Spes Magna Games

Archaeological evidence of specific persons and events from the ancient Near East is spotty and some of the time sketchy. For example, the Seal of King Ahaz. If memory serves, the Seal is now part of a private collection, and, as it was acquired via the antiquities market, its provenance is difficult to demonstrate conclusively. That said, the Seal is likely authentic. It bears an inscription that indicates it belonged to Ahaz, son of Jotham, and king of Judah.

Ahaz was king of Judah circa 732-716 B.C. He rejected an alliance with Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Damascus to oppose the Assyrians. Acting against the advice of Isaiah, Ahaz allied with the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. Israel and Damascus both fell to the Assyrians. Ahaz swore fealty to Tiglath-Pileser III and the Assyrian gods, and he defiled the Temple and even sacrificed one or more of his sons to Moloch. Ahaz died at about the age of 36. His son Hezekiah became king, and Ahaz was refused burial in the sepulchre of kings. Hezekiah had the priests and Levites repair and reconsecrate the Temple. According to rabbinic literature, Hezekiah was saved by Abi, his mother, who annointed him with salamander blood, thus making it impossible for Moloch’s fire to harm him.

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. (The Second Book of Kings 16:1-4)

Seal of the Traitor King
Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement)

This stone seal possesses dread magic. When smeared with blood and pressed against a surface, it invokes certain powers, depending on the type of blood used. In all cases where applicable, targets of one of the seal’s effects must make a DC 16 saving throw. The seal has 3 charges. Each use of the seal expends 1 charge. The seal regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.

Beast Blood: The seal protects wards up to 2,500 square feet of floor space with the seal in the center of the warded area. This power duplicates the effects of guards and wards.

Monstrosity Blood: The seal creates explosive runes (see glyph of warding) as if cast using a 6th-level spell slot.

Humanoid Blood: The seal protects an area as a glyph of warding, but a creature who triggers the seal is targeted by bestow curse as if cast using a 6th-level spell slot.

Whenever a non-evil creature attunes to the seal, it must make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature’s alignment shifts one step closer to neutral evil, moving from lawful or chaotic before moving from good or neutral. For example, a lawful good creature who fails the saving throw becomes lawful neutral. A chaotic good creature who fails the saving throw becomes neutral good. Whenever the attuned creature expends a charge from the seal, the creature must make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw or suffer the same effect.

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

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Ms. Marvel’s 1978 encounter with a race of lizard people who had mutated into an intelligent society from common desert reptiles due to atomic bomb testing. So-called saurians have been a staple in fantasy and science fiction for further back than the late 70s. For example, Edgar Rice Burroughs had the frightening Mahars, intelligent pteradon-like creatures with deadly psychic powers. (Click here for a look at one of these malevolent beasts.)

But back to Ms. Marvel. If memory serves, she held her own pretty well against those mutated lizards when it came to fisticuffs, but not so well when targeted by a psychic attack. Different saurians had different abilities, and some were capable of a sort of bolt of psychic energy. For last ThursdAD&D, I presented the sollersaurus, an intelligent raptor-like creature. Today, I add the cogitasaurus, which I see as a sort of behind-the-scenes leadership for saurians.

Cogitasaurus
Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 1 (1-6 in lair)
Armor Class: 5
Move: 12″
Hit Dice: 6+6
% in Lair: 45%
Treasure Type: Q, S, T
No. of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: 1-4/1-4
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Exceptional
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Size: M (3′ tall, 6′ long)
Psionic Ability: 70-100
Attack/Defense Modes: A, B/F, G, H
Level/XP Value: VI/850 + 8/hp

The cogitasaurus is an intelligent saurian carnivore of exceptional intelligent. It possesses powerful psionic abilities, which is prefers to use in lieu of its claws. The cogitasaurus is bipedal, and it more closely resembles a humanoid-form that the sollersaurus. The cogitasaurus often rule over sollersauruses, using them as guards and mounts. It is unlikely (only 20% chance) that a cogitasaurus will be encountered outside its lair without 1-4 sollersauruses. A cogitasaurus lair is always protected by 1-4 sollersauruses per cogitasaurus.

The cogitasaurus has keen senses and infravision of the 90-foot variety. It is surprised only 1 in 6 times. The cogitasaurus has the following psionic abilities (performed at 6th-level mastery): animal telepathy, domination, and energy control. While the cogitasaurus cannot cast spells per se, it can read magic at will and utilize scrolls of all sorts as if it were a 6th-level caster.

The gaze of the cogitasaurus poses a special threat. Any avian or mammalian creature that meets the gaze of the cogitasaurus must make a saving throw versus paralyzation. Failure results in the victim being stunned for 2-8 rounds, dropping anything held in manipulative members. Creatures with more than 6 levels or hit dice receive a +4 bonus on the saving throw to resist the cogitasaurus’s gaze.

The cogitasaurus speaks the same tongue as the sollersaurus. The cogitasaurus has a 75% chance to understand 1-4 other languages, although the cogitasaurus lacks the vocal apparatus to speak most other tongues. Despite its intelligence, the cogitasaurus seldom makes use of much more than the simplest of tools.

Tags: AD&D, monsters, ThursdAD&D

Last week, I took the aerial servant from the AD&D Monster Manual and statted it up for Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition. If you missed that installment of Savage Wednesday, you can click here to make amends.

(Nota Bene: The first two links above are affiliate links.)

