D&D 5E: the Blood Magic Feat

Another option from the Realms of Chirak, now converted to 5th Edition: it seems like the best way to go about with a variant means of casting magic that is supposed to be a "corrupting option" to any spell caster that wants it is to make blood magic a feat...

Blood Magic

The practitioners of blood magic believe that magic is an aspect of the physical form and its connection to the mortal soul is linked through vitreous, sanguine fluids. They append their casting with physical sacrifices and can gain additional benefits when a sufficient sacrifice is given. This is a form of magic found among the Nubiri, Hoagarit, and Xoxtacharit cultures, but its practitioners are highly secretive. Blood mages use all other forms of magic, be it rune magic, sorcery or divine magic to stronger effect with their blood sacrifice.

Blood mages are wizards who pursue the path of diablerie, eventually mastering it with the path of the Blood Mage. Learning this path is a difficult process, and unless it is chosen at the start of a character’s career, will require much time, effort, and a mentor to gain. Over the course of play, the DM should require the student mage to find a mentor who is himself already a Blood Mage. Once such a teacher has been found, then it is possible to choose the blood magic feat.

At the DM’s discretion a new character can begin play as a blood mage, in which it assumed that the ritual has already been performed and the character has already achieved his unique traits. This is permissible for new characters; all other characters who wish to learn the secrets of blood magic during the course of play must follow the proscribed path as previously described.

The only other way to learn blood magic without a mentor is to seek out a malign being called a blood spirit. This is a type of Spirit which will attempt possession of the student. The mage must attempt to gain mental dominion over the spirit, making an attribute check against his spell-casting attribute of choice (Int, Wis or Cha) against a DC of 9 plus his caster level (this reflects the increasing difficulty over time as the mage advances in power to learn this unusual technique).  As a component of this task is physical, the mage may gain advantage on the roll if his Con score is 16 or greater. If the check beats the target DC, then the mage has mentally subdued the blood spirit and may begin to learn the secrets of blood magic by taking the blood magic feat. If it fails, the blood spirit retaliates; causing 5 points of ongoing damage, with a Con save DC 12 each round to avoid the damage for that round only. This bleed effect continues  every round until the spirit is exorcised, or the host mage reaches 0 hit points.

The spell caster may continue to make Con checks to subdue the blood spirit each round until either he fails or the spell caster reaches 0 hit points, at which time the blood spirit will flee his body. In such cases, the attempt is done and can’t be tried again until finding a new location from which to contact a different blood spirit. (Optional: The character loses 1 point of Constitution each time he tries and fails to commune with a blood spirit).

The Blood Magic Feat

Prerequisite: spell caster, Constitution 13+, any non-good alignment

Effect: The spell caster gains a unique ability to sacrifice hit points (either of his own or those of others) to cast spells instead of using normal spell slot mechanics for his class. This feature replaces the old way of casting a spell, though it doesn’t replace the way a spell caster learns, keeps or manages his spells. A blood mage may choose to release a spell spontaneously in this manner, either through cutting himself to create an injury from which blood flows, or by ritually scarring another target using a sacred bleeding dagger (below).

When cutting himself, a blood mage does damage normally for the weapon, and then receives 1 blood point for his pool. A blood mage can have a number of blood points stored up equal to his level plus Con modifier. He loses half his blood point after each long rest; he can sacrifice 1 hit die at the end of a long rest to retain 1 blood point in his pool, up to as many hit dice as he has available or his blood pool maximum. A blood mage can also expend a hit die, turning it into a blood point. Damage taken from self-injury to gain blood points cannot be healed by any other way than the expenditure of hit dice; any magical healing immediately reduces the blood point pool by the number of hit points healed.

A blood mage can also gain blood points by harming others. Each time he deals damage that causes bleeding (i.e. with a piercing or slashing weapon) the blood mage gains one blood point. If a target is slain or reduced to 0 hit points he gains 2 blood points immediately which may exceed his normal maximum, though he loses them after a short rest. He may spend hit dice during the short rest as well to retain blood points in this manner. It never costs the blood mage any actions to gain blood points, merely to commit the necessary act to “release” them.

The blood mage then uses his Blood Pool to cast spells. The spell must be one which he knows, and which he could normally cast for his class (i.e. spell level is attainable). To cast the spell he spends one blood point. If the blood mage wishes to cast a spell at a higher level of effect he may do so for one blood point as well.

Blood mages can also empower a spell to maximum effect. When a spell has variable range, damage or other features the blood mage can spend two blood points to generate the spell at its maximum possible effect.

