Spes Magna Games

Merry Christmas!

Today for For Gold & Glory, I offer up three new magic weapon. I’m still using Aegis Studios for the stock art, but this time the artists are Heather Shinn and J. M. Woiak. The weapon illustrations come from the ItWoR Stock Art Pack. (Nota Bene: Those are affiliate links.)

Within the eerie Cliff of Crypts, the covetous dead jealously guard what should be their final resting places. Somewhere among the twisting tunnels and lightless chambers lurks the Ossuary Coven, three undead hags who possess terrible magic power and know the secrets of crafting magic weapons from bone and sinew.

+1 Bone Jambiya: This magic dagger is made from the humerus of a human, demi-human, or humanoid. Its hilt is wrapped with sinew. Although it is a slashing weapon, it inflicts normal damage against skeletons. (XP: 525)

+1 Dread Sickle: This magic sickle is made from a sharpened rib, part of a jaw bone, and the femur of a human, demi-human, or humanoid. The weapon is wrapped with thick sinew. It inflicts piercing or slashing damage, as the wielder chooses. Its normal enchantment bonus is quadrupled when used in combat against the same creature type from where the femur came. Thus, a dread sickle made with an dwarven femur is +4 to hit and damage against dwarves. (XP: 650)

+1 Ghoul-Fang Club: This magic club is made from a jagged length of wood rammed through the base of a ghoul’s skull. Thick sinew holds the skull in place. If the wielder scores a hit with an unmodified roll of 18-20 while using this club in combat, the target must successfully save versus paralyzation or be frozen in place for 1d6+2 rounds or until subject to a remove paralysis spell. Elves and creatures of huge-size or larger are immune to the ghoul-fang club’s paralysis. (XP: 3,500)

Tags: For Gold & Glory, magic items, place of power

Merry Christmas!

Today’s gift from me to you is a new magic item created For Gold & Glory and presented in glorious black and white in another picture from Aegis Studios. Once more, the artist is Jack Badashski, and the picture comes from Necrobyss Stock Art #1. (Nota Bene: Those are affiliate links.)

Elemental Hammer (XP: 750)

Crafted by the Dwarven Elementalsmiths of Feldspar, an elemental hammer is a stout warhammer linked by a flexible tube to a metal container carried on the back like a backpack. Runes of elemental binding decorate the container, which holds the essence of an elemental. The warhammer and container each way six pounds.

The warhammer is a +1 weapon, and its container holds elemental power. Roll 1d4: air (1), earth (2), fire (3), or water (4). The type of elemental essence within the container grants the warhammer further powers as long as the weapon remains connected to the container by its tube.

Air: The weapon has a +3 to hit and damage bonus against elemental earth creatures. Once per day upon command, the warhammer unleashes a gust of wind, as if cast by a 6th-level wizard.

Earth: The weapon has a +3 to hit and damage bonus against elemental air creatures. Once per day upon command, the warhammer projects minute meteors, as if cast by a 6th-level wizard.

Fire: The weapon has a +3 to hit and damage bonus against elemental water creatures. Once per day upon command, the warhammer casts flame arrow, as if cast by a 6th-level wizard.

Water: The weapon has a +3 to hit and damage bonus against elemental fire creatures. Once per day upon command, the warhammer casts water breathing, as if cast by a 6th-level wizard.

An attacker can target the tube connecting the warhammer to the container with an edged melee weapon. This requires an attack roll with a -4 penalty. If the tube is severed, the elemental essence within the container is harmlessly released. The warhammer itself remains a +1 weapon, but it loses its other magic properties.

Tags: For Gold & Glory, magic items

Merry Christmas!

A few weeks ago I asked the Interwebz if there were any retro-clones of 2E AD&D. After weeding through the answers that didn’t go with my question, I discovered For Gold & Glory (FG&G hereafter) from God Emperor Games. I downloaded the PDF for the most reasonable price of $0. I’ve not given it a detailed read yet, but I like what I’ve skimmed.

FG&G is recognizably 2E AD&D, but it’s been streamlined, condensed a bit, and clarified. If your curious, click over via the link above. (Nota Bene: That link is an affiliate link.) There’s a 20-page preview available. The rules cover character creation and advancement, combat (including THAC0), skills (the FG&G term for proficiencies), and other player topics.

There are also sections for the DM covering magic items and monsters. The bestiary starts with aerial servant and ends with zombie. Along the way, you meet some familiar faces with new names: the corpse ravager (carrion crawler), gazer (beholder), and tunnel lurk (umber hulk). The PDF comes in at 384 pages from virtual cover to virtual cover with art drawn from public domain sources, mostly paintings that one might find hanging in museums.

If I were to start up a 2E AD&D campaign, each player having a copy of FG&G would suffice quite well. One can get the PDF and a black-and-white softcover book for about $11, or $15 for the hardcover. That’s a good price. Books with color art cost more, of course, depending on whether the color is standard or premium (whatever that means).

From what I’ve read, FG&G conforms so closely to 2E AD&D that all of my 2E AD&D stuff would work quite well with FG&G without modification. Since 2E AD&D was pretty close to 1E AD&D, that opens up a lot more of my old stuff for use as well.

I opened up another drawer in that virtual treasure chest of stock art from Aegis Studios that I purchased. Today’s monster is written up for FG&G with another piece of art by Jack Badashski, found in Necrobyss Stock Art #1. (Nota Bene: That’s also an affiliate link.)

