Vumaskans, the shrewd merchants and rogues of Pergerron (D&D 5E and S&W)

Since I've been getting back in to Swords & Wizardy lately I think I'll start dual-statting my Pergerron entries for both D&D 5E and S&W Complete. After much procrastination I have finally written some details up on the vumaskans of Pergerron....a mercantile race of green and blue skinned half-giants aimed at the spirit of the planetary romance genre: 

Pergerron: The Vumaskans

The vumaskans of Pergerron are considered an indigenous race, one of several (which include the elves, dwarves, atakans and orcs) that predate the appearance of man and may have been created from the dreams and musings of the Primordial gods. Though they are identified as one of these elder races little has been written of ill-will toward the vumaskans by humans; it seems that the bulk of the ire in ancient times was reserved toward the great empire of Sar, which was dominated by elves. As such, it is reasonable toexpect that the vumaskan kingdoms of Asparta to the far east may in fact have much longer lineages than the human kingdoms which arose in the last one thousand years in the wake of the fall of Sar.

Physically vumaskans average 6 ½ to 7 feet in height, almost always towering over mortal men. They have distinct skin tones, varying in hue from aquamarine to light green and cerulean blue. Vumaskan women tend toward greener skin tones while the men are inclined toward blue, but this is only a generality and not always true. About ten percent of the population have distinct ochre, yellow or jet black skin tones of shocking tonal quality. Once in a generation an albino vumaskan is born with shocking white skin. Such vumaskans are regarded as either sacred or profane gifts from the gods, and are always blessed with significant magical talent. Vumaskans are also known for being polydactyl, with four fingers and two thumbs on each hand, and six toes. This polydactylism makes them especially fine manipulators, and contributes toward their reputation for producing elaborate and detailed art.

Vumaskan culture is one of mercantilism and trade. The kingdoms of Asparta are much like the human lands of Anansis and abroad: a loose collection of city-states, although they pay nominal respect to the Caliphate of Dakarta, which is regarded as the spiritual center of vumaskan civilization. The Caliph of Dakarta, called Manaskan Draei, is considered a prophet of the primordial sea god Trigaril. Manaskan Drei’s wisdom is believed to be imparted directly from the Primordial himself. Aside from Trigaril, the vumaskans pay close reverence to Yoka Vataras, the only other primordial they continue to worship. Belief in the Enkanneth is also strong among the vumaskans, which helps to explain their good relations with humans. They especially favor Tekastei, a sort of local culture hero among the vumaskans who is seen as the Enkanneth that befriended the vumaskans during the ancient war against Sar and the fall of the Primordials, and the one who allegedly “tamed” the beastly nature of Trigaril.

Vumaskan language is a practical language which employs a surprising number of adopted words from the human Anansic tongue (common) as well as elvish and ataakan. The vumaskan relationship with the atakans is an interesting one: it is known that their lands overlap with the remnants of the fallen atakan empire, including the famour ruins of Pavagar and Ulhambra in the region of the Starry Wastes. Most vumaskan cities have significant populations of atakans, who willingly work as mercenaries and agents for the vumaskans. Among ataakans in this region of the world they have adopted a curious reliance on the vumaskans for broad political leadership, refraining from the need to rule themselves outside of their family clades. The vumaskans are fine with this, and treat the ataakans as equals while letting them self-govern within their own communities.

Among the men of Anansis vumaskans are regarded as wealthy foreign traders and merchants who bring exotic goods, fabulous art and exotic spices. Vumaskans are known for their production of opium as well, and are a principal supplier of such to those city states which do not frown upon its use (usually inland cities such as Samaskar allow opium use without restriction, while more conservative cities such as those which worship Abia along the Silver Coast have all but outlawed its use).

Vumaskan Characters

Vumaskans are excellent choices as player characters, though uncommon in lands outside of Asparta. They have the following traits:

Vumaskans in D&D 5E:

Attribute Modifiers: vumaskans gain +1 Dexterity and +1 to Strength due to their polydactyl nature and larger physical build.

Movement: 35 feet; the larger average size of the vumaskan gives them a longer stride.

Shrewd Negotiators: vumaskan culture encourages quit wit and fine negotiating skills. As such, vumaskans start with proficiency in Persuasion and Deception.

Fine Manipulation: The six-digited hands of vumaskans with two thumbs make them exceptionally talented at fine manipulation. They gain proficiency in Sleight of Hand.

Vumaskans in Swords & Wizardry:

Attributes: Vumaskans generally have better strength, dexterity and charisma than a normal human; if you are using optional attribute requirements they should have at least 9 in each of the above to qualify for vumaskan as a racial option.

