Amazing Adventures second printing Kickstarter!

It's been a while since I mentioned Amazing Adventures, what with my predilection for distraction and all, but I wanted to mention that this is A Real Thing and that if you are into pulp adventure gaming you should check out AA. It's built on the Castles & Crusades SIEGE Engine, and introduces pulp 30's adventure into the mix. As a game about pulp action its great, with old school mechanics layered on a genre savvy presentation of the pulp era. Even if you only love fantasy gaming, getting Amazing Adventuers could facilitate that awesome Steampunk Fantasy campaign you might want to run with C&C.

Anyway, you can read about it at Elf Lair Games here and view the Kickstarter here.


I'm keen to have a hard cover edition of AA and also like the idea of the "Manual of Monsters" as well. so I'll go in on the $45 level. Even though my fantasy gaming is dominated by D&D 5E these days, which fills my much needed spot for fantasy gaming, I believe that AA is a great resource for pulp gaming and like what is being proposed here. Even better, Jason Vey and the Trolls are good for it: they always deliver.

Here are some site links on AA:

The Realms of Chirak review/overview of Amazing Adventures

Making a Rocket Man adventurer in Amazing Adventures

The OSR Resource Page

This page will serve as the permanent index for the OSR content that has appeared on the Realms of Chirak Blog. Throughout my blog there are more general discussions, rants and raves about these systems, but this link list is specifically aimed at gathering up crunchy resources for your ease of reference and use.



Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons and Labyrinth Lord Resources

The Basic/Expert project is a recent thing I decided to do, as I have grown a new appreciation for the books that got me into D&D in the first place:

Part VI: The Minotaur Racial Class

I love minotaurs as optional PCs, and here's how Id' do it in B/X.

Part V: Grave Knights

The Grave Knight makes the leap from Pathfinder to B/X D&D

Part IV: Valgos, Slayer of Elves

An orcish NPC villain for B/X D&D

Part III: Orc Racial Classes

Orcs get a PC/NPC treatment with actual racial classes

Part II: Multiclassing

Multiclassing ideas and rules for B/X D&D

Part I: The Start, Sample PCs, and more

A general discussion of what I'm up to and some characters I rolled up



Swords & WIzardry Complete Resources:

S&W Rules for the Ages of Lingusia

I published all of my custom house rules here, derived from my original 1e and 2E house rules and updated for S&W Complete.

Combat Maneuvers in S&W

Some new combat rules I employ with S&W COmplete

Lawful Kinded of Lingusia

First of three S&W Complete updates for races in my campaign

Neutral Kindred of Lingusia

The second such update.

Chaotic Kindred of Lingusia

The third such update.


Stats for the Legendary Rogue Wormi Vellsoth in Lingusia

A famous character turned NPC in my Lingusia campaign. Alas he's the only one I took time to stat out in S&W.




Castles & Crusades Resources:

The Lair of Gug and the Lost Shrine of Degalthor

A module built using Engineering Dungeons for C&C

The Hexblade

A sword-wielding mage for C&C

Malfeus Thorne

An NPC hexblade for C&C




Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and OSRIC Resources:

The Hexblade Class for AD&D

Hexblades revisited once more

The Fearsome Four

NPCS in Lingusia for AD&D

Amazing Adventures: James Cash, the Explosive Rocketman!

As an example of Amazing Adventures character creation, I'm going to create a sample character with a bit of history to show off what the system lets you do. Yes, AA is a D20 spin-off with class-based mechanics, but it's got some pretty nifty features as far as its breed goes, and here's a sample of how that works:

Meet James Cash, the Explosive Rocketman

James Cash began his career as a daredevil stuntman in the Hollywood of late 1929, known primarily for his role in cheap action serials as "Daredevil Dan, the Singing Detective Cowboy," but his role as a real adventurer didn't begin until one fateful evening when he was invited to a glitzy party at the Wollerman Mansion in the Hollywood Hills. There he was unexpectedly thrust into a web of deceit, lies and treachery when he arrived at the party and found  Marvin Wollerman, Hollywood mogul, under gunpoint by hooligans working for the famed Doctor Anthony Sevarius, a well known mad scientist who had been ousted from his profession for unethical practices a few years earlier, and was now working with local mobsters to unknown ends.

It turns out that Marvin Wollerman was secretly the (now retired) former Captain Skyfall, famous American vigilante and hero who worked against the fascist menace in The Great War some ten years earlier. He was forced to retire from duty as a covert agent of the United Stats due to a crippling injury to his back from the secret forces of agent Kaiser Wilhelm II during the final days of the war. Still, Wollerman was resourceful, and had built many fabulous gadgets since, including the exoskeletal framework which let him walk in public.

The goons holding him up were rapidly dispatched by a fast-acting hard-punching James Cash, who earned the respect of the party-goers and the police who arrived to mop up. More importantly, Wollerman realized that Cash was the sort of man he could appreciate, the kind who could carry on a legacy....after the event, Wollerman invited Cash into his parlor, and made a proposal: take up the mantle of his old guise, armed with the many gadgets and devices Wollerman had built over the years to aid him in his duties as secret agent for the U.S., and carry on the good fight. More importantly: find out what Doctor Sevarius wanted, and shut him down!

Cash, naturally, could not refuse the offer. Especially not when he saw Wollerman's greatest invention yet, the flying rocket suit...and thus was born the Explosive Rocketman, as the press would come to call Hollywood's latest mysterious vigilante of the skies!

Rolling up James Cash

Amazing Adventures gives you a point pool to design PCs with (you can roll if you want, too). I'm going to point buy James Cash for maximum focus; each stat starts at 6 and I get a pool of 45 points to distribute. Right now I see him as a bit of a pugilist and a gadgeteer rolled into one, so multiclassing may be in his future. For now, I assign his stats as follows:

Strength 14 - Cash is tough and strong, but not muscle bound.
Dexterity 14 - I see Cash as very agile, he needs to be in his line of work.
Constitution 18 - Years of work in the stuntman business has hardened Cash to pain and injury.
Intelligence 11 - Cash is above average, but not a brainiac.
Wisdom 9 - Cash has some good intuition, as he needs it in his line of work, but he's no Socrates.
Charisma 15 - Cash is loaded with charisma; its why he makes the Saturday adventure serials!

AA's modifiers for stats is the same point spread you see in C&C, LL, S&W and others, so he has the following stats: STR 14 (+1), DEX (14 (+1), CON 18 (+3), INT 11 (0), WIS 9 (0), CHA 15 (+1). Okay, so no below average stats, he's all around above average or better. Soaking hits is his big score.