A blood mage can attempt to create a bleeding dagger. The dagger requires a magical dagger +1 (or better) forged specifically for the task. The blood mage must then seek to commune with another blood spirit (see earlier for rules on how to do this). If the blood mage successfully communes with the blood spirit he may imbue the spirit in the dagger. Afterwards he may attune to the weapon and use its properties. A blood mage can only ever keep one bleeding dagger.

Ultimately, the blood mage sacrifices some spell versatility in exchange for greater potential diversity….but at the expense of a portion of his own humanity.

The Bleeding Dagger

Blood mages can acquire a special bleeding dagger, which he must be attuned to to use. This dagger is specially designed for its task to aid the mage in his casting. The dagger effectively works by drawing the blood of its victims and channeling it in to energy for the blood mage, to be used in a Blood Pool . The typical bleeding dagger is an ornate dagger with a lean groove running down its wicked, curved blade. The hilt is carved of ivory, and a thick, ruby red stone is set in the pommel. It glows with an eerie light when the dagger is used by a blood mage. If the wielder is not a blood mage, the dagger functions as an ordinary +1 magical weapon.

A blood mage can use the following properties when holding a bleeding dagger:

Sanguine Reservoir: Foes struck with this weapon find their blood unnaturally drawn in to the dagger and channeled in to dark energies. The dagger retains its own pool of blood points, equal to ½ the level of the blood mage wielding it (rounded up). These points are stored from damage dealt and kills made. When a blood mage deals damage with the weapon, he may choose to store the blood points gained in the weapon instead. Blood points in a bleeding dagger do not deplete until used.

Sanguine Shield: As a bonus action the blood mage may sacrificeup to 5 points  of the weapon's blood pool to gain a temporary AC bonus equal to the amount of blood points sacrificed against incoming attacks for one minute. This ability may be activated once per day. Alternatively the points may be sacrificed to gain a bonus of equivalent value against all saves vs. Int, Wis, Cha and Con.

Bolstering Blood: The wizard may also release points of the blood pool as additional damage to any spell attack or dagger attack done with the weapon. Blood mages may call upon their total blood pool if they do this. This ability may be activated once per day.

Blooded Skill:  The wizard can spend one blood pool point to gain advantage on a single skill check.

D&D 5th: Alsandra Vienneros, level 3 human fighter pirate

This time: a professional pirate and dual-blade specialist. Alsandra appeared as an NPC serving on board the ship Mardieur Mardieux commandeered during his journey back to Mercurios after the Great War between Espanea and Nithiad, during the resurrection of Minhauros. She lurks in my portfolio of characters as a future piratical encounter...

Alsandra Vienneros

Human Espanean female, Age 31

Fighter Battlemaster Pirate Level 3

STR      DEX     CON    INT      WIS     CHA     HPs      Proficiency                

16        14        12        10        12        10        29        +2                   

+3        +2        +1        +0        +1        +0       

Hit Dice           Speed  Armor Class                Alignment      Level   Experience     

3D10                30        14 (15 w/off weapon) Neutral Evil     3          2325

Saves-STR, CON

Languages-Common (Espanean), Legoran

Feats-Dual Wielder

Skills-Acrobatics +4, Athletics +5, Intimidation +2, Perception +3, Stealth +4

Tools-navigator’s tools, vehicles (water)

Fighter Traits-fighting style (two weapon), second wind, action surge, archetype (battle master), combat superiority

Pirate Traits-bad reputation

Maneuvers-disarming attack, evasive footwork, parry

Superiority Dice-4D8

Maneuver Saves-DC 13

                        

Armor-studded leather (12+Dex)             

Weapons-two longwords (+5 attack, 1D8+3 damage each)

Other Equipment-143 gold pieces, one healing potion, two throwing daggers

Personality-brusque and angry, Alsandra has a deep grudge against orcs, whom she has a fierce dedication to slaying. She also dislikes men and is horribly caustic.

Ideal-While serving aboard the many ships she’s worked on she developed a real mothering instinct to her crew; Alsandra takes care of those she is charged with protecting.

Bond-Alsandra is loyal to her crewmates first, to country, leader and mission second.

Flaw-Several years ago in a skirmish with orcish pirates Alisandra lost her left eye and suffered a nasty scar running to her ear.

Alsandra Vienneros grew up in a hard life as a commoner on the streets of Barcen. She was pressed into service at a young age, forced to work as a scullery maid on her first ship until during an attack she seized a weapon and helped drive off the attackers. After that she was trained to fight and serve as an equal on the ship. Alsandra escaped the vessel eventually, but she has since served on a half-dozen ships, usually as a quartermaster or once even as first mate, both in the role of pirate and privateer. She grew to hate orcs during an excursion off the coast of Esterehabau when orcish mercenaries seized her ship and took her eye in battle.

Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

I'll preface this by stating that I almost didn't go see the movie because I've never much liked anything done with the TMNT franchise beyond the original Eastman and Laird comics, which were good for their time in the 80's. I hated the live action movies, but suffered through the first one because everyone else loved it, and have recently been subjected to repeat viewings of the later movies because my kid loves it. My wife by contrast is a huge fan of the Turtles and so I decided to surprise her with the new movie.

One of the reasons I didn't want to see the movie was it's stinky review by Movie Bob. However now that I've seen the movie, and contrast it with his comments, I have decided that I can't actually rely on him for unbiased criticism. This movie was much, much better than Bob gave it credit for...not "staggering, earth-shaking" better but more like "I got my money's worth and was entertained" better.

The movie is a retelling of the TMNT origin tale with a few twists and changes. The turtles aren't randomly in some sewer as babies when radioactive chemicals are spilled on them; now they were deliberate test subjects. The Foot Clan isn't a bunch of displaced ninjas living out the glory days in New York (because Frank Miller parodies are harder to pull off now like they were in the 80's I guess) but are instead a paramilitary crime syndicate with Japanese ninja overtones in the form of Shredder, who is an enigmatic Big Bad with dreams of Yakuza glory or something. The turtles are still the turtles, just now they look real and move like they're real and not just guys in rubber suits.

The movie deals with the rise of Shredder's clan to make New York an even bigger hell hole than it already is, the turtles appearance with the aid of April O'Neal played by Megan Fox and her camera dude ally played by Will Arnett. I love Will Arnett, so kudos here....and they let him do his trademark humor style, too, so he worked well in his time on screen. Megan Fox was actually fine in the roll of April, and kept it together for the most part....I know it's popular to hate on her, but she's always played the roles she's given just fine, and honestly I don't get the dislike. She didn't make or break the movie, but she came across believably as a hysterical reporter on a huge story about some pet turtles who had been subjected to a crazy mutagen. Oh, and the rat Spinter too.

The movie has lots of Michael Baysian action scenes, occasional slow-mo moments, and way too much shaky-cam syndrome but for a Bay film it was positively timid by comparison to other prior works. Almost passable, I dare say, without once being annoyed at the "Baysian" style of filming.

The turtles were great. For the first time ever I could figure out which one was which without looking at a color-code card and they had distinct personalities. It was played straight, like any old super hero movie, and did not once dilly dally about in the la-la land of "not quite believable behavior" that kid's franchises are often prone to being stuck in...this is a movie that was made for older viewers to watch and enjoy right along with the younger viewers. Probably wouldn't take my two-and-a-half year old to see it, though....the movie is aimed at a slightly older audience when it comes to kids.

The turtles make a lot of off-references to other heroes/franchises. It was done just obliquely enough that you could readily imagine that when Raphael is doing his "Batman voice" he's not necessarily referring to the movie but the actual Batman over in Gotham City. Michaelangelo (Mikey) was a little perve, serving as a cypher for the 13 year olds in the audience who are panting at Megan Fox I guess, while Donatello* is apparently gifted with a weird science super power. Only Leonardo* seemed to be a tad weak on the personality. Either way, I'm just amazed I could follow who was what for once.

So in the end: great summer movie, plenty of fun. If you really wanted a film that looked and felt like the old TMNT movies then this one may disappoint. However, my wife is a HUGE TMNT fan and she loved this movie. I am a fan of only Eastman and Laird's original comic and I have despised almost everything done with the turtles from the animated show to the live action movies on down, and this is the first TMNT offering that I have actually liked in over 25 years, so take that as you will. I give it a solid A.




*After writing these names in reverse my wife corrected me so maybe my turtle-fu is still weak...

D&D 5th: Sedara Braims, Level 10 human necromancer sage

So it begins! I'm going to produce as many new D&D 5th edition characters per week as I can find time for until the arrival of the Monster Manual. Some will be spanky new, some will be conversions of classic NPCs and retired characters from my campaigns, others will be off the cuff. Today we have a venerable treasure-hunting necromancer who is the youngest reluctant member of an ancient order of monster hunters....