Shrewd Negotiators: vumaskans can be shrewd negotiators. Typically this means in traditional old-school form that the GM should consider any reasonable persuasion from the player to be indicative of the shrewd and manipulative vumaskan’s acumen for negotiation. However, if you would like a mechanic for this, try the following: if a vumaskan is speaking with an NPC and is trying to convince him to do something out of the ordinary (but not harmful) the GM may opt to let the target make a saving throw against common sense to see if he buys into whatever the vumaskan is selling. Alternatively you can make the vumaskan PC roll against Charisma (D20 equal to or under) with a penalty set by the DM (equal to what seems right, or 1/4^th of the Hit Dice rounded down, or if the target has a Wisdom score apply a penalty of -1 for every point over 14).  Success means the target must make a saving throw or think the vumaskan’s idea is really great.

Fine Manipulation: vumaskans gain a +15% bonus to Delicate Tasks & Traps and Open Locks skills.

Class Options: vumaskans can advance without limit in cleric, fighter, thief and magic-user classes. They may advance to 12^th level as assassins or monks and may multi-class as cleric/fighters, fighter/thieves or thief/magic-users. There are no vumaskan druids, rangers or paladins. If you are using an expansion (such as the Player’s Companion) with bards as a class then vumaskans may advance to 15^th level as bards.

Greyhawk & Wizardry plus more Frog God Coupon Madness

I figured out what works well for my hypothetical Greyhawk campaign that I am most definitely not spending too much time on, such that I am neglecting my blog and other hobby duties:

It's a cool Erol Otus cover, which is indisputably awesome and such, but to be honest I prefer the original Complete edition cover:

To be fair though S&W Complete would fit well with my Ages of Lingusia setting, too....or Pergerron, which is spawned out of the Basic/Expert core conceits. Or I could return to my decommissioned S&W setting, the Rising Dark Campaign which I had wrapped up and published right around the time I started this blog. But the idea of a pure Greyhawk game continues to nag at my mind...

While I have owned the original Complete edition of S&W for some time now (and played in a campaign my wife ran with it a few years back, shortly before we acquired the munchkin) I haven't gotten the latest version yet, nor have I picked up Monstrosities (or the GM Screen). Thanks to yet another coupon deal from Frog God I've rectified that. Speaking of which: 25% off until Midnight May 15th with WOOT-25%-OFF!

Just spreading my fever for the Frog God....

Monday....oh Monday

It's been a long couple of weeks. I've been out of blog steam, mostly I think because everything else in life has been sucking up all my free energy, including some sickness which has been lingering unpleasantly throughout all of this; work has been in overdrive, and when I get home it's a lot of time with my son (and one night of a 5-hour binge dive into the PC version of GTA V which I was happy to see runs on my older PC just fine).

Michael in GTA V is such an awesome character. That entire game is like a Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey novel writ large in video game format.

Anyway, more content eventually! I have had these burn-out phases in the past, but usually disguise them by loading lots of pre-programmed blog posts. However I've been sufficiently burned out that I haven't even had time to load up canned content....yes, that's some serious burnout.....

On gaming I will mention that I picked up Iron Kingdoms Unleashed on a lark. This is a weighty tome and really wild, a weird steampunk vs. monsters universe that holds its own well. Good enough that I found the original Iron Kingdoms RPG from 2013 and may get more. It's like a Warhammer game that people who hate the Warhammer universe and lore (but love the conceptual space) can appreciate.

More later!

Traveller: Sirianthus Sector II - Utopia Incognita, Reardon's World and Apophis 2216R

Utopia Incognita

System Data: binary star system; 4 gas giants, 14 standard planets, 2 Type A civilian starports and 1 Type A Sector Authority starport

WPP: A766A85-12

Moons: Utopia Incognita is a moon around the Darius Gas Giant, closest in of the four large gas giants in the system.

Detailed Profile: SP: A; Size: 7; Atmos: 6, Temp: 6, Hydro: 6, Pop: A, Govt: 8, Law: 5, TL: 12

Homeworld Traits: high tech, high population, rich

Capitol City: Utopia Prime (also site of an A class starport)

   Utopia Incognita (Undiscovered Utopia) is the capitol world and center of Sector Authority in Sirianthus Sector. It is a slightly cold world, and most of the population is centered around the warmer equatorial regions. It is a near-earth size world with slightly lower average gravity (.92) than Earth normal. The planet has plenty of resources, but strict regional laws prevent the exploitation of the local environment and resources in favor of materials imported from other regions in the sector. Utopia Incognita’s governing system tries hard to live up to the name, enforcing living standards and insuring a measure of quality living for all citizens. Indeed, on the surface it appears to be an unusually idyllic and beautiful world, with a peaceful, eco-conscious society.

   As with all such worlds, this is only on the surface. The decadence of Utopia Incognita has led to a brisk trade in illegal goods, especially drugs, bio and cyber mods for a population of bored dilettantes. This has created an unintended “underworld” of sorts which is most evident in the star ports and the smaller cities and arcologies. More over, there is actually a healthy population of the underprivileged, poor and desperate who arrive at this world to receive the free handouts, only to find out that you must already be a member of the privileged wealthy to gain any perks. The Sector Authority takes time quarterly to round up illegals and haul them off to one of the colony worlds, but it is a thankless, fruitless task.