Cash gets three primes. We're gonna make them Charisma, Constitution, and Dexterity. He's noted for his good looks and charm, his toughness and his agility. In AA, this gives you a +5 modifier to challenge checks, which are a base DC 15 (so the AA universe is ranked slightly off from conventional C&C).

James is destined to be a gadgeteer, but I really see him being strong as a pugilist, to reflect his years as a stuntman. In AA there is an official multiclassing option which looks a lot like C&C's rules (4th crusade edition onward) and an optional version that looks a bit like 3rd edition D20's methodology. As intrigued as I am at the alternating class level option, I'll stick with the official multiclass option for now, making Cash a level 1/1 gadgeteer/pugilist.

Multiclassed characters have a formula for calculating XP gain which I won't go into, but the short version is "figure it out and write it down." They also gain all class abilities, weapons and armor permitted, and an average of the two classes' hit dice and hit bonuses.

After adding in class abilities and combining them accordingly I get the following:

Hit Points: 12 (6 for gadgeteer plus 12 for pugilist, averaged out, plus Con Mod; note that after this he will roll D12 and D6 for each and get the average at each new level)

Base to Hit Modifier: 0 (neither class gets a bonus at level 1)

Base Gadgeteer Abilities: Support Gadgeteer (he gets his gadgets from Wollerman), making his prime Charisma. He starts with 1D6+1+Charisma mod. in gadget points but I'm going to cheat and max him out with 8 points. More on this in a sec. He also gets Jury Rig, an intelligence-based skill which reflects a general handiness with machinery and fixing things.

Base Pugilist Abilities: At 1st level a pugilist gets nothing exciting; most of that stuff comes later in the class. He does get an unarmed attack damage of 1D4 (instead of 1D3) and Mind over Body (+1 to Con saves). Pugilists at level 1 are basically living for the future.

Alignment: I think we'll go with lawful good on this. James Cash is a lawful sort of guy, and good runs in his blood.

Fate Points: Yes, there are fate points (hero points, action points...save your butt points). You start with 1D4+1. I roll and get....3 fate points to start.

Building Gadgets: James is a charisma-based gadgeteer, so he wears and uses stuff his support man makes. This is a tougher role for the gadgeteer, because you lose the ability to make on-the-fly gadgets, and you can possibly lose your support if they are shot, kidnapped or otherwise removed from your access. The plus side is slightly reduced cost in making gadgets. At first level the suggestion is to let the gadgeteer buy level 0 or 1 gadgets, and one higher level gadget. Obviously we're going to make a rocket pack, so we'll start there. Here's what we work out:

Rocket Pack (Fly, cost: 4); We've got our rocket pack, which gets Cash around at a hefty clip. It's reasonably portable, and we'll say its bulky but can slim down to fit in a hiker's backpack if necessary. Cash can lift the equivalent of his normal maximum load in flight as well as himself while he is airborn (which for the record is 140 lbs. or even potentially 210 lbs. dead-lifted, for a few seconds).

We've got 4 points left after that. This is enough to get two level 1 gadgets, four level 0 gadgets or a mixture. We'll go for something  a bit complex, the "Rocketman Pistol." The rules don't (that I've spotted) specifically talk about combined gadgets but I see no reason not to allow it here:

Rocketman Pistol (Light, Dancing Lights, Arcane Bolt; Total Cost 4); this impressive pistol has three settings: it can project as a ordinary but very effective flashlight (light), can emit four glowing electrical balls of plasma to illuminate the region (dancing lights), and it can fire arcs of force energy at targets to injure or even kill (arcane bolt). Wollerman has future intentions (when more gadget points are earned) to add a chafe effect (faerie fire) and stun setting (daze).

Swapping class abilities is next. There's one ability I don't think hits Cash well: his Jury Rigging. Cash isn't a technical guy, and Wollerman is the man for the job in designing the gadgets, so I see Cash as more likely to have something that fits his background here. Looking at the abilities at hand I find two that feel handy: Two Fisted (punch with both hands) and Wealthy. Wealthy is an appropriate swap for Jury Rig, so we'll take that instead, reflecting Cash's accrued wealth as a stuntman and his newfound resources through his patron, Wollerman.

Next we come to Backgrounds. The background can be picked based on character type, or rolled randomly. There's no specific suggested background that fits, so we'll invent one: professional stuntman. In addition we get some knowledge skills, specifically kowledge (gadgeteer) and knowledge (pugilist). Knowledge skills are a lot like the D20 variant, but some good guidelines here will help more traditional OSR GMs with adjudicating how this skill works.

Next we have traits. Characters can start with two traits, which provide both benefits and drawbacks. With my vision of Cash two traits immediately look appropriate: the brawler and reckless. Brawler however is for non-pugilists who want a bit of the fight in them; this might be a good choice if I was rolling a pure gadgeteer with a touch of fisticuffs in his blood, so I instead go for aggressive. Cole is a man of action and being aggressive gives him a +2 initiative bonus at the expense of a -1 to AC.

After reading up on reckless I think it would be a bit of a hindrance (bonus to damage, penalty to hit) and would overlook some non-combat opportunities for character development. I go with polite, instead; he's polite and friendly to a fault, gaining a +1 bonus to diplomatic charisma checks but at the penalty of -2 to charisma checks to intimidate.

We're not finished yet, though! Cole has a sanity score (ripped right from the pages of CoC D20) and that score is 45 (WisX5). Hoookay. Lets hope Cash fights mostly fascists and mad scientists, and fewer cthonic beings from beyond the veil of space and time!

I did run into one oddity in design: in AA pulp armor is by suit piece, so you could get an armor bonus for wearing a bomber jacket, fedora, gloves and even a scarf. However, my choice of classes has limited what James can secure: his gadgeteer options aren't quite in sync with my vision of a bomber jacket wearing dude, and his pugilist options are effectively none, so I guess I'll just deal with it. Ultimately I think this means that my vision of James includes him wearing some sort of flight jacket....it just doesn't happen to be very effective at stopping blows.

James Cash is now complete!