Source

Sedara Braims

Masirian female, age 34 (Setting: Realms of Chirak)

Wizard Necromancer level 10 Sage

STR      DEX     CON    INT      WIS     CHA     HPs      Proficiency     Spell Save DC Memorized    

10        12        10        20        14        13        52        +4                    17                    15

0          +1        0          +5(+9)  +2(+6)  +1       

Hit Dice           Init      Speed  Armor Class                Alignment      Level   Experience     

10D6                +1        30        14 (w/bracers)                        Neutral Evil     10        76,100

Spell    Cantrips          L1        L2        L3        L4        L5        L6        L7        L8        L9

Slots      5                      4          3          3          3          2          -           -           -           -

Saves               INT, WIS

Languages      Grelmanic, Elvish, Espanean, Masirian, Old Mythric, Inadasir, draconic

Feats               Linguist

Skills                Arcana +9, History +9, Intimidation +5, Deception +5

Wizard Traits  ritual casting, arcane recovery (5 levels), School of Necromancy, grim harvest, undread thralls (one extra, +10 HP, +4 attack), inured to undeath (necrotic resistance)

Sage Traits      Researcher

Spell Book:

Cantrips                      blade ward, light, poison spray, chill touch, true strike

Level 1                        comprehend languages, detect magic, false life, identify, mage armor, magic  missile, sleep, witch bolt

Level 2                        darkness, misty step, phantasmal force, invisibility, blindness/deafness

Level 3                        animate dead, bestow curse, fear, feign death, vampiric touch

Level 4                        Evard’s black tentacles, fire shield, phantasmal killer, stone shape, blight

Level 5                        cloudkill, contact other plane, contagion, teleportation circle

Armor              Cloak of Protection +1, Bracers of Defense +3                                 

Weapons        Dagger +1 (+6 attack, 1D4+2 damage)

Personality     I am the immortal daughter of one of the world’s greatest hunters of thousandspawn, and have the hubris to show for it.

Ideal                Power….the mastery of necromancy

Bond               I am descended from an ancient order dedicated to hunting and entombing thousandspawn and feel a need to fulfill my destiny

Flaw                My callousness often shows through, and I have severe empathy issues.

Brief History: Sedara Braims was the daughter of Daregos Braims, a famous monster hunter and agent of the ancient Order of the Thousand, a society of twelve hunters dedicated to hunting down and destroying or imprisoning the Thousdanspawn of the chaos god Ga’Thon. Sedara was indoctrinated into the order at a young age but has struggled with her inner desire for power and the need to aster death vs. her father's wishes that she use her magic to end the Thousandspawn. She started her career working to destroy Kostchie the Damned, and later assisted the Avatar Maretz with protecting the City of the Sun form the destruction of the chaos beast which is eternally devouring the sun. She was last spotted deep in the south beyond the kingdom of Daman on a quest for the Dagger of Shaligon, believed to be in the possession of a particularly vile thousandspawn.

Three Plot Ideas:

1. Sedara hires a young and naive group of adventurers to help her locate the enigmatic Dagger of Shaligon, but stumble across an orcish plot to destroy the kingdom using not the dagger but the even more exotic Eyes of Shaligon, which give the orcs a scrying advantage over the human kingdom.

2. Sedara has been summoned to the Order of the Thousand, which consists of herself and eleven aging hunters. Recently several members were slain, and they seek to replace those members with worthy heroes....Sedara is given the task of finding heroes worthy of this cause, something she despises but feels duty bound to assist on.

3. Sedara learns that the Lich King Malenkin has left his tower unguarded, apparently moving with his entire entourage to the Kaldinian Isles. She either hires adventurers to assist her on an expedition to investigate the tower and learn its secrets or she works for an oppositional group that the PCs must race against time to compete with.

The Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook - 13 opening observations

My FLGS received the Players Handbook today (albeit not the module....the store owner didn't realise there was a module, I guess). Endless reviews are already circulating so it seems pointless for me to do anything like that, but I wanted to make a few specific observations....

1. This book has the most inclusive art I've seen yet. I was having a hard time finding generic blonde white male paladins anywhere. The cosmopolitan nature of the art is outstanding.

2. The new look of the races is great, albeit with one setback....what the hell is up with the encephalitic halflings???

3. I'm sure many will be pleased with Appendix E: further reading but I wasn't all that excited....we could have used a new list, not just the original Appendix N with a few newer faves added. Still, it's great to have a literary "further inspiration" list in D&D again.

4. I was more impressed with the appendix on the gods. Not only a short discussion and lists of the various gods of the official settings (Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Eberron and Forgotten Realms plus racial deities) but also actual mythic pantheons, too: Egyptian, Celtic, Greek and Norse. Little touches like this are what's going to make 5E shine.

5. There are a lot of character design choices in this book. The multi-classing rules are very simple, while the feats are an interesting medley of specializations that can change a character's focus and feel quite a bit. 

6. Speaking of feats, humans have an optional build that lets you substitute "6 stats get +1" for "two stats get +1 each, plus get a bonus proficiency and a feat." When you look at the feats, you'll realize that's a pretty nice potential level 1 bonus, depending on the feat you take.

7. Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster as fighter and rogue spellcaster variants.

8. Drow are now a subrace of dark elves who went all evil in the underdark, rather than the long implied "we were normal elves and when we turned evil Lolth made us coal black" theme of prior eras.

9. Favorite pic so far in the book: page 204, the highly traditional gnome mage teaching spellcasting basics.

10. Least favorite picture so far: toss up between the terrifying balloon-headed halfling on page 26 and the elf with a terrifying sideways eye deformity on page 162.

11. I love the conditions section and the illustrative examples.

12. My first character when I actually get to play (IF I ever get to play since I'm always DMing) will be a warlock.

13. There's a mini monster manual in the back of creatures statted out or referred to in the book, such as might be summoned as familiars or companions. Skeletons, horses, wolves and other creatures of use to players can be found here.

I think I might start a "character a day" event for the blog, in which I create a completely different off-beat character each day.

Tips on Ad Hoc Encounter Design in 13th Age

On a thread at rpg.net we were discussing how to improv encounters in 13th Age and I had some suggestions over there which I thought would be fun to immortalize on the blog, too. Worth noting that 13 True Ways also includes some great advice on doing this and designing new monsters as well.

Ad Hoc combat in 13th Age works out better than you might think for original encounters that are more than just hit point bags. The monster chart in the book gives you the quick and dirty stats you need, but the FX of the monsters can be done a few ways. My suggestion is to work out some interesting random effects you pick from on a chart, or pull some examples from the core book or bestiary. For example:

Melee attack (crits on 18, 29 or 20)

Melee attack (on an even roll the target teleports to somewhere nearby)

Ranged attack (striked 1D3+1 targets; targets all take 5 ongoing rainbow damage)

Put it in a chart if you want. Then, unleash on players.....

One sample random encounter I ran included a mechanical warhorse that had been lying in a ruin for ages. It was elementally powered. I grabbed the level 3 stats for a average monster, then added three effects: fire resistance, on escation die 3 it releases double its base damage in an electrical attack that targets all nearby foes vs. PD, and a charging trample attack that triggers on a 16+ on the normal attack and knocks all adjacent foes prone.

In fact, a good rule of thumb is: one melee, optionally one ranged, then add three interesting things. It seems to work well for me. Then keep a list of a few dozen interesting things to grab.

The Bestiary has a great section on reskinning monsters, too. It walks you through some great examples on both customizing the look and style of monsters using the same stat blocks, and also shows how to take a Joe Genero NPC and make him something special.

Here's a quick list of 20 melee/ranged combat enhancers you can use:

These powers are chosen because they are quick and easy to calculate values foe while running a game. Pick or roll as you like...

1. Crit range expands to 19, 20 (or 18, 19, 20 for tougher foe)

2. deals 5 or more ongoing damage of specific type with melee or ranged attack (bleed, fire, etc.)

3. on even roll target triggers a secondary special attack that deals typed damage (i.e. poison)

4. on either even rolls or 16+ target pops free and teleports or moves to somewhere nearby

5. On a miss target triggers a +2 to +5 defensive bonus against the missed target

6. Foe gets two or more of primary attack each strike (multi-limbed)

7. Foe's attack knocks you prone on 16+ or impairs you in similar way (nausea, weakness)

8. On 16+ strike foe is removed from play and reappears on its initiative action next round anywhere nearby (teleport or stealth effect) with stealth

9. Foe has a chain attack; each successful strike with a 16+ on the attack roll lets the foe strike another adjacent or engaged enemy

10. On 16+ the foe removes the target from play and places the target back on the battleground anywhere nearby or far away (shadow plane teleport your enemy to where you want them!)

11. Once per encounter (and probably after escalation 4+ this resets) deals double or triple base damage to foe as spite damage on even hit

12. Berserker rage triggers on 16+ or at an escalation die #; monster's defenses drop by 4 but all melee damage is doubled and monster targets closest targets first, regardless of friend or foe possibly

13. Domination attack. Monster's melee or ranged attack pops a per-encounter secondary attack on a hit against MD that deals psychic damage and on a 16+ the target is dominated (difficult save to end) such that the controlling monster dictates either a move or action on dominated foe's round until the effect breaks.

14. Secondary attack triggered by melee attack is either paralysis or incorporeality (can't interact with objects or enemies physically, can still cast spells), with a variable save ends value.