   Characters from Utopia Incognita have access to cybermods, biomods and other treatments not so common in other regions of the sector. It is likelier that denizens from this system are either very wealthy or very poor, and both the criminal underworld and the seat of the local naval power can be found here.

Reardon’s World

System Data: trinary star system, 17 semi-stable planets in orbit, 2 close gas giants

WPP: C303414-12

Moons: Reardon’s World is a moon of the immense ice ball Taurus 443B

Detailed Profile: SP: C; Size: 3; Atmos: 0, Temp: 2 Hydro: 3 (methane seas and ice), Pop: 4, Govt: 1(8), Law: 4(5), TL: 12

Homeworld Traits: ice capped, vaccuum

   Reardon’s World is an example of the many uninhabitable worlds of Sirianthus Sector that nonetheless garners lots of attention due to its natural resources. The bulk of the moon’s resources can be found in the thick ice sheets, in which copious amounts of frozen hydrogen can be found, along with a surprisingly rich variety of metals beneath the moon’s crust. More interesting than that is the presence of several prior xenoforms on the moon, who all established refineries and mining activities, then apparently abandoned their operations, though no one has yet established what happened to these former miners. The Von Neuman Institute pays handsomely for unusual artifacts found by the local belters and prospectors who discover unusual artifacts on the moon.

   Reardon’s World is in relatively close proxmimity to Taurus Station, which is an orbital refinery platform around the gas giant, where a great deal of mechanized fuel mining takes place. Although no bases have been built on Taurus 443B due to the crushing atmosphere and 4.7 gees local gravity on the surface, Taurus Station (a Class C port) is a primary lifeline to the local miners and belters in the area.

Apophis 2216R

System Data: single star system, 5 gas giants, 11 smaller planets

WPP: E844300-X

Moons: Apophis has no moons

Detailed Profile: SP: E; Size: 8; Atmos: 4, Temp: 5 Hydro: 4, Pop: 3, Govt: 0, Law: 0, TL: 8

Homeworld Traits: poor, desert

   Apophis was named by its first explorers, who felt that the world was a damnable location that showed every evidence of being a relic of some lost, evil age. The world has evidence of a dead civilization that wiped itself out countless millennia ago in a nuclear apocalypse. The aliens who perpetrated this crime are unknown, though evidence showed that they used orbital bombardment against a civilization just barely reaching the space age. The system is rife with relics in space and on other worlds of these cultures, though nothing but fossils and dust is left of the original inhabitants. Their technology was distinctly inferior to that of the precursors found on other planets in the sector, and they are believed to have existed within the llast forty thousand years, reaching the first space age thirty five thousand years ago, then being extinguished in nuclear fire within a few decades.

    Apophis has a few rather notable traits worth avoiding. First, several attempts at colonization have tried and failed. There are still clusters of humanity dwelling on the world, struggling to survive, either forgotten or willfully exiling themselves to this planet due to religious or ideological issues. Pirates have made Apophis a base of operations on more than one occasion, and a crude class X starport called Trogan’s Respite is currently active, where known criminals can find a safe harbor. Third, it is a major stop over for smuggling vessels transporting illicit goods, such as drugs or slaves. Sector Patrol makes a fair habit of stopping in the system whenever possible; they always stir something up.

   On world, the harsh alien ecology is littered with the survivors of the lost age, including a crude species called Skizaddi in their own tongue who appear to be rather sophisticated organisms that evolved sentience rapidly after the collapse of the former sentient species in warfare. The Skizaddi are primitive hunters but have learned tool use. They are dimly reminiscent of human sized sapient centipedes with several longer, more ambulatory forelimbs. These hard predators are only one of several dangerous local species that local colonists contend with. There are plenty of ruined colonial cities and townships across the globe to attest to how hard life is here.

   Finally, the world has received a reputation for being haunted. Spacers and colonists in the region regularly report “sightings” of what some claim are ghostly alien remnants from the extinct sentients who once ruled the world, though no research has taken such claims seriously. Still, spacers in the region like to tell tales of ships whose crew went mad and sent themselves out of an airlock after an encounter with such apparitions.

Traveller: Sirianthus Sector I - Homeworld of the Erikathi

Have I ever posted this before? I think I may have put it in an old issue of TSS....but since this has been a tough week for generating posts, I think now is the time to offer up some sector data for a Traveller campaign I ran a while back. Easily useful for any contemporary SF game such as Savage Worlds Sci Fi, Stars Without Number or Mongoose's Traveller....

Sirianthus Sector

   Sirianthus is a remote sector of space with only one ruling presence: The Sector Authority. The S.A. is stationed off of the prime world in the region, called Utopia Incognita. It was founded hundreds of years ago, and falls nominally under the rule of the Terran Authority, but ignores most other governmental influences, including the Stellar Concord.

Sirianthus

System Data: single star system; 3 gas giants, 7 standard planets, 1 Type C civilian starport and 1 Type B Sector Authority starport

WPP: B8677702-2; note that the world is restricted by Sector Authority government (8) and law level (9).

Moons: Sirianthus has three small moons, called Eados, Tyrianos and Cleodor by the native.

Detailed Profile: SP: B; Size: 8; Atmos: 6, Temp: 9, Hydro: 7, Pop: 7, Govt: 7(8), Law: 0(9), TL: 2(12)-parenthesis reflect Sector Authority levels at the star port and by quarantine.

   The Sirianthus Sector is named after the most unusual world in this sector, Sirianthus. Sirianthus is a remote, fascinating world with a climate suitable for humans, and holds two unique marvels: a vast network of ancient ruins that employed an otherwise inscrutable crystalline technology for almost all computers and functions, and a degenerate race of hominids called Sirianthans who dwell upon its surface in a barbaric culture that has grown up with a mysterious fear and reverence for the precursor culture that preceded them. These people call themselves the Erikathi, and they are unusually close to the same hominid genus as man, leading some to speculate that the are related to humans, and may have been part of a genetic breeding program executed by the precursors nearly one hundred thousand years ago.

   Sirianthus is quaranteed an amber zone by both local and galactic authorities because of discoveries made by researchers on the planet. There is evidence that the otherwise fantastic remnants of the ruins of this planet are still functioning, and some act as gateways, opening wormholes to vastly different regions of the galaxy, or beyond. Indeed, some researchers feel that these are in fact quantum wormholes, opening up portals to parallel universes.

   The first incident in which this portal technology was discovered led to the accidental lethal contact with an foreign alien intelligence. This species, dubbed the “presence” by the only surviving researcher from the incident, appeared to be a form of collective entity which rapidly studied, read, and absorbed the DNA of the researchers, then turned them in to puppet-like hosts, turning them around and infiltrating the upper echelons of the Von Neuman Scientific Research and Astrographic Studies Institute (usually just abbreviated SRASI). It was two years before the full story of what had happened to the researchers on site was revealed, and an unknown amount of data had been compromised. Efforts to free the scientists who had been puppeteered by the parasitic organisms proved deadly to all but one, who remains scarred from the experience, and manifested strong psionic talents afterwards.

   Because of this incident, further research on Sirianthus has required that exceptionally careful effort be taken to insure the safety of the men and women involved. A second portal has been successfully activated since then, one which opened up on a remote airless world with additional precursor ruins, but to date the research team has failed to determine exactly where this world is in relationship to the source wormhole.

The Erikathi

   Physically Erikathi look much like humans, but with a rougher demeanor, and physical traits that seem to place them closer to Neanderthals in appearance than homo sapiens. They are tentatively identified as Sirianthus Xenosapien for cataloging purposes. DNA tests have so far shown a possible link to humans approximately 100,000 years ago along the evolutionary chain.

   Erikathi culture is diverse, and firmly rooted in an early age of steel, wind and horse power. There are dozens of small kingdoms and city states scattered across the three main continents of Sirianthus, and all are prone to bouts of warfare and intrigue.

   Erikathi have three unique traits beside their apparent ancestral connection to humanity. First, the dominant religion across the many Erikathi cultural groups is centered on the fear and worship of what they call the “Haaki”, the gods of before. The precursor ruins are the center of this fearful worship, and the religious beliefs of the Erikathi center around placating their deities, keeping them “asleep” as it were. Erikathi belief is centered on what they call the Formless Void, where they believe these precursor “gods” have gone to dwell in slumber. The early myth tales speak of great atrocities and a casual disregard for the Erikathi, as nothing but fodder and playthings. Although it is believed that the Erikathi have existed as a meaningful “modern” cultural group for at least ten thousand years, no anthropologist studying the Erikathi believes that the precursors actually had a physical presence during the rise of Erikathi culture. All evidence of ruins studied suggests that the last active remnant of this ancient species disappeared fifty thousand years ago. Still, due to a high degree of psionic talent (more below) amongst the Erikathi, some researchers wonder if there isn’t some sort of programmed ancestral or genetic memory in place bringing up a recollection of these entities.

    The second distinct trait among Erikathi is their predilection to natural psionic talent. This unusual potential is rare among most humans, but the Erikathi have as many as one in ten births displaying at least modest psionic talent. The ruins and their proximity are considered one possible reason for this, as many of the precursor sites have higher levels of radiation than normal, and over time a measure of natural and forced mutation could have accidentally led to this development. A second and likelier belief is that the precursors bred the Erikathi for psionics, tampering with them on a genetic level to induce stronger psionic talent. Some scientists are trying to discover the trace genes that lead to the development of psionic potential, to see if there is evidence that the genes are manufactured or even alien in nature.

   The third unusual trait of the Erikathi is their surprising resilience to unsusual climates and ecologies. They have a stronger immune system, and have displayed a tolerance for several viral xenoforms that humanity is more susceptible to. The indirect evidence is that the Sirianthus ecosystem may in fact be an amalgamation of several different alien ecosystems, imported long ago by the precursors, and then forced together through genetic modification. Because of this, Erikathi are more resilient in foreign environments, and a few who have been illegally removed from the planet have thrived in industries such as pharmaceuticals and terraforming as researchers and explorers due to this natural proclivity and heightened tolerance.

   The ecology of Sirianthus is a marvelous agglomeration of several different genera of flora and fauna from different archaic ecosystems across the galaxy. Although Erikathi are the dominant sentient species, several dozen lesser species have been identified as sapient or potentially so, although they are neither as dominant or aggressive as the Erikathi. Nonhuman members of the Concord have accused human researchers in the area of showing an unfavorable bias toward the Erikathi and their importance on the world.

   Today, Sirianthus is a quarantined world and only special research projects and citizens who pay for the privilege of visiting under strict guidelines, including restrictions on technology, are allowed to visit. As such, no technology greater than that presently available is allowed, and visitors who are not themselves psionic are given psionic dampeners to avoid accidental detection by telepaths.

Erikathi Characters

   Sirianthus as a homeworld has the following traits: agricultural, low technology.

   Erikathi may choose from the following career paths although barbarian is the most common, restricting any and all choices to those appropriate for Tech Level 1-2: infantry, worker, barbarian, wanderer, scavenger, artist, performer, thief, enforcer, pirate, and any psionic career. Any inappropriate skill (requiring better than TL 2) must be substituted by a more appropriate skill.

   Erikathi have a couple racial traits unique to their species, despite their similarities to humans: Notable Endurance +2, and Psionic. This reflects the natural predilection of the species towards psionic talents, and the unusual adaptivity of the Erikathi to unusually diverse biohabitats due to their own ecologically diverse homeworld.

  

Next....the rest of the sector!

Gathering Greyhawk

First it started with the dndclassics.com release of the original Greyhawk boxed set from 1980ish. This was a nice scan of a product that runs rather high in price on Ebay, and a look into one of the first published settings for an RPG (and the first officially defined setting for D&D). As a kid I knew it existed but could never find a copy and have cash handy at the same time. By the time it was feasible other stuff like Runequest and Tunnels & Trolls were too busy taking my money instead.

Buck back to now...this budding obsession migrated to looking at what else they had on offer over there in the way of Greyhawk PDFs. This led to a mixture of excitement and disappointment when I decided to jump forward a bit and check out the tail end of the 2E-era "year 591 cy" setting, post "Greyhawk Wars" era from the early 2E days. This was cool, but the scans for "Player's Guide" and "Adventure Begins" were terrible. These are the two books that collectively define this era and are also the basis for the 3E Greyhawk material, I am led to believe....but for some reason the scans are atypically poor with cropped pages and a dismal grey-bleed background that implies the books might have been printed on some off-color paper or had bad watermarks/bleed-through.

This led me to find the books on Ebay, for surprsingly cheap yet pristine copies. No idea now that I've seen the original as to just why the scans on sale are so bad....I could make a clean scan easily (and am tempted to do so then donate it to WotC, if I could figure out the donation process in a legal way).

But.....and here's where it all goes off the rails....

I'm rather enjoying exploring Greyhawk. Prior to...oh...the last few weeks Greyhawk has always been that old setting that I knew a bit about but never got to play in (or run) and mostly was a sort of relationship by association, as I converted most modules from the setting to my own worlds. In a way, that puts a bit of Greyhawk in all my games already.

But now I'm tempted to run an actual campaign in Greyhawk, possibly due to subversive propaganda, but also possibly because it's something that has the veneer of being both old and familiar and fresh and new to me simultaneously. If I do it, I'll set the game sometime around the year 591 cy, and start with the other three books I picked up: Return of the Eight, The Star Cairns and Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad. These are good modules...and the only reason I never investigated all of this before was that I just never used pre-made setting material back in the day unless it was obviously easy to reskin. It's not Greyhawk, personally....I didn't pick up Forgotten Realms stuff, either.

If this happens, I'll have to post some details on RoC. The next question is: what system? There's a temptation to use AD&D 2nd edition as was intended for these tomes, but it seems silly not to do the conversion dance and use D&D 5E. On the other hand I recently acquired the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) and that seems like a really great fit for Greyhawk, at least with the "escalating from hero to king" part (in other areas it lacks a bit...no halflings, demons, or other D&Disms that are core to Greyhawk). There are other OSR games that could work well, too. Hmmmm....decisions, decisions. I'll probably sick with 5E, because that edition speaks to me like no other has, and it will let me do some Greyahwk to 5E conversion blogs down the road, too....

Dragon is back as an App

This is a few days old but in case you haven't heard, Dragon is back as Dragon+, an iOS app with an android version coming soon. I am keen to check it out once it is on my preferred platform.

Light post week! Had a busy family weekend again so not much time for laying out posts yet. Maybe Monday night?

