damage (this can’t reduce the damage below 1). You can end the effect early by speaking the command word and using an action.
Boots of High Kicking Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
While you wear these boots, you can use a bonus action to kick a target as an unarmed attack. You gain a +1 bonus on the attack roll, and your kick inflicts 1d4 + Strength modifier points of bludgeoning damage. You also make Charisma (Performance) checks related to dance with advantage.
Longbow of Strumming Weapon (longbow), rare (requires attunement by an elf, half-elf, or bard)
This elegant longbow has six strings instead of one, resembling a cross between a musical instrument and a weapon of war. While unattuned to the bow, you have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with this magic weapon. When attuned, you can call upon the full powers of the bow. As an action, you can strum one of three chords on the longbow. The effects of the chord last until the end of your next turn.
First Chord. The first chord grants you advantage with the attack you make with the longbow after strumming the chord. Your nonmagical arrows inflicts +3 additional points of piercing damage instead of +1 additional point of piercing damage.
Second Chord. The second chord causes any nonmagical arrow you fire with the longbow to transform into a fiery missile. The arrow inflicts fire damage rather than piercing damage.
Third Chord. The third chord causes any nonmagical arrow you to fire with the longbow to change course in flight as it races to its target. Your target does not get a bonus to AC from half cover or three-quarters cover. Full cover has its normal effects.
Nose Ring of Viscid Globs Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
This nose ring has 3 charges, and it regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. While wearing the ring, you can use an action to expend 1 of the nose ring’s charges to attack one creature you can see with 60 feet of you. This causes you to expel “a vast quantity of sticky mucus” (HMGMG 230) at your target. The creature must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes poisoned and restrained for 1 minute. A creature caught in the mucus can use its action to make a DC 15 Strength or Dexterity check (its choice). On a success, it frees itself, ending both conditions.
Potion of Gnome Gibberish Potion, uncommon
After drinking this potion, you can speak, read, and write Gnomish for 10 minutes.
Curse. After drinking this potion, you must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, you can speak, read, and write only Gnomish, but your spoken and written words are jumbled to the point of incomprehensibility. This effect lasts for 10 minutes or until you are targeted by the remove curse spell.
A hodgepodge sort of post today as I wind down my first work week of remote teaching and prepare for the first Saturday d20 Modern game GMed via some sort of videoconferencing thing. First up, two items for 5E D&D.
You and another creature teleport, switching spaces. You appear in the creature’s previous space. The creature arrives in your previous space with a thunderous explosion. Choose a creature within 60 feet that you can see. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails the saving throw, you and the creature both teleport, switching spaces. When the creature appears, a wave of thunderous force sweeps out from it in a 15-foot cube originating from the creature. Each creature in the cube, including the creature that teleported must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d8 thunder damage. Creatures that fail the save other than your original target are also pushed 10 feet away from the teleported creature. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and isn’t pushed.
In addition, unsecured objects that are completely within the area of effect are automatically pushed 10 feet away from the center of the effect, and the spell emits a thunderous boom audible out to 300 feet.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 3rd.
Cnagaire’s Knocker Wondrous item, rare (attunement required by a sorcerer, warlock, or wizard)
This somewhat grotesque brass door knocker weighs 1 pound. It has 10 charges and regains 1d6+4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the knocker corrodes into powder. With a command word as a bonus action, you can affix the knocker to a door or wall. You can then use an action to knock on the door or wall for one of the following effects.
Door Effects. You cast one of the following spells: unseen servant (1 charge), knock (2 charges), or conjure minor elementals (4 charges).
Wall Effects. You cast one of the following spells: clairvoyance (3 charges), stone shape (4 charges), or passwall (5 charges).
And now that tiny review mentioned in the post title.
This week, I got my print-on-demand copy of Alan Bahr’s Tiny Supers, published by Gallant Knight Games. (Nota Bene: That’s an affiliate link in the previous sentence.) It’s a lovely book. The cover features a quartet of brave heroes unconcerned that they’re surrounded by an army of robots. The first 15 or so pages cover the rules of play. The next 23 or so pages describe how create a hero (or villain), including descriptions of powers (called Power Traits) and traits (called Traits). Character creation starts by selecting an archetype (such as Defender or Gadgeteer). The player then customizes the archetype. It is all very rules-light, which fits the TinyD6 way of doing things. Pages 44-260 of Tiny Supers describe and explain various settings, including stats for several heroes and villains (although, in my opinion, not enough stats for the latter).
I’ve read the sections on game play and character creation, and skimmed the settings material, pausing to read a page or two here and there. Regarding the game play section, I think too much of it is cribbed from Tiny Dungeon, pretty much word for word. This is all perfectly legal, of course. Alan Bahr wrote Tiny Dungeon; it’s his to use and re-use. Still, I found the explanations a bit jarring at time.
For example, the rules for Obstacles in Tiny Supers mention “bartering with shopkeepers”. That’s something that comes up a lot in fantasy games (such as Tiny Dungeons), but, in my experience, that sort of thing never really comes up in a superhero game. I got this same disconnect in the sections that talk about weapons and magic, the latter even talking about how “Spell Readers may find magic scrolls out on their adventures”. Again, this makes all sorts of sense in a fantasy setting, but, in all my years of playing all sorts of superhero games, finding magic scrolls (or treasure of any sort) rarely if ever comes up.
Now, to be fair, this is a minor complaint. What I perceive as a disconnect between what’s described and the genre of the game doesn’t take away (or add to) the playability of the game. It just sort of niggles at me a bit.
So, with all that out of the way, here’s the amazing Shaolin Beaver for Tiny Supers.
Shaolin Beaver Real Name: Edward Belief: “I wander the land, doing good.” Weakness: “I must find my people.”
Archetype: Expert Archetype Trait:Mastery. You may not select more than 1 Power. You must trade out the rest of your Powers for Traits from the Trait list. However, you gain 2 additional Traits. Stress: 6
Powers:Super Movement – Swimming (Tier 1). You do not have to Test to swim (treat it like normal movement). Traits: Acrobat, Brawler, Cleave, Detective, Insightful, Martial Artist
Matt Jackson posts CoronaCon! Maps faster than I can react. Five such maps now grace the interwebz. Out of the three new ones, I’m especially digging Map 4. Click on over and check them out.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward: and Samuel rose up, and went to Ramatha. (1 Samuel 16:13)
Horn of the Hero Wondrous item, uncommon
This decorated animal’s horn is sealed at its base and has a stopper inserted into its tip. The horn contains oil made from myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, olive oil, and sweet flag, an aromatic flowering plant. The horn and its contents weigh 1 pound.
As an action, one dose of the oil can be poured over the head of a creature, which is then imbued with bravery. For 1 minute, the creature is immune to fear. Furthermore, the creature gains 5 temporary hit points at the start of each of its turns. When the effects of the oil wear off, the target loses any remaining temporary hit points from this item.
The horn hold enough oil to anoint three creatures. It refills with oil daily at dawn, but never holds more than three doses of oil.