I kind of enjoyed writing the aerial servant post, and so I asked myself, “Self, why not do the same thing for the next monster?” I couldn’t think of a good reason to not do so. The AD&D Monster Manual remains a classic among the host of roleplaying game collections of monsters. Sure, some of the art is a bit uninspired. (I’m looking at you, Brachiosaurus.) Some of the monsters are perhaps a bit odd or even unnecessary. (Now I’m looking at you, Mule. You’re not a monster.)

Other entries, however, are classics, and the anhkheg (note the correct spelling) is a classic. An giant burrowing arthropod that attacks by surprise and spits acid? What’s not to love?

Anhkheg

The anhkheg burrows through the earth like an earthworm, preferring soil rich in minerals and organic matter. Thus it will usually be found in forests and choice agricultural land. This causes farmers great consternation, since the anhkheg likes to supplement its earthly diet with a bit of fresh meat, human or otherwise. The anhkheg has a chitinous shell which is brownish in color. Its underside is pinkish. The creature’s eyes are glistening black.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d12+4, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d8, Shooting d6, Stealth d8
Charisma: —
Pace: 6
Parry: 6
Toughness: 14 (3)
Special Abilities:

Armor: +3.

Bite: STR+d10.

Burrowing: The anhkheg has a Burrowing Pace of 3. When burrowing, the anhkheg gains a +2 to Stealth rolls.

Spray Acid: The anhkheg sprays acid using the Cone Template. Every target within this cone must beat the anhkheg’s Shooting roll with Agility or suffer 4d8 points of damage. The anhkheg can spray acid once every 1d6 hours.

Size +4: The anhkheg reaches lengths of 20 feet.

Tremorsense: The anhkheg tends to lurk underground and attacks by ambush. The anhkheg detects vibrations within 6″, gaining a +2 to Notice rolls.

Tags: monsters, Savage Wednesday, Savage Worlds

Back when I was in high school, TSR published Star Frontiers. It wasn’t the first sci-fi game we played. That would be Gamma World. It wasn’t even the second, which would be Traveller. (N.B. That’s an affiliate link.)

But, man, did we play the heck out of Star Frontiers, and, as usual, our characters were a possee of shady mercenaries out to get rich and probably die young in the process. If memory serves, our characters’ last adventure involved trying to steal a prototype military robot in order to sell it on the black market. The mission did not succeed, and I’m pretty sure we moved on to another game.

Anyhoo, here’s a new monster adapted from the creature of the same name found in Crash on Volturnus:

Rasties are vicious mammals of medium size that prey upon hapless shovelmouths and other gentle prey living in the caverns of Volturnus. [They] look like a cross between a rat and a small monkey. They have four legs, but can sit upright and use their forelimbs to grasp meat or small prey. Rasties are usually hungry, and will attack anything that looks edible to them.

Rasties
Small monstrosity, neutral evil

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 27 (6d6+6)
Speed 30 ft.

STR 8 (-1), DEX 16 (+3), CON 13 (+1), INT 6 (-2), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 7 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Rasties
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Blood Rampage. As a bonus action, the rasties can move up to half its speed toward a hostile creature that doesn’t have all its hit points and then make a bite attack against that creature. The rasties must be able to see the creature.

Keen Smell. The rasties has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Pack Tactics. The rasties has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the rasties’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the rasties cannot bite another target.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, Tuesday Terror

The Kids’ Game campaign using Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition is on a brief hiatus. Last Saturday would have been our next session, but folks were out of town or otherwise unavailable. This is probably a good thing. The next session looks to be a bit, well, busy. The kids in the forms of their pulp hero characters are holed up in Watusi, a small African town at the edge of Leopard Man territory. Pharaoh Doctor Mobius has a detachment of stormtroopers moving toward the fabled Temple of Tears, presumably to ambush the heroes when they show up with the Tiles bearing the secrets to finding the Chalice of Possibilities.

Realizing forewarned is forearmed, the heroes beat the streets and broke into some offices to gather intelligence. One of Mobius’s lieutenants, the inscrutable and deadly Wu Han, is en route via airship with more stormtroopers. Elements of the Resistance have allied themselves with the heroes while collaborators make ready to welcome Wu Han. In short, the heroes sit on a powder keg of potential insurrection. Hundreds of lives hang in the balance.

Like I said: busy. On the plus side, the next session presents a great opportunity to test out the Allies and Mass Battles rules, so I got that going for me.

And now, for no particular reason, the first monster in the AD&D Monster Manual. (Nota Bene: The links above are affiliate links.)

Aerial Servant

The aerial servant is a semi-intelligent form of an air elemental, typically encountered only due to conjuration by a cleric.

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength d12+2, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d10
Charisma: —
Pace: —
Parry: 7
Toughness: 9
Special Abilities:

Elemental: An aerial servant takes no additional damage from called shots. It is Fearless, and immune to disease and poison.

Flight: An aerial servant flies at a rate of 12″ with a Climb of 3. It may not run.

Ethereal: An aerial servant cannot be harmed by nonmagical attacks.

Invisibility: An aerial servant is naturally invisible. Its presence can be detected due to disturbances in the air. A character may detect an aerial servant with a Notice roll at -4. Once detected, an aerial servant may be attacked, but with a -4.

Size +3: An aerial servant is about 8 feet tall.

Slam: STR+d6.

Tags: monsters, Savage Wednesday, Savage Worlds, The Kids' Game