B is for Blue Magic

Greetings my fellow Kenzerites. If you are looking for the post Dave was talking about on the boards, it's the next one down. But feel free to read this one while you're at it.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been playing Final Fantasy V as of late. I'm a big fan of the series as whole, which is why I also am a fan of Retro Phaze. Well, that and its creator is a friend of mine.

Final Fantasy V is notable within the series for introducing the concept of blue magic. Blue magic is based on the concept certain monsters have abilities that can be learned as if they were spells. This is not without risk. For in order to learn these abilities, the mage in question must suffer the effects of the ability, and survive. Blue magic offers advantages that black and white don't have. Attacks of non-elemental, or non-standard elemental type, inflicting status effects not available to other classes, and special defensive abilities. It's a class that would provide an interesting twist to a Retro Phaze game. But there are a few issues that have to be addressed.

First of all, Retro Phaze is based on the Vancian magic system in Final Fantasy I. By the time Final Fantasy II came out, the games switched to a spell point system. In Final Fantasy V, there were still spell levels were still in effect for black, white, time and summon magic, but not for blue magic. So creating a blue magic class would require either assigning levels to certain abilities, or creating a new system just to handle blue magic.

Second, blue magic is learned by suffering it's effects. A blue mage runs the risk of falling in battle from an attack. So we have to come up with a time frame that the mage can be unconscious/dying and still retain the knowledge he has just learned. I believe a good rule of thumb would be one round per three points of Intelligence.

The biggest obstacle would be having to rework the monsters in Retro Phaze to accommodate this new class. This would include adding not only the new abilities, but other attributes such as Strength, Dexterity, even levels for abilities that depend on the target's level of experience. While Retro Phaze's monster section is only eight pages long, it would need expanding to accommodate these changes.

Just as a sample of what I am going on about, here is a small sample of some low level blue (or as I call it, monster) magic.

Level 1 Spells

• GobSmack- Range= 0", Spread = 0", Does 2K1 damage, 4D if the target is the same level as the caster.
• SelfDetonate- Range= 5", Spread= 1", Does damage to the target equal to the caster's remaining hit points.
• SwampSong- Range= 5", Spread= 0", Turns the target into a frog (resistance roll to avoid). This spell also reverses the effect.

Monsters

• Goblin- Level: 1, HD: 1, DF: 7, MV: 5", AT: 1D, Special Ability: -1 to attacks in sunlight, GobSmack once/battle.
• Lesser Bomb Spore- Level 2, HD: 3, DF: 7, MV: 3", AT: 1/2D, Special Ability: SelfDetonate

It's admittedly a work in progress, but it could put a new twist on the game.

Thoughts?

New Monster: Clockwork Lich [Engines & Empires]

Image from Marvel.com

Hey, John Higgins! I got another monster for you.

Practitioners of magic aren't the only ones that try to cheat death. Occasionally, a wily inventor finds a way to extend his life in ways that would turn most peoples stomach. Through a combination of chemical treatments, mechanical enhancements and various medicines, the inventor becomes effectively immortal. However, the result is nothing more than a brain in a jar of chemicals operating a mechanical analogue of a human being. The inventor's voice becomes nothing more than a series of phonograph tubes playing different sounds in a hollow mockery of speech. His senses are now dulled due to the replacements not being as effective as living sense organs. Between the extreme loss of humanity and the alienation of others due to the inventor's horrific appearance, it is no wonder that these beings eventually go mad. These cyborgs, called "clockwork liches" by some, typically reside in their old laboratories as they focus on the only thing that keeps them going, their work.

Clockwork Lich

No. Appearing: 1
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 300' (100')
Armor Class: 0
Hit Dice: as technologist class, minimum of 21st level
Fighting Ability: as technologist class
Damage: 1d10 + special
Save: as technologist class
Morale: 10
Intelligence: High
Hoard Class: Special

The clockwork lich attacks with it's mechanical hands for 1d10 damage plus a special effect depending on what the inventor's primary class. Physicists inflict an electrical shock that stuns the target for 1d4 rounds if a saving throw is failed. Chemists inject a psychotropic compound as per the 2nd degree ability. Biologists inject an anaphylactic agent that causes paralysis for 1d6 rounds unless a saving throw is made.