15. Monster turns incorporeal on every odd escalation die value, gains immunity to physical attacks and damage but not spell damage

16. Swift Rush Attack...monster can move, attack, and on a 16+ may move and attack again (possibly up to X times if desired)

17. Pinning attack....on 16+ with melee or ranged attack target is pinned and immobile (save ends, or maybe STR check vs. appropriate DC ends)

18. Ganging up - monster works better in a group; gains an attack or damage bonus or effect bonus when two or more of its kind are adjacent to or engaged with the same target

19. Area attack - nearby foes, typically 1D3 or 1D4 targets, with a typed effect vs. PD or MD dealing damage and possibly ongoing damage

20. Dirt Bag Boss Monster Attack Special - Once per encounter, resetting on escalation die 4+ the boss monster can unleash one hellish attack, either area effect or melee/ranged which affects all targets nearby. Usually includes a save ending ongoing damage or impairing effect, and may include knock-down.

Example Monster:

The Ungala (random name)
Level 3 average monster, with the following stats:
HP 45, AC 19, PD 17, MD 13
Melee attack +8 vs. AC dealing 10 damage
Ranged attack +8 vs. AC dealing 10 damage

Then I roll three times on the chart above and get 17, 13, 12. So:

Pinning Attack
Domination Attack
Berserker Rage

I combine them like this:

Ungala
Level 3 Wandering Monster
"A crispy looking critter with long scythe like limbs and a centipede like body that gallops like a pony through the Misty Marshes"
HP 45, AC 19, PD 17, MD 13

Melee attack hideous pincers: +8 vs. AC dealing 10 damage; on 16+ pincer strike immobilizes adjacent engaged opponent (no movement other than teleport allowed), difficult save 16+ to break free.

Ranged attack thorny spines:  +8 vs. AC dealing 10 damage from spiny projectiles against one nearby target; if target rolls 2 or 1 on an attack it is out of spines and can't use this attack anymore.

Special Attack: Domination: Immediate interrupt, Trigger is pinned target tries to break free (makes a save); +8 vs. MD; 10 ongoing psychic damage (normal save ends); secondary effect: target is dominated; ungala frees target immoblization effect and on target's turn the ungala either determines the regular action or the movement of the dominated target. Normal save (11+) to break free of effect.

Berserker: On Esclation Die 2 the monster goes berserk for remainder of encounter and deals 20 damage per melee attack but all defenses are -4)

BRP - Blood Tide at the printers

I didn't even know it existed a few minutes ago and suddenly I'm reading an email from Chaosium that a 240 page tome of piracy called Blood Tide for BRP is at the printers and due for release around August 18th. I like this version of Chaosium, where you don't even know a book exists and then suddenly there it is! Cunning strategy, that. And better than the alternative approach of announcing the book well in advance then missing deadlines by a few months or years (cough CoC 7th cough Pulp Cthulhu cough).

The order page is here. Chaosium has a great article on the age of piracy here. The author of this book is Kenneth Spencer, who's works include some decent stuff, nothing shocking but also nothing worrying, and the article he provided on the age of piracy looks good. His Rocket Age RPG has me tantalized, too.

13 True Ways in PDF

13th Age is finally getting some decent support (outside of its copious fans) as the 13th Age Bestiary is finally in print and on store shelves, and 13 True Ways is in PDF format and available for pre-order in print. I pre-ordered mine and have been absorbing this great book in PDF format...it's too cool to wait for the physical edition.

This is an overview for now, less of a review as yet since I'm still plowing through it all, but the content speaks for itself. 13 True Ways starts off with six new classes, including some really exotic spell casters such as the occultist, who is a unique individual (literally) that can interrupt the flow of time and probability. There's the chaos mage, who's basically the class for people who want to screw around with the campaign and other players at the table. There's the 13th Age take on druids and monks, which for the druid is a very robust class with a lot of interesting options (monk too), and there's the 13th Age version of the warlord in the form of the commander, utilizing a command-point mechanic that is very smart and intuitive. Lastly there's the necromancer, busy consorting with and summoning undead. These classes introduce the first real summoning mechanics into 13th Age, and also include a retooling of animal companions for the druid (and retroactively for the ranger from the core).

A rather complex but detailed section on multiclassing is offered. Not being in the playtest for this I was surprised....didn't know they were working on it. The rules are detailed, as they must be for the interesting ways classes are designed in 13th Age, but it looks like you can make the creepy barbarian necromancer of your dreams here.

More of the Dragon Empire world of 13th Age is presented in this book as well, including cities of noteworthy status with more than enough material to run games with the material as presented. Additional sections later on in the book provide thematic seeds for 13 dungeons, taverns and other ideas.

The book includes a few artifacts (a new concept for 13th Age) and a plethora of new magic items. It also has a surprisingly robust bestiary addition, which includes devils and metallic dragons as well as a variety of other classics and a few new beasts. Devils get additional treatment in a section from Robin Laws on how to introduce them to your version of the default setting, which may also be useful for those running their own unique settings that somehow need a foil to introduce devils.

Needless to say its beautifully illustrated. The PDF is a hefty size right now (102 MB in a zip file) but it is complete. I printed out a copy and had it bound, since I have no idea how long it will be before my physical copy arrives....and I know I'll want to utilize this book in my next 13th Age game.

Anyway, check it out. Well worth the money if you're a 13th Age fan like me.

Five Things I'm Not Going to Miss About Pathfinder

These days I try to avoid being too negative (except about movies, heh) but I guess I can't provide a "five things I will love and miss about Pathfinder" without also offering up the opposite....so here I offer up a list of five things that drive me batty, design decisions or features which are just hair-pulling, madness inducing and please if you're trawling through blogs Jason Bulhman, please think of these things next year when everyone expects Pathfinder may start to get it's own makeover second edition.....!

I hate to do this list....though it does express my gripes about Pathfinder....just remember: I still quite like the game, and expect to be running it in the future (I'm looking forward to the Advanced Class Guide and also the Technology Guide and Monster Codex....all fine books that would stand out even more if 5E wasn't busy stealing all the thunder!)

So in no particular order of importance....five things about Pathfinder I won't miss while playing D&D 5E:

5. Unified Character/NPC/Monster design: blessing and curse. From one perspective it's a great design strategy....you use the same rules and design features to build PCs, NPCs, and monsters and it allows for a nearly infinite well of creative design. However, it means that everything now has a codified process, a design scheme that follows a specific set of rules. It does this in a game that has a ton of tiny modifiers, special exceptions, skills and elements which all potential stack and interact in specific ways. It "gates" a load of features and rules behind key words, and it demands that the DM remember and utilize all of this to do it correctly. If you've run Pathfinder or even 3rd edition for a while you know this is a problem: in terms of time, it can take you an hour to stat out a cool villain, only to watch the players disassemble him in 20 minutes of play time. If you do that for every villain, then pretty soon you're spending what I used to call the "6 hours of scenario design for 4 hours of gameplay" problem.

There's a workaround however: you ignore most of the rules, or learn shortcuts. Pathfinder actually tried to codify some of these shortcuts into "quick templates" which you could overlay on monsters for a quick, cheap effect, and that was a decent step in the right direction, but it didn't change the fact that you need an encylopedic familiarity with the rules to run the game smoothly ad hoc, and without fudging on occasion.

Of course, if the system is so monolithic and elaborate that the only easy way to run it is to learn how to improv, how to take short-cuts and buy as many supplements as you can to crimp premade NPCs, then there's a bit of a problem. The game starts feeling a little "squishy" to you if you really prefer to have these details, and realize that the absence of time to properly design NPCs is leading to a substandard game. This is sort of the hole I got into....I was running Pathfinder once, sometimes twice a week and I had no time during the week to properly prepare. I could spend a couple hours working out elaborate plot and environs....but all of my NPCs and monsters had to rely on generic stat blocks, there was no way around it and no time for me to work on such.

This, coupled with #4, leads to another problem....

4. The Char Gen Min/Max Game, also known as "keeping up with your players." Pathfinder is loaded with it. My Wednesday group got so good at designing characters for optimal effect that I often had to rely on CR+4 encounters to provide meaningful conflict. The char gen mini game can be fun, sure....but the way Pathfinder does it is full of bumps and valleys in a road of success and failure. Some players never get it, others become masters. If the DM can't keep up, then it means that inevitably the game will suffer at some point. This is not in and of itself a problem....but it goes back to #5 above, that if I want to make a challenging adventure for my players and do it right, I really need to tailor the monsters and NPCs to their designs....and that's a lot of work. All my players only need to focus on one build, one character; the GM has to do all the rest. Impossible to provide ready challenge for unless you abstain from all other nonessential activities in a busy life.

So...I guess you could say that fatherhood was the slow nail in the coffin for games like Pathfinder that command too much design time, too much system mastery.

3. Stacking Rules. Seriously, 3rd edition and Pathfinder taught me to hate the stacking game. I liked that 4E managed to clean up stacking rules so that while it still happened it was hard to screw up. If I had a dime for every player who was accidentally stacking two things that shouldn't.....I could probably buy another book. Pathfinder made some effort to clean it up, or at least make it more intuitive, but over time it still degenerated into an out of control mess. eanwhile, D&D 5th Edition is somehow a version of the game with essentially no stacking rules at all. Wow.