James Cash, Alias the Explosive Rocketman
Level 1/1 Pugilist/Gadgeteer; Alignment LG; Background: career stuntman
STR 14 (+1), DEX 14 (+1)/P, CON 18 (+3)/P, INT 11 (0), WIS 9 (0), CHA 15 (+1)/P
Hit Points: 12; Base to Hit Modifier: 0 Sanity: 45; Base AC: 10 (+1 Dex, -1 trait); Fate Pts: 3
Traits: Aggressive (+2 Init, -1 AC), Polite (+1 diplomacy, -2 intimidate)
Knowledge Skills: kowledge (pugilist), knowledge (gadgeteer)
Gadgeteer Abilities: Support Gadgeteer (Cha), Wealth (swapped with Jury Rig), Mind over Body (+1 to Con saves)
Pugilist Abilities: unarmed attack damage of 1D4
Gadgets: Rocket Pack (Fly, cost: 4); Rocketman Pistol (Light, Dancing Lights, Arcane Bolt; Total Cost 4)



In time he will gain new gadgets, including a fancy helmet and maybe even some bullet proof sort of flight suit....but for now, he's got his trusty jetpack and his unique pistol!

Notes

I thought about retconning the pugilist class entirely, but I like the idea of him swooping down and punching fascists in the face. To demonstrate the long term advantages for this multiclasser:

Level 2: Base unarmored AC jumps to 11, unarmed strike become 1D6 damage, Down and Dirty which grants a +1 to all grapple, escape and overbear foes, and also adds to opposed Str and Con rolls. He also gets his first +1 BtH. As a gadgeteer he gains 2 gadget points (enough to buy a new level 1 effect). His hit points go up an average of 8 this level to around 20.

Level 3: Unarmed AC jumps to 12 and he gets fast movement. As a gadgeteer he gains 3 more gadget points (enough for a level 2 gadget). His BtH will go to +2 (assuming you average and round up). His hit points will be somewhere around 28.

By higher levels he'll look suspiciously like a rocket powered monk from C&C in many regards. Except this monk will supplement his fists of fury with terrifying, instantly reusable devices that do terrible terrible things...

Digging into Amazing Adventures: Pulp Characters

Amazing Adventures is the latest SIEGE Engine to spin off from Castles & Crusades. Prior to this release we have StarSIEGE, Tainted Lands (more of a C&C campaign setting but with a slim mini-rulebook included), and a kid's game called "Harvest" -something (no longer up on their storefront) involving anthropomorphic animals.

The core conceit of the SIEGE mechanics is as follows:

1. It's based on the D20 OGL (so roll a D20 and add something to resolve all tasks)
2. Characters get their six stats, each of which provides a modifier.
3. You designate certain stats as "primes" which means you get a bonus on your skill, save or action checks (which have a target number called a challenge class) related to those particular attributes designated as primes. In Amazing Adventures, you get three primes, and each prime gives you a +5 modifier to challenges. Challenge classes are a base DC 15. This goes up or down based on character level (added when using a class skill/ability), the challenge level (CL), and other factors. Most of the time these are pretty swift calculations.

Got that? Okay that's the SIEGE Engine in a nutshell. Everything else is crusty detritus surrounding the chewy inner core.

Amazing Adventures (AA) provides a pulp toolkit rule book using these mechanics to let players and gamemasters design pulp action adventures based on the serial films and fiction of the 20's, 30's and 40's. It's heavy on the rocket packs and light on the dragons and maidens....although it is fully compatible with C&C, so you can mix and match if you so desire.

Perhaps as a caveat to the author's tastes, or perhaps because its a product derived from a fantasy RPG  that is in turn the bastard child of yet another fantasy RPG, AA has a lot of magic in the book. The first two classes in AA are the arcanist and the gadgeteer. The arcanist is a triple class-in-one, a sorcerer supreme, or a mad cultist, or an illusionist maestro. It's the basic concept of the cleric, illusionist and wizard all rolled into one, depending on which prime stat you pick to govern your magical talent.

Arcanists

Arcanists get a resource called Manna Energy Points (MEP) which are used to power spells. As is traditional for retroclones and retro-inspirationals, characters don't just pay points and cast from an arsenal of spells, they have to memorize them in slots; rather than using slots to "pay" for spells like in C&C and D&D, the slots for AA are what's "in mind" and the expenditure of power is tracked with MEP. MEP is also gained at each level, albeit with a random D10 roll, so an unlucky arcanist could have a very low range of MEP over time. A GM who wants a low-magic setting without excluding it could arbitrarily raise or lower the min/max MEP gained per level, too.

Arcanists are a basic class, the core conceit of which is that he's able to cast magic, but the exact flavor depends on what the player wants or the campaign demands. Choosing the prime attribute (intelligence, wisdom or charisma) changes the flavor of the character as well. Beyond that, the only other real class detail is a familiarity with arcane lore. Customizing the class comes later, in the second section of AA, where we learn about generic class abilities.

Gadgeteers

Gadgeteer as a class is a catch-all for the guy with a lot of equipment that he seems able to pull out at a moment's notice. There are two flavors of gadgeteer: the guy who has someone else provide him with stuff (Batman, the Rocketeer) and the guy who does it all himself on the fly (The Shadow or The Green Hornet, maybe).

Gadgeteers get a number of build points that they spend on and tie up in their gadgetry. The first oddball "glitch" I ran into with AA was here, although its not a big one, necessarily; a player spends gadget points to buy "spells" which he then defines as a physical object (description left up to player and GM to hash out). Sometimes they are temporary (spent on the fly) and sometimes they are permanent. You recover gadget points spent on temporary devices.

A gadgeteer can only ever make on the fly gadgets that emulate zero level spells. There's not a lot of guidance on how, say, a prestidigitation gadget might work, or a mage hand gadget....is it literally functioning like the spell, or just mechanically? This is, admittedly, an old-school territory where such interpretations are up to the GM and the player to negotiate, but I personally would have been very happy if each spell entry had included a short description of what its gadget equivalent might look like.

Gumshoes

The gumshoe is a bag of messy tricks, including climbing, investigation, revolver tricks, punchy take-downs, and an attitude. The gumshoe is the first of several more conventional classes, with a standard suite of C&C style class skills. The gumshoe eventually earns a built-in adversary, a certitude that his daring deeds will earn the emnity of someone, regardless of how many ventilated hooligans he leaves in his wake.

If I were to equate this class to one from C&C, I'd identify it with the ranger.

Hooligans

Speaking of hooligans, here's the actual class. The counterpart to the gumshoe, the hooligan is the rogue of AA, a rough and tumble medley of all the grifters, thugs, mafia men and tough guys you see in the era of the pulps. His main distinguishing trait isn't really even a class feature, being that this class doesn't usually lend itself to a lawful nature. Hooligans are another conventional "class skill" style C&C build, with a range of features that include dirty fighting take-downs, sneak attacks, casing joints and other tropes of the archetype. Yes, they are the modernized iteration of the C&C rogue.

Mentalists

This is the first unique class to the game, one which looks nothing like what has come before in C&C. The mentalist earns psionic powers, which are gained at specific levels, and can function very much like class skills. The entire concept is a great use of the SIEGE style class building process, with some extremely customizable options. Forget pulp adventures for a second....this class has within it the nuggest of a great Psiworld style campaign, something really cool and unusual. I would feel strongly tempted to eliminate the arcanist class entirely in a pulp era setting, directing players instead to the mentalist (and getting rid of the arcanist will make the gadgeteer that much more useful and distinct, too).

The mentalist is a concept that I hope future C&C books also seek to explot; it's something that could work well in a number of genres and contexts.

Pugilists

The pugilist class is what happens when you rename the monk class. I mean, its not an exact translation, but fairly close. The pugilist might work well in some capacity to model the fist fighting pulp warriors of old....I'd throw some levels of this class on the Phantom and the Shadow, for example (and Batman circa 1938 definitely) so as you might imagine this class is useful for that part of the venn diagram where comics and pulps merge. That said, its a strong, focused build class aimed at making the pugilist better with his fists than anyone else.

Raiders

After the Mentalist we have raiders, those daring adventurers writ large by the likes of Doc Savage and Indiana Jones. The raider class is distinctly "pulp," not that the others aren't....it's a class that primarily exists in a specific frame of time and within the even more specific context of adventure fiction and film. Real world pot hunters and archaeologists are not nearly this exciting. Raiders have a medley of odd skills (cryptolinguist, disguise, climb, survival, traps, and a favored weapon) that just screams "Indiana Jones!"

Socialite

The bard...er....the socialite is a clever manipulator and inspirational cheerleader. It's basically a reskinned bard, but with a tone and feel aimed more for a saucy socialite madame than a guy with a lyre and sword.

Now for a few other points to address about how AA works:

Class/Level Mechanics: in case it wasn't already obvious, this is one of those games where you start at level 1 and accrue XP until you hit level 2 and so on. This means that the classes dole out abilities and perks (like better hit points, attack bonuses and such) by level. A system such as this will feel uncomfortable to someone used to a more organic system like Hero or GURPS. As an example, under these mechanics if you did, say, want to build a gadgeteer who was emulating the Rocketeer, you'd need to get him to at least high enough level to build a gadget that emulates the fly spell. Then you'd need to argue with the GM about whether or not "fly" properly models the kind of gadget you have in mind.

(correction! Per Jason, and as I will point out next article, you ignore level restrictions on gadgets at character creation)

Alignments: Yes, alignments are baked in, albeit they could be rendered optional for the most part if you so desired. The alignments feel out of place to me, so I admit I'd have preferred a more modernized morality/personality mechanic, but YMMV on this.

Class Customization Options: A lot of the core class concept gets modified by additional optional class skills that you can swap out (or even spell slots/gadget points). One could be forgiven for overlooking this when studying the class options, but its actually the "meat and potatoes" of what makes the book really interesting. There are a huge variety of class abilities, detached from the classes themselves, which you pay for in ability swaps. Your range of options are more diverse than just feats; you can take the pugilist, for example, add the myriad animal related feats to get a Tarzan-like dude. You can (unfortunately) take the arcanist or gadgeteer classes and decide you don't really want to be an arcanist or gadgeteer and use their spell slots and gadget points respectively to bulk up on all sorts of optional class abilities. It's a weird and cool system all at once, but like with gadgeteers earlier, there's going to be a necessary give-and-take between player and gamemaster to insure that this system is not abused.

HUGE GRIPE: unrelated to the system, but as I was writing this the pages of my brand new book started to fall out. What The Hell. This  isn't Mongoose publishing, guys! Grrrrrrr. In their defense I have never had a Troll Lord Games book come apart before, but....grrrrr. Just. GRRRRRR!

Next: The rest of the game, some example character roll ups, and more. Unless the rest of the book completely comes apart on me.









  

Castles & Crusades - Now in Colorvision!

My Castles & Crusades tomes arrived today...I participated in the kickstarter program for the next printing to be in full color, and it was well worth it; I regret only that I couldn't fund at a higher level to get a cool C&C carry case and other amazing options, but at the $40 level, with stretch goals, I got a module, character sheets and not one but two copies of the colorized Player's Handbook, one signed and one ready for the game table. Excellent deal! I plan to participate in any future kickstarters the troll lords decide to muster up, it was well worth it.

For those curious, the book's new full-feature art cover looks very good, and the interior is A grade, like looking at a Paizo book except with slightly better quality paper and Peter Bradley's art. There's nothing really new here that I could tell, but seeing the book in color makes me feel like I could talk some of my Pathfinder regulars into giving it a try on the aesthetics alone.

I assume Troll Lord Games will have copies up for regular sale now, so I strongly recommend checking them out for a copy, if you are into C&C and all it has to offer. It's been my personal choice for retro-style D&D-like for years now.

Kickstarting C&C 5th

I did it, with hours to spare. The Castles & Crusades 5th printing full-color Player's Handbook is now my first official Kickstarter contribution. If you like C&C, you should go check it out....there's a lot of potential phat lewt to be had with this one, and they have hit the bonus goals which includes not one but two copies of the book, as well as an electronic edition. I went for the $40 version (what with having a seven month old marauding through the house eating All The Food) but the other goals are cool, too....including the official C&C briefcase at the $125 mark that I would love to get. Ah well maybe they'll do more of these in the future after I win a lottery...

On an unrelated note, I am very busy at work this week and next trying to keep my employer from hemmoraging a major client, so my post count may look a bit low. I am not dead! Merely working.

Saturday: Chernobyl Diaries and More

I figured it out: Dungeons & Dragons Next is making me want to play more Castles & Crusades. DDN, as I read it, is feeling to me to be on about the same level and focus as C&C, which is good....but unlike the DDN playtest doc I've got a complete rules set for C&C. Plus, I'm actually running it (started a new Saturday campaign as of last week, yay, hope my players show up again....)

Why does it say June 22nd? Hmmmm.

So I saw Chernobyl Diaries. In many ways I enjoyed it more than The Cabin in the Woods, if only because Chernobyl Diaries was an earnest effort at using horror scenery porn and mood to build slowly but effectively to a somewhat overdone but still entertaining finale...it was survival horror done right, but very simple in its execution and approach, no overarching plot, just some unfortunate people stupid enough to follow Yuri the tourist guide to visit the abandoned city of Pripyat on The Wrong Day.

Plus, if you watch this movie AFTER Cabin in the Woods, its fairly obvious that (spoiler alert!) Russia, at least, contained their Old One for one more season, heh....!

So anyway, Ten Cool Things about Chernobyl Diaries:

1. Awesome scenery porn. Bonus points if you really dig the whole "collapsed civilization/fallout/Chernobyl rotting away" look and want to see a movie set in such a place.

2. Excellent blend of a real world location with an already weird and distrurbing history with the terrifying horror-nightmare reimagining of the same.

3. Good old fashioned survival horror of the doom-iest kind.

4. Learn what would happen if a pack of feral ghouls were loose in Pripyat.

5. Russians are so fatalistic and pragmatic all at once.

6. Yuri the tour guide from your nightmares!

7. Although one would not want to march into Chernobyl's reactor #4 unprotected, this movie dials up the residual radioactivity to some new highs.

8. I love the slow, methodical build through the first two thirds of the movie. It saves the more conventional over-the-top horror elements for last, but really, the whole movie manages to make a threat out of normal physics, normal people and minimal CGI.

9. Excellent, absolutely marvelously terrifying use of real darkness and night to convey mood. No fake exterior lighting here (I'm looking at you, Cabin in the Woods).

10. This film manages to skirt the lines of supernatural, sci fi, hillbilly horror, chainsaw massacre and Nature Hates Us horror without actually being any of those. It also manages to keep from displaying full-frontal monstrosity; you'll never really get a good look at the antagonists.

I don't remember this shot from the movie. Hmmmm.

I only really had one gripe about this movie. I appreciate that it is common now in most genre films to have a bunch of young, handsome college-age twenty-somethings out for a bit of fun which goes disastrously wrong, and I appreciated that Cabin made fun of this trope, but really, seriously....I haven't seen a decent horror film in some time now that didn't start off this way. What the hell!

I see Feral Ghouls everywhere...

But Yuri, for as long as he made it, was a real hoot, lemme tell ya.

Now, excuse me, as I need to go load up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, I have an intense urge to playuthat game...

Malfeus Thorne, Hexblade

Just for fun here's a hexblade NPC I worked up for insertion into a game as needed:

Malfeus Thorne


A Hexblade NPC for use with Castles & Crusades

Description: Malfeus Thorne is a devilish looking rogue, a half-elf wanderer who is known for his way with the ladies as well as his love of strong drink. He is about six feet tall, with  dark hair and twinkling eyes. He normally dresses in his leather jerkin and breeches, with a pair of fine drake-skin boots and gloves. In combat he dons his suit of ancient scale mail, handed down to him by his mentor. His hexed weapon is a great scimitar, forged of adamantine two years ago for his use with the assistance of the dwarven smith Gunnerstor, with whom he once adventured. Malfeus is 30 years old and is a ronin hexblade. He attempted to join the Order of the Eldrtich Dawn early in his career after his master perished in a fight with the Ettin Lord Kalamask, but found the methodical code of conduct stifling, and was quickly thrown out.



Malfeus’s Spell Notes:

Malfeus casts his spells at the following levels of intensity:
Arcane Imbuement grants +2 magical bonus for 3 hours
Elemental Blade grants a +1D6 elemental damage bonus for 6 minutes (he usually chooses electricity)
Hexblade’s Defense grants +2 defending bonus for 2 hours

Tales from the Watchers of the Sullen Vigil: Dragons of Sarvaelen

Dragons of Sarvaelen


Since the dawn of mankind’s rise from the muddy waters of prehistoric times dragons have been present. Though hard to find, some erudite researchers can point to ancient caves filled with thousands upon thousands of years of ancient rock art, depicting a history both venerable and momentous in its imaginative capture of humanity’s efforts to understand the world around it. Dragons, it has been noted, are among the first beasts ever depicted by men.

The first dragons were said to have appeared in the deep wilderness, dragging and clawing their way up to the surface of the world from the chthonic realms below. Indeed, the many cavernous realms beneath the surface of the known world are attributed to the tireless digging and scratching of the dragons, which burrow long and deep into the earth to make their homes.

These first dragons spoke as men, and in some stories (mostly told among the elves) it is claimed that they actually taught the first languages to humanity. This language was to allow for easy instruction on the worship of the chthonic gods of the deep. The dragons, it was said, were the heralds of the Old Gods, born in the deeps of the world specifically to serve and envoys and servitors to these chthonic beings in the claustrophobic darkness at the center of the world.

The fragmentary texts which survived the Final War of the old empire of Camrinal piece together an interesting later history of dragons. It is clear that the more intelligent dragons served as envoys and voices for these old gods, although some might dispute that the dragons actually were such, and weren’t simply leveraging their own great power to set up cults and followings which served their own needs. Dragons regularly demanded tribute…and still do…from the lesser kindred of the world, seeking to promise safety in exchange for gold and sacrifice.

Arcane scholars who have studied dragons note that there are really two distinct breeds of beast in the world, one which is cunningly intelligent and rare, and the more common beasts which are normally found in the wilds, slaying livestock and terrorizing peasants. There is much speculation on how the two relate, as dragons by and large appear to be of normal intelligence, but it is as if some internal social problem or cultural matter has led to younger dragons going feral. Either way, whether speaking with one of the old intelligent dragons or the newer feral ones, a traveler risks losing his life if he enrages the beast.

Amongst dragons there is something of a different consensus. The dragons claim to have come from a breed of ancient beasts that sailed extraplanar realms, transmigrating from one dimension to the next, to populate vast numbers of worlds. The dragons that settled on Sarvaelen, they claim, were enamored with the dark whisperings of the Old Gods, tempted by their power, and so settled in to stay. The mysteries and secrets revealed by the Old Ones to the dragons was intoxicating, and those who embraced it found that they were given powers of prophecy and near immortality.

The embrace of the Old Gods had a terrible impact on the dragons, however, for the power of these chthonic gods warped and twisted the species over time, and as the generations past more and more dragons gave birth to feral children and monsters. Wyverns, serpents, hydrae and other beasts are suspected to have come about from the corrupted eggs of the eldest dragons.

Some dragons sought to purge their bloodline of the corruption, to turn their back on the Old Gods. These dragons migrated to remote regions, usually high in the mountains or in other areas sufficiently remote that the ever-present whispering of the maddening dreams and prophecies of the Old Gods was barely audible to their mind. These dragons have sometimes gone through desperate measures to purge their bodies of the taint, seeking to use exceptional magic, and occasionally engaging in breeding experiments with the lesser mortal races. No one knows if any have been successful at these efforts, but stories of adventurers contracted to scaly-skinned agents who descend from the mountains to pursue exotic tasks such as the acquisition of a phoenix’s eggs from the Seletharin Desert have been spoken of.

In game terms, dragons of Sarvaelen are statistically identical to your preferred game system’s take on them, albeit with a preponderance of ancient priests and mages in the service of the Old Gods. The dragons seem to have avoided much damage to their kind during the Final War of Camrinal, although the stories from that period suggest that a great many feral dragons were captured and trained for war in that time. Such an affront would be impossible now, as all of the great Magi are long dead, snuffed out during the final days of the war when Camrinal was blasted into oblivion. Indeed, it is said that undead dragons and their knights, unable to rest, still haunt the last battlefields before the imperial city of Zaravande, looking to carry on the fight eternally.

In T&T, Legend and BRP you can use your preferred dragon stats as you see fit. Dragons are multi-colored and come in many varieties, so there is no uniformity among their kind, or division by color. If you use dragons in C&C or other similar games, color types are less relevant and dragon breeds are better identified by their use of exotic breath weapons. Nor is alignment an issue for dragons, where a red or gold can both be chaotic evil, or both lawful good, and their color is only what they have a preponderance of, as their chromatic nature leads naturally to a wide mixture of “mutts.”

Next: back to the frontier wilds along Camrinal, and to the remote Watcher outpost near the ruins of dread Zaravande!
 

Hexblades in Castles & Crusades

Hexblades in Castles & Crusades


By request! An adaptation of the Hexblade for C&C. This adaptation takes the original article whole cloth for some portions, but repositions the order as a C&C optional class.

The Order of the Hexblades
The concept of the hexblade is a master of witchcraft, who relies on a special relationship with his uniquely forged weapon to cast and focus magic through. Hexblades gain their power through dark pacts, and seek to learn power from spirits both malevolent and benign. Some hexblades are good natured and seek to help those around them with their unique gifts; others fall quickly to the potential corruption of the power they seek and walk a darker path.

Hexblades have a loose fraternity of association, for the easiest way to become one is through a practice of apprenticeship to a master. Much like shamans, hexblades rely on knowledge of the spirits and the planes to tease out their magical talents. Some civilized lands may have entire knighthoods or magical orders dedicated to the practice of the hexblades, but in most lands they are reclusive fellows who gather in large groups only on rare occasion.

The concept of the Hexblade started with a class which appeared in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition first, and later as a warlock variant in 4th edition. Literary and game inspiration for this archetype can be found in the fiction of Adrzej Sapkowski’s “The Witcher,” and similar concepts of a man with a special blade can be found in Moorcock’s Elric novels. I also suggest the Kane stories by Karl Edward Wagner.

Prime Attribute: Dexterity
Hit Die: D8
Alignment: any
Optional CKG Advantages: Hexblades advance as wizards, and can take any advantage designed for arcane casters.
Weapons: hexblades are martial warriors and can learn to fight with any weapon, but they must specifically choose a type of sword to serve as their hexblade unless the CK permits otherwise.
Armor: any, but see armored caster, below.
Abilities: spell casting from the Hexblade Spells, Hexblade Bond, Armored Caster, Dextrous Caster

Hexblade Spellcasting: Hexblades are arcane casters and have their own spell lists, from which they can draw their magic. Hexblades begin play with two 0 level and one 1st level spells from the list, and acquire 1 new spell at each level of advancement. Hexblades can otherwise learn new spells as a wizard. At the CK’s discretion a hexblade can attempt to learn a wizard spell not on the hexblade list. Such an attempt can be performed once per copy of the spell (either a scroll or book), requiring an INT check with a CL equal to the spell level + 10. If the hexblade makes the check then he can copy the spell into his own spell book and has learned it; unlike hexblade spells he can’t imbue these in his weapon. In this fashion hexblades are like amateur spell casters, but they never need to make this check on spells specifically on the hexblade list.

Hexblade Bond: An initiate hexblade must procure a unique weapon which he forges or finds on his own. At first level this weapon is a normal blade of his choice forged from cold iron. Later on the hexblade may try to forge a new weapon of more fantastical metals or enchantments. The weapon must be of no common origin, either being made of an exotic metal, being unique in some fashion (i.e. a king’s blade, or the weapon was used in the past to slay a powerful extraplanar opponent) or it must be forged by the initiate himself out of exotic metals and imbued with a sacrifice of 1D6 damage of his own blood during the forging process. If an exotic weapon material is needed, it defaults to cold iron.

Once a hexblade has this weapon, he undergoes an initiation ritual of bonding with the blade. This imbues himself and the weapon with a unique connection; he may now use the blade to channel his magic, and all spells he cast must use the blade as a material component (but he may now substitute his weapon for any normal material component a spell requires, and the blade is never “used up” like normal materials). The hexblade weapon grants a bonus spell slot in which can be memorized an additional spell. The hexblade loses access to those bonus spells so memorized if he loses his blade.

The hexblade also serves as a spell book of sorts; so long as the hexblade has his bonded weapon in hand, he has innate access to all of his learned hexblade spells. He must keep a normal spell book for any regular arcane magic he manages to learn while adventuring (see above).

Does a hexblade need to bond with a sword specifically of some sort? That’s the CK’s call, but the presumption is that the nature of the weapon is highly conducive to channeling magic, and other weapons are not. Alternatively, there could be branches of the order that specialize in hexed axes, pole arms or even hammers and maces.

A hexblade who loses his weapon permanently must restore it with an equally significant weapon. If he fails to do so after one year and one day, he is cast out of the order. For the time he is missing his hexblade he loses his bonus spell slot and is limited to the spells in his spell book. When a new hexblade is forged, however, all of the hexblade’s spells are restored; the idea is that they are still imbued within his own mind and soul, but a hexblade weapon is the key that unlocks them.

Armored Caster: Hexblades learn to cast their spells with armor, and as such are not restricted like wizards in what to wear when they cast spells. However, hexblades who are wearing armor can only use their specific hexblade spells while so encumbered; they are unable to properly evoke any arcane non-hexblade magic while wearing armor.