D&D 5E Updates: The Mohrg

Starting now and until I run out of energy I think I’ll take some time do do some conversions of some of my favorite Pathfinder and 3.5 monsters that haven’t yet appeared for D&D 5E….starting with the tentacle-tongued mohrg, terrifying serial killers from beyond the grave….!

Mohrg

CR 5 (1,800 XP)

CE medium undead

Initiative +4

DEFENSE

AC 18 (dexterity plus natural)

HP 91 (14D8+28)

Damage/Condition Immunity: poison, disease, necrotic

OFFENSE

Speed 30 feet

Multiattack the mohrg may attack twice with its slams or once with a slam and once with its tongue

Melee Attack – Slam +7 attack (reach 5 ft, one target) 2D10+5 plus target is grabbed (escape DC 15 strength check)

Melee Attack – Tongue +6 attack (reach 5 ft, one target) gains advantage to attacks on a grabbed target; target must make a DC 15 save vs. paralysis or become paralyzed for 1D4 minutes (target can make a save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect immediately on a success).

Statistics

STR 21 (+5), DEX 19 (+4), CON 14 (+2), INT 11 (0), WIS 10 (0), CHA 14 (+2)

Languages: common, but many mohrg cannot speak

Senses: darkvision, perception +2 (passive 12)

Skills: Athletics +7, Stealth +6

TRAITS         

Create Spawn: creatures killed by a mohrg rise immediately as zombie with a movement speed of 30 ft (instead of 20 ft typical for most zombies that have had time to rot). When this happens the burst of necrotic energy heals the mohrg for 3 (1D6) hit points per hit die of the slain creature and the mohrg gains the benefit of the haste spell until the end of its next round. On occasion some mohrg generate new mohrg instead of zombies as an effect of slaying a foe. These mohrg are exceptionally dangerous. When a mohrg slays a target, there is a 10% chance that it returns as a new mohrg instead. At the DM’s option any evil character slain by the mohrg has a 50% chance of returning as a new mohrg.

Mohrg are terrifying undead forged from the vile souls of serial killers and murderers. They resemble skeletons with a writhing mass of organs and flesh in their body cavity and skull, from which emerges a hideous tentacle-like purple tongue covered in paralytic slime.

Mohrg are noted for their unrelenting sense of commitment to the evil ways that led them to their fate. When mohrg gather in groups this can quickly lead to a unique and terrifying epidemic of undead in the form of zombies and new mohrg.

Source: D20 SRD and Pathfinder Bestiary, page 208. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron

My wife and I took the day to see a double-feature at a local theater that played the first Avengers movie followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron. The grand parents were nice enough to take our son for a day or two, as he is a bit too young for a nearly three hour long movie full of explosions.

Short review: great Avengers movie. Possibly better than the first, and that's with getting to watch the first right before for comparison. More going on in this one, of course, and it does much to shake up the direction of the Avengers films (and Marvel Cineverse) by the film's end. Ultron was a great villain...Wakanda was name-dropped....new heroes rose up, old ones retired....somebody dies....a really great ride all the way to the end.

One thing that was interesting about this movie: no single character dominated the screen, although when the vision finally arrives he has a presence that stands out. Ultron was fantastic, albeit less menacing in some ways than the comics have portrayed him in recent years, if you can imagine that. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had very interesting introductions and reasonably well-paced journeys from villains to heroes that felt right for the essence of each character without adhering to the specificity of their comic tales. Just keep in mind that in some ways Ultron in this movie fills in for the role Magneto played in their comic book mutant lives.

Anyway....A+++ movie once again from Marvel. Now I have to wonder: will Ant-Man finally be where we see the franchise stumble a bit? Something tells me not, the trailers look quite entertaining.

The Super Quick and Dirty Pathfinder Monster Conversion Method for Dungeons & Dragons 5E

At first converting 3.5 and Pathfinder monsters was looking like an elaborate dance falling somewhere between holistic shamanism and mathematics. I gradually realized I was over-analyzing the way to do conversions.... it finally dawned on me  that this was a much simpler process than I was thinking it would be. Here’s the way to make accurate  5E stat blocks out of Pathfinder and 3.5 edition monsters in a series or crazy-easy steps:

First: Attributes

Write these down first, because they figure all the good stuff out in a moment. Once you have the attributes, you have the first half of your monster’s building blocks. When converting remember that in 3.5/PF undead and constructs don’t have CON scores, so substitute CHA in Pathfinder for undead charisma; otherwise make these scores 10.

Second, remember that 5E goes from 1 to 30 for monsters, so any monster in 3.5/PF with higher than a 30 gets rounded down to 30. You could probably shave a few points off of Pathfinder and 3.5 stats which are a tiny bit inflated, but we’re not going to sweat the small stuff here.

Second: Hit Points and Armor Class

Write down the hit points. Actual damage expressions in 5E can be higher, sometimes much more so, but for conversion purposes we just need the average hit points to figure CR. Take the hit points and compare to the chart on page 274 of the 5e DMG. From this, write down the proficiency modifier for the monster by CR in 5E.

For Armor Class, start with 10 and then look at what the 3.5/PF version has. If it’s wearing armor, calculate from the 5E armor equivalent (applying any accepted Dex modifiers if allowed). If it has natural armor, take the natural armor, divide by 2 and then cap at a maximum bonus of 10 (or 12 if the creature should be treated as a legendary or high-level encounter). Apply dexterity only to natural armor of 4 or less.

Ignore size modifiers to AC. Ignore magical bonuses but if it has some sort of permanent magic armor, use the same rule as above. If it has multiple sources of armor, add them all together first and then divide by 2 and cap at 10 (or 12).

If your final armor calculation is higher than 23, consider capping it at 23.

Alternative Fast and Dirty AC: take the 3.5/PF AC, divide by 3, then add to 10. Round down always.

Third: all the modifiers

This is a piece of cake. Quickly figure the attack bonuses as follows: proficiency plus strength for melee, proficiency plus dexterity for ranger and finesse, proficiency plus relevant magic attribute modifier (default to INT if none are obvious) for spell attack bonus. BAM, solved a big headache in conversion here.

Then note that the damage modifier will be based on the strength, dexterity and possible the magic attribute modifiers for all attacks.

Fourth: write down the defenses

Defenses are very easy: if it’s got a DR expression in 3.5/PF then it is now resistance in 5E. If it has an exception listed after the DR (i.e. DR 15/bludgeoning) then note the exception to resistance (i.e. DR 15/bludgeoning would be Resistance: all physical (piercing and slashing) attacks except bludgeoning). In 5E most resistance can be overcome by magic or a special effect such as silver.

If the creature has any spell resistance then give it the standard 5E Magic Resistance (advantage on saves vs. magic and spell effects).

If the creature is weak/vulnerable to an effect then it is vulnerable in 5E.

If the creature is immune to an effect then it is immune in 5E.

Radiant is holy and necrotic is negative energy/unholy.

Any turn or channel resistance becomes advantage on save vs. turn undead in 5E.

Fifth: write down the attacks

First, give the creature multi-attack with # of attacks per round. Then write down the melee and ranged, apply the appropriate attack bonuses determined in step three above, and note the reach and # of targets. Then write down just the damage dice, but bump all dice up one step (i.e. 1D6 becomes 1D8 or 2D8 becomes 2D10, etc.) for natural and magical attacks; convert to the closest normal weapon type if a weapon.

Then apply the correct damage modifier figured in step three above for each attack.

For add-ons such as being grabbed or grappled, note that it happens and figure the save DC (always relevant ability modifier plus proficiency).  Additional damage effects (such as rending) usually translate as-written (e.g. two claws need to hit for the effect to pop).

Weird effects usually translate directly, but if anything applies a condition or modifier, convert to the closest 5E condition (poisoned is always a good bet) or make it apply advantage/disadvantage accordingly.

Sixth: Write down any spells

For super quick and dirty just write them down and drop any that aren’t in 5E (or replace with closest analog, or just whatever floats your boat).

For slower quick and dirty check each spell and replace any that aren’t in 5E with a good equivalent, or look into the DMG’s appendix for spell conversion ideas.

You’ll find this isn’t as tough as it sounds….most spells have 5E analogs. Make sure to replace all DCs with the spell save DC determined in step 3.

Seventh: convert monster special abilities

Most monster special abilities are self-evident as to intent, and if you use them as-is, but substitute the 5E spell save DC and bump damage dice up one code, and replace modifiers with advantage/disadvantage, you’ll get the effect right most of the time. Some require a bit of holistic interpretation, and some may need you to scope out the monster abilities list for appropriate 5E analogs in the DMG, pages 280-281.

Eighth: Skills, Size, Languages, Movement, Size, Alignment and Senses

Movement in 3.5/PF translates directly into 5E. Senses translate more or less  (there are only 4 of them in 5E), and just treat low-light vision as darkvision in 5E. Figure perception as wisdom modifier plus proficiency.

For skills most monsters don’t need them. If there’s a skill that defines the monster, add it using proficiency+stat. That “one proficiency to rule them all” really does make 5E conversion easy.

For languages just write them down and substitute something else for any language not in your world or D&D 5E (e.g. I’d make Aklo either infernal, celestial or primordial….or just use it as-is because it’s cool).

Anything smaller than tiny becomes tiny in 5E. Anything bigger than huge becomes gargantuan.

Alignment translates directly, noting that animals usually get "unaligned" now.

Ninth: Challenge Rating

If you have time, use the rules on pages 274-275 of the DMG to figure the CR as the average of the offensive and defensive CR. Now you know what level of 5E adventurer is going to find this a worthy challenge, a blood fest, or a cake-walk!

Finally: Stuff that doesn't translate well or we ignore

Remember, anytime you see a modifier greater than +2/-2 it should probably be advantage/disadvantage in 5E.