2. Too much Wayne Reynolds, too many iconics. WHAT....no, seriously. I love Reynolds art, and I consider him the visual look for the game. However, they have over-used him. Wayne Reynolds is so ubiquitous now that the cool style he evokes no longer wows me like it used to. Also, I am so tired of iconics. I get the marketing appeal of iconics, but they create an unfortunate homogeneity to the art that diminishes creativity and expression by locking it all in to the same specific set of images. Yawn. The unfortunate effect of branding is that when I see random Pathfinder art on the internet I always know what it is....and I find myself not caring. It also means that even if D&D 5E will have iconics, I'll at least be happy that they're new iconics. A change of pace.

1. Cheap quality books. Most of the small 64 page books for Pathfinder not only couldn't take much of a beating, many of them were designed with a life span in mind. As much as I love the Pathfinder core rulebook, I've bought four copies in five years because they can't handle normal table wear. I guess it all helped Paizo keep the cost down while staying full color....but I've never been a fan of the binding of the books.

I conclude this with stating that none of the above will stop me from continuing to get Pathfinder books of interest, and running it periodically....but it's no longer the "only game in town" and I look forward to mixing it up a bit.

Addendum: You are all welcome to say "Neener neener told you so" if I am back to running Pathfinder full time in a year, D&D 5E discarded and forgotten!

Five things in Pathfinder I'm going to Miss

I sort of hope Paizo, sometime next year, thinks about offering up Pathfinder/D&D compatible products. The truth is conversion from Pathfinder to D&D 5E won't be too horrible...and I know that I'll still be playing Pathfinder periodically. My Enzada setting (which I have not showcased on the blog yet) was built when Pathfinder came out to take advantage of the system, so it uses a lot of Pathfinder tropes and elements to make it distinct. Pathfinder has a lot of material right now...and it's going to take D&D a while to get to that point. Pathfinder also has a lot of non-western thematic content, which is cool, because my Enzada setting is all about non-western fantasy gaming, with a heavy focus on quasi-Vedic Indian and mythic Polynesian themes.

Anyway, five things about Pathfinder whose absence will be felt in D&D 5E games, at least until or if someone finally adds it:

5. The Advanced Race Guide - from the enigmatic Samsaran reincarnates to the poison-blooded Vishkanyanas and the reptilian Nagaji, this was far and away one of the greatest game books for the 3rd edition era of the game. I sincerely hope that we have something equivalent down the road for D&D, but to be honest, if it doesn't have samsarans, nagaji, vishkanya and the other distinct, flavorful races that Pathfinder offered up it just won't feel the same. I cross my fingers and hope Paizo finds itself in a generous position down the road to provide cross-compatible support for both games....

4. Wayne Reynolds art. Seriously....although he does feel a bit over-utilized, his art style is distinct, and effectively marks more than a decade of distinct style now. He's so engrained in my mind with Pathfinder that just seeing his work randomly provokes a "ah, Pathfinder, mmmm" feel to me.

3. Cthulhu Mythos - it's entirely feasible since I think much of this has entered either the land of "out of copyright" or somehow snuck into the OGL, but until and if we see a Mythos adaptation for D&D 5E, Pathfinder's the only official source we have that lets us directly pit fantasy adventurers against the mythos spawn. Yes, I could go find any one of seven hundred indie/OGL titles that have reaped the harvest of Lovecraft's corpse, but let's just say that I like the way Pathfinder presents it....very neutral easy to utilize for your own intents, without having to scoop lots of specific baggage from a small press indie author's highly specific interpretations out of the way.

2. The firearms rules from Complete Combat - I'm not talking about the dubiously useful gunslinger, who vacillated from deadly to useless in my games and only seemed to exceed expectations when people played him wrong, but the firearms rules and their alchemical bullet options were great. Maybe the 5E DMG will have some optional rules on this....but somehow I doubt it will be as nice as what Ultimate Combat did.

1. The Bestiaries. Yes, all the bestiaries. Not for the aforementioned mythos monsters, though I think some lurk within. Rather, for the amazing array of non-western themed monstrosities which crawled their way out of the Bestiary pages, the unique foes and exotic retooling of old classics like the adherer and the flumph into something I actually wanted to use as major villains and allies. This series remains one of my top monster manuals of all editions thanks to additions such as the various asura, div, kami, expanded rakshasa, elemental planetouched such as the Jinn and Oread, many flavors of ogre mage, the fabulously evil kytons with their cenobite-like variants, enough demons and devils to fill up all the hells, the inevitables who got a clean retooling, and so many more.

Aw, hell....I guess I'll just need to accept that Pathfinder is still going to be on my table for at least one or two campaigns a year!