Dexterous Caster: Whenever a hexblade utilizes a spell which requires INT as a modifier or for an effect, he may substitute DEX if it would give him a better modifier or chance of success. This reflects the fact that hexblades, much more so than wizards, require form, grace and motion to cast their spells.


Hexblade Advancement Charts:

Note: While 200,000 XP/level after 12 may seem generous, this is set lower than the fighter or wizard to reflect the fact that hexblades don't receive many more perks after level 12; they gain level 5 spells at 16th level and level 6 spells at 20th level, so the overall spell casting ability of hexblades has all but plateaued at level 12. Likewise, although hexblades are proficient fighters, they are not nearly as adept at combat as a dedicated warrior, relying instead on their hexblade spells.

Hexblade Spell List:

New spells are in italics.
Zero Level:
Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Endure Elements, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Minor Imbuement
1st Level:
Arcane Imbuement, Identify, Imbued Alignment, Jump, Read Magic, Shield, Sound Burst, Spider Climb, True Strike
2nd Level:
Elemental Blade, Enhance Attribute, Hexblade’s Defense, Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows, Scare, Shatter
3rd Level:
Bane Weapon, Blink, Dispel Magic, Fly, Haste, Hexblade's Luck, Nondetection, Paralyzing Strike
4th Level:
Dimension Door, Dragon’s Scales, Fear, Fire Shield, Freedom of Movement, Locate Creature, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Shout, Blood Drinker
5th Level:
Faithful Hound, Holy/Unholy Blade, Passwall, Telekinesis, Teleport, Wounding Blade
6th Level:
Antimagic Shell, Blade Barrier, Guards and Wards, Globe of Invulnerability, Iron Body, Mage’s Sword, Phase Door

Hexblade Apprentices:
A hexblade initiate who reaches 4th level is eligible to attain the rank of apprentice. He must have demonstrated an act of servitude to the credo of his specific order or mentor (which can vary; an evil order may require that he have slain an honest man; a benevolent branch may require that he saved an innocent under threat of harm). Hexblades who eschew titles are considered a form of ronin.

Hexblade Adepts:
After 8th level a hexblade apprentice may elect to become an adept. Adepts may take on apprentices but are not required to do so.

Hexblade Masters:
Hexblades who reach level 12 may graduate from adept rank to master rank. A Hexblade master must have earned a reputation for himself; if his name is known and either feared or respected by a noted ruler or leader of the land, such that the other senior masters of the order feel his reputation is engrained, then he may be entertained for membership at his highest rank. He must then commit one truly great deed, worthy of the skalds to sing about, such as slaying a hydra or dragon, liberating an oppressed kingdom, slaying a corrupt king, or even conquering his own domain. The task may depend on the ethical skew of the hexblade himself. At this level, however, it is his demonstrable proficiency and efficiency, not his ethical leanings, that are most important.

Should the hexblade attain the rank of master, he is required to take on a new apprentice to teach his skills to if he has not done so already.

Hexblade ronin who reach level 12 are unofficially called “silent masters” by other ordered hexblades. Some hexblades seek out these silent masters as they are often known to have spells and secrets unknown to the regular hexblade orders.

Source!

Hexblade Artifacts:

Tome of the Fey Courts
Although the Tome of the Hexblade is the grimoire of study for the order, there are rumors of an older tome, written in the lost history of the Fey Court by the elven prince Aritroskis, which contains even more potent secrets. Such a tome is a coveted prize for a dedicated Hexblade, for it contains the secrets of teleportation. This tome include the teleport spell, which any hexblade can learn from studying this tome. It also contains Teleport Without Error and Vanish. The wielder of this tome can cast any combination of these three spells once per day by using the tome.

Adamantine Hexblades:
A weapon crafted of adamantine is impervious to harm, or so it is said. Furthermore, it is said to weigh less and be more nimble in one’s hands. Details on adamantine can be found on page 89 of M&T.

The Hand of Zoromast
There are rumors of this infernal talisman, a mummified hand capped in a gold clasp and chain from the first and most legendary hexblade of a lost era. Rumor has it that a hexblade who wears the Hand of Zoromast around his neck will gain even more impressive fighting talent and a closer bond with his blade. The stories also suggest that Zoromast’s spirit will attempt to possess the wielder, but that a sufficiently strong-willed hexblade can defeat the spirit and tame it to his use.

An ordinary man wearing the Hand will feel nothing, though the spirit may seek to possess him. A hexblade immediately notices that he treats his caster level as 1 higher as a result of wearing the hand. In addition, he discovers that he now innately knows Arcane Imbuement and may cast it once per day for free through the talisman. If he removes the Hand, knowledge of the spell also evaporates.

While worn, the Hand’s spirit will try to possess the bearer. Zoromast’s spirit is equivalent to a malevolent ancestral spirit, a spectre (HP 104, M&T page 75) with one special property: the spectral spirit can seek to possess a target instead of energy draining it; each possession attempt works in place of energy drain, and if it hits the spirit deals 1D6 INT damage. When the target reaches 0 INT the spectre can immediately enter his or her body and take possession. At this point the INT of the character is restored to normal, and the victim is otherwise back to normal, albeit with a permanent +1 attack and damage bonus when wielding any sword, and a keen knowledge of ancient history (any INT check may add level to recall historical events). However, while possessed the bearer develops a very evil and self-serving disposition, and tends to call himself Zoromast a lot.

The artifact will be destroyed should Zoromast’s spirit ever be exorcised or destroyed.

New Hexblade Spells

ARCANE IMBUEMENT, Hexblade 1
CT 1, R touch, D 1 hour/2 levels, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
The hexblade imbues his chosen weapon with magical force, making it a +1 magical weapon for the duration of the spell. This weapon gains an additional +1 magical imbuement for every four levels thereafter, so it is a +2 weapon at level 5, +3 at level 9, +4 at level 13, and +5 at level 17.

BANE WEAPON, Hexblade 3
CT 1, R touch, D 1 turn/level, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
The hexblade imbues his weapon with potent energy against one type of target. Choose one enemy type for the duration of the effect (i.e. orcs, humans, elves, dragons). For the duration of the spell the weapon acts as a Bane weapon of +1 against that target, dealing a base of +1 to attack and damage against all foes and an additional 2D6 damage against the chosen bane type. The weapon improves with every three additional levels of the hexblade; at level 11 it is a +2 weapon; at level 14 it is +3, at level 17 it is +4 and at level 20 it is +5.

BLOOD DRINKER, Hexblade 4
CT 1, R self, D special, SV yes CON, SR yes, Comp V, S, M
Your weapon is imbued with vampiric qualities. Your next weapon attack deals its usual damage plus 1D4 damage per three hexblade levels. You heal yourself for damage equal to the total damage dealt to your target. If you miss your target you do not lose this spell, and it remains in effect until you make a successful strike. This spell fails against nonliving or animated targets.

ELEMENTAL BLADE, Hexblade 2
CT 1, R touch to weapon, D 1 minute/level, SV no, SR yes, Comp V, S, M
This spell imbues a weapon with elemental force (choose one of fire, cold, acid, electricity) and deals an additional 1D6 damage on a strike of that damage type. For every five additional hexblade levels the damage increases by 1D6 (so at level 9 it deals 2D6, at level 14 3D6, and at level 19 4D6).

HEXBLADE’S DEFENSE, Hexblade 2
CT 1, R personal hexblade, D 1 hour/3 levels, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
The hexblade imbues his weapon with the power of arcane defense. The weapon gains the properties of the Sword of Defending, becoming a +1 magical weapon at 2nd level, and gaining 1 level for every four additional hexblade levels thereafter (so +2 at level 6, +3 at level 10, +4 at level 14 and +5 at level 18). As a defending weapon the hexblade then chooses to apply some or all of the magical bonus to attack and damage or armor class each round it is in use.

HEXBLADE’S LUCK, Hexblade 3
CT 1, R personal hexblade, D 10 minutes/level, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
The hexblade imparts a bit of luck into his blade. For the duration of the spell the hexblade may add the weapon’s magical bonus (even one which is imbued by another enhancement spell) to any saving throws he makes.

HOLY/UNHOLY BLADE, Hexblade 5
CT 1, R personal hexblade, D 1 minute/level, SV no, SR yes, Comp V, S, M
This spell imbues the hexblade’s weapon with holy (good) or unholy (evil) force according to the alignment of the caster. The weapon will now deals double damage against foes of opposite alignment for the duration of the effect, and imbues the hexblade with spell resistance of 5+hexblade level against incoming magic (this effect is lost if the hexblade drops the weapon).

IMBUED ALIGNMENT, Cleric 2, Hexblade 2
CT 1, R touch, D 1 turn/level, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
This spell imbues the weapon with the lawful or chaotic alignment of its user. Once aligned, it deals an additional 1D6 damage per strike to targets of opposite alignment. If the weapon is dropped by the user and then grabbed by another character, if that weilder’s alignment is opposite the imbuement then the weapon will deal 1D6 damage to the user per combat round of use until the spell wears off.

IRON BODY, Hexblade 6
CT 1, R personal, D 1 minute/level, SV no, SR no, Comp V, S, M
This spell transforms your body into living iron, which grants you several powerful resistances and abilities.

You gain damage reduction 15 except against adamantine weapons. You are immune to blindness, critical hits, ability score damage, deafness, disease, drowning, electricity, poison, stunning, and all spells or attacks that affect your physiology or respiration, because you have no physiology or respiration while this spell is in effect. You take only half damage from acid and fire of all kinds. However, you also become vulnerable to all special attacks that affect iron golems.

You gain a +6 modifier to STR-based saves and checks, but you take a -6 penalty to DEX as well, and your speed is reduced to half normal. Any efforts as spell cating while in this form have a 50% chance of failure, and abilities to swim and climb are impaired just as if you were clad in full plate armor. You cannot drink (and thus can’t use potions) or play wind instruments.

Your unarmed attacks deal damage equal to a club sized for you (1d4 for Small characters or 1d6 for Medium characters), and you are considered armed when making unarmed attacks.

Your weight increases by a factor of ten, causing you to sink in water like a stone. However, you could survive the crushing pressure and lack of air at the bottom of the ocean—at least until the spell duration expires.

MAGE’S SWORD, Level 6 Hexblade, Level 7 wizard
CT 1, R close 50 ft, D 1 minute/level, SV no, SR special, Comp V, S, M
This spell brings into being a shimmering, swordlike plane of force. The sword strikes at any opponent within its range, as you desire, starting in the round that you cast the spell. The sword attacks its designated target once each round on your turn. Its attack bonus is equal to your caster level + your Int bonus or your Dex bonus (for wizards or hexblades accordingly) with an additional +3 enhancement bonus. As a force effect, it can strike ethereal and incorporeal creatures. It deals 4d6+3 points of force damage.

The sword always strikes from your direction. It does not get a bonus for flanking or help a combatant get one. If the sword goes beyond the spell range from you, if it goes out of your sight, or if you are not directing it, the sword returns to you and hovers.

Each round after the first, you can choose to switch the sword to a new target. If you do not, the sword continues to attack the previous round’s target.

The sword cannot be attacked or harmed by physical attacks, but dispel magic, disintegrate, a sphere of annihilation, or a rod of cancellation affects it. The sword’s AC is 13.

If an attacked creature has spell resistance, the resistance is checked the first time Mage’s sword strikes it. If the sword is successfully resisted, the spell is dispelled. If not, the sword has its normal full effect on that creature for the duration of the spell.

MINOR IMBUEMENT, Hexblade 0
CT 1, R weapon wielded, D see below, SV no, SR no, Comp V, M
You gain a +1 bonus to either damage or attack rolls with your next melee or ranged attack.
PARALYZING STRIKE, Hexblade 3
CT 1, R weapon wielded, D 1 round/level, SV yes, SR yes, Comp V, S, M
The hexblade imbues his weapon with paralyzing force. The next successful strike against a target imparts paralysis for one round per level of the hexblade.

TRUE STRIKE, Hexblade 1
CT 1, R weapon wielded, D see below, SV no, SR no, Comp V, M
You gain temporary, intuitive insight into the immediate future during your next attack. Your next single attack roll (if it is made before the end of the next round) gains a +20 attack bonus. Additionally, cover drops by two grades when attacking (so full equals ½ cover and ½ cover offers no AC bonus against true strike).

WOUNDING BLADE, Hexblade 5
CT 1, R personal hexblade, D 1 minute/level, SV yes, SR yes, Comp V, S, M
For the duration of this spell, the hexblade imbues his weapon with the power to cause unstoppable bleeding in his foes’ wounds. A wounded foe hit with this weapon takes 1D4 CON damage in addition to the usual damage of the weapon. If this reduces the foe’s CON enough to affect its CON modifier to hit points, then hit points will drop accordingly. CON damage is cumulative.



Mage’s Sword, True Strike and Iron Body adapted from the D20 SRD at: http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/spells.htm