Just ignore all 3.5/PF feats. Trying to do conversions is a quick spiral into madness.

Five foot steps are an artifact of prior editions and have no place in 5E unless you houserule them in.

Save or die effects should be turned into their appropriate 5E equivalents (petrifying gaze of the medusa or any creature that deals energy drain damage in 5E should have the prior edition conversion work equivalently).

Hit Dice Calculation

You can figure this out by determining creature hit die by size, factor in CON mod, determine the average HP per hit die and divide the HPs of the creature by that amount. If the expression isn't exact (especially if it's a Pathfinder monster with class hit dice, such as the samsaran example below) you can fudge it a bit or adjust the hit point average to reflect the correct hit dice. I'd err on the side of caution and round up when in doubt.

And now, some conversion examples! It is easier to do a conversion block of a Pathfinder or 3.5 monster than it is to write a new 3.5/PF monster from scratch. Go figure.

Samsarans (CR 1/8; 25 XP)(Bestiary 4 page 230)

 Mystical reincarnates who remember lives of past ages and are death-defiant.

TN medium humanoids
HP 13; HD 3D8; AC 13; Proficiency +2

Str 8, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 15 (Saves are Int +3 and Wis +4)

Movement 30 feet

Senses: dark vision, perception +4 (passive 14)

Melee spear +1 (5 ft one target) 1D6-1 piercing damage

Ranged Sling +4 (ranged one target) 1D4+2 damage

Spells: Attack +4 Save DC 12

1/day comprehend languages

4/day: command, cure wounds, sanctuary, magic missile

At Will: minor image, light, mage hand

Traits: Advantage on saving rolls against necrotic energy draining effects.

Karkinoi (CR 3; 700 XP)(Bestiary 4 page 173)

   Because giant crabs and ogres weren't cool until they got it on.

CE large monstrosity
HP 76, HD 9D10+27; AC 17, Proficiency +2

Str 22, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 7 (Special Saves: none)

Movement 30 feet, swim 40 feet; sideways scuttle

Senses: darkvision, Perception +2 (passive 12)

Melee Claw +8 (reach 10 feet, one target) 1D12+6 and target is grabbed (Save DC 16 to escape); deals 1D12+6 crushing damage to any target still grabbed each round.

Melee Slam +8 (reach 10 feet, one target) 1D8+6

Sideways Scuttle so long as the karkinoi move in a straight line sideways it can get an extra 5 feet of movement (totalling 35 feet that round).

Water Dependency a karinoi can survive outside of water for 16 (constitution) hours. After that, it starts drowning (suffocation rules 5E PHB pg. 182)

Tzitzimitl (Bestiary 3, page 276)

   Terrifying Aztec undead gods of vengeance from beyond the stars.

NE Gargantuan Undead

CR 21 (33,000 XP)

Hit Dice 451 (22D20+220)

Armor Class 20

Movement 50 feet; 60 feet flying

Senses Dark Vison, True Seeing (always on), Detect Magic (always on); Perception +12 (passive 22)

Special Saves advantage against turn undead

Ability Scores STR 30 (+10), DEX 21 (+5), CON 30 (+10), INT 20 (+5), WIS 23 (+6), CHA 30 (+10)

Defenses

Immune: cold, electricity, mind-affecting spells, poison, does not breath, necrotic

Resistance: fire, piercing and slashing weapons that are non-magical

Vulnerable: bludgeoning weapons and damage dealt by a good creature

Magic Resistance: advantage on all spell saves

Attacks

Multiattack: may attack 1 bite and 2 claws per round or one eye beam attack.

Melee bite +17 attack (20 foot reach, 1 target) deals 2D10+14 piercing damage plus 3D8 electricity and energy drain (DC 25 save vs. CON or hit points are reduced by that amount until long rest)

Melee Claw +17 attack (20 foot reach, 1 target) 2D8+14 slashing and 3D8 electricity

Ranged Eye Beam +12 attack (100 foot range, 1 target) 10D8 elecricity and 10D8 force damage

Traits and Magic

Spell Save DC 19 (INT based); Spell Attack +12

Tzitzimitl Natural Magic: arcane sight (detect magic), fly, and true seeing are always on effects.

At Will: bestow curse, darkness (changed from deeper darkness)

3/day: animate dead, contagion, teleport (no greater in 5E), haste

1/day: create undead, time stop and power word kill

Eclipse: anyone in a darkness effect cast by the tzitzimitl must make a DC 19 save vs. CON or take 8D8 cold damage (save for half) and is at disadvantage each round while in the area of effect. The affected target can re-roll the save each round to remove the disadvantage once out of the area of effect.

Light to Dark: 3/day the tzitzimitl, on taking any radiant damage, can spend a reaction to change the damage type to necrotic and reflects the damage type back on the source (and an equivalent number of targets by radius if the source spell or effect targets more than one foe). The save is based on the source's DC or attack modifier.