Xinjirow

Climate/Terrain: Tropical land
Frequency: Rare
Number Appearing: 2d4
Organization: Nest
Activity Cycle: Night
Intelligence: 3-5
Treasure: B
Alignment: Neutral evil

Armor Class: 2 body, 7 eye
Movement: 9, burrow 6
Hit Dice: 8 (36 hp)
THACO: 11
Attack: 3 claws 2d6
Saving Throws: Fighter 8
Special Traits: Eye blast, surprise
Magic Resistance: None
Size: Huge (about 20′ long)
Morale: 12
Experience: 2,000

With its chitinous plates, spines, three segmented appendages ending in bony claws, and single massive eye, the xinjirow looks as if it squirmed from a nightmare into the waking world. The xinjirow burrows through the rich soil of tropical lands, using its spines to detect vibrations as well as to push it through the earth. When it detects possible prey, the xinjirow bursts from the ground and attacks.

Xinjirows live in subterranean nests. They drag unconscious or dead prey back to the nest in order to feed in the dark. The xinjirow has infravision with a range of 60 feet.

Combat: Xinjirows are intelligent enough to coordinate their attacks. When ambushing prey, the xinjirow imposes a -5 penalty to their foes’ surprise rolls. This monster burrows even through solid stone. It moves through soft earth at a movement rate of 6. Solid stone slows the xinjirow to half its burrow speed.

It attacks with its bony claws, but its first attack is with its fearsome eyeblast, which is 5′ wide and up to 100′ long. The searing heat of the eyeblast inflicts 6d8+6 points of damage, but a creature may save versus breath weapon to take half damage.

The xinjirow’s single eye can be targeted separately from its body, and the eye has 4d8 hit points. Damage inflicted to the eye does not count toward the damage needed to kill the xinjirow.

Tags: AD&D, For Gold & Glory, monsters, reviews

Merry Christmas!

First up, as promises a few days ago, there’s trouble in Schuhdorf! An evil noble lady with magic powers has polymorphed Schuhdorf’s leaders into goats and stolen them before flying off in her giant shoe. Later that night, eerie singing from the woods lured away several of the village’s children. Can the heroes track the children and rescue them? The Lady in the Shoe is a 5E D&D adventure for five 2nd-level characters includes details about how to scale the dangers for weaker or stronger parties. It’s pay-what-you-want with a recommended price of $1.

In other news, I purchased a virtual treasure chest of stock art from Aegis Studios, one of which is Jack Badashski’s burbling Skull Ooze, which appears below as a new monster.

Nota Bene: That last link is an affiliate link.

Ooze, Skull

The skull ooze is one of the more insidious fragments of Juiblex that has squirmed its away from the Abyss to the Material Plane. This blob of inky viscosity hides within a skull, waiting for something living to stray too close. Don’t let the skull ooze’s tiny size fool you into thinking it’s a small threat.

Tiny ooze, unaligned

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 7 (2d4+2)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 5 (-3), DEX 16 (+3), CON 12 (+1), INT 1 (-5), WIS 6 (-2), CHA 1 (-5)

Damage Immunities acid, cold, lightning, slashing
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 8
Languages —
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Amorphous. The skull ooze can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing, although it has to leave its skull behind.

Corrosive Form. A creature that touches the skull ooze or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 2 (1d4) acid damage. Any nonmagical weapon made of metal or wood that hits the skull ooze corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal or wood that hits the skull ooze is destroyed after dealing damage.

The skull ooze can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round.

Spider Climb. The skull ooze can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) acid damage, and the skull ooze attaches to the target. While attached, the skull ooze doesn’t attack. Instead, at the start of each of the skull ooze’s turns, the target takes 2 (1d4) acid damage. In addition, nonmagical armor worn by the target is partly dissolved and takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10.

The skull ooze can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its movement. A creature, including the target, can use its action to detach the skull ooze, but this subjects the target to the skull ooze’s corrosive form.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters

Merry Christmas!

Over at DriveThruRPG, you can find Santa’s Holiday Bag of PDFs. This bundle includes ten PDFs for 5E D&D that are full of monsters, magic items, character options, maps, and more. The normal cost for all ten PDFs together is almost four bits over $14, but Santa has slashed prices by about 50%, making the bundle’s cost $7. Appropriately, the bundle remains available through all twelve days of Christmas.

And here’s a new magic item!

The Golden Crozier
Staff, very rare (requires attunement by a cleric)

This powerful magic item functions just like a staff of the python, and it has further powers as well.

The crozier has 10 charges for the following properties. It regains 1d6+4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the crozier thereafter functions only as a staff of the python.

Magic Weapon. You can use an action to expend 1 charge, which lets you wield the crozier as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls. This effect lasts for 1 minute.

Spells. You can use an action to expend 1 or more of the crozier’s charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: aid (2 charges), control water (4 charges), create food and water (3 charges), create or destroy water (1 charge), dispel evil and good (5 charges), guiding bolt (1 charge), hold person (2 charges), and magic circle (3 charges).

With aid, create or destroy water, guiding bolt, hold person, and magic circle, you can expend more than the requires number of charges. Each additional charge expended for one of those spells count as if you had cast the spell using a higher spell slot.

Tags: 5E D&D, Christmas, magic items