Clockwork liches are immune to cold, electricity and gasses. Their mechanical bodies are sturdy enough that they can only be damaged by weapons of +1 or greater. Contrary to their misnomer, they are not undead and cannot be turned. Curative magic cast on a clockwork lich will heal it as they do retain biological components. All clockwork liches are built using the kinetic engine degree, which accounts for the creatures movement rate and unarmed damage.

Being technologists, they can an will use technological degrees available per their level. It is not uncommon for clockwork liches to have 1d6 automatons that it can summon via radio. These machines arrive in 2d20 rounds. In a pinch, a clockwork lich may use it's own body to jury rig a device. This can inflicts 1d8 damage to the clockwork lich and can only be used three times a day before risking damaging the clockwork liches subsystems.

Undead Anonymous Week Continues: Vermin

There's something about vermin that makes a person's skin crawl. By definition, vermin are animals regarded as a pest or nuisance in a given geographical area. They are usually able to thrive at the expense of other animals and are associated with filth and disease. It's not unusual to see spider decorations during Halloween, and rats are commonly seen in the dungeons of many castles. Considering the word has it's roots in the Latin word for worm, it is no wonder these things give us the creeps.

Fantasy games has vermin of all sizes. Rats the size of dogs in dungeons, man-sized spiders in the forests catching halflings in their webs, and of course the lowly rot grub. However, these creatures are rarely used to full effect in role-playing. Here are a few thoughts on a few dirty tricks to use when these "monsters" come up.

1. Death from Above- Insects and arachnids are known for climbing up walls. Rats have also been seen crawling along pipes and beams up near the ceiling. If one of these things wanted to attack, the best way to do so would be to drop down on an unsuspecting party. The surprise mechanic is a GMs friend.
2. Getting into Tight Spaces- So that fist-sized spider dropped down and scored a hit on your plate mail-clad fighter. How would the player react when, on the next round, it crawled underneath the breastplate and down the character's chest. Think about how people react when a normal bug is crawling on them, and take it up to 11.
3. Remember the Filth Factor- Disease doesn't get played up in RPGs very much. Possibly because there isn't as much drama in combating the plague as there is trying to find the antidote to a rare poison. But it should be a possibility nonetheless. You don't even have to use it on the PCs right away. For example, their torchbearer could get bitten by a rat and succumb to a disease. The PCs then get to see the effects of the disease first hand without being taken out of the game right away. Then, on the next rat encounter, they may take the fight a bit more seriously.

Again, just another alternative to the living dead. The real world has enough stuff to unnerve us without having to resort to magic. But tomorrow, we look at a spell-slinging class that can fill the role of the Creepy Big Bad that can raise an army in an instant, only without the need to raid of graveyard.

Tomorrow: Summoners!

Undead Anonymous Week Begins: Golems and Other Automatons

Hi, my name is David. I am a GM, and I have overused the undead as adversaries in role-playing games.

I'm sick of zombies.

I'm sick of vampires.

I'm sick of ghouls, which everyone else calls zombies but we know what they really are.

Popular culture has developed an Undead Bubble. The glut of zombie films and vampire romance novels have diluted the concept of the walking dead as a threat. We've seen it all before: get the priest, aim for the head, kill it with fire, yadda yadda yadda. It is amazing how something that by definition is unnatural has become so... mundane. For an RPG, the use of undead in an adventure just doesn't have the same level of menace that it used to. We need something new to put our players on edge. Or at the very least, to use what else is already available to scare the crap out of them.

[September of Short Adventures] Day 15: The Ship of Terror

The Ship of Terror

Synopsis: While traveling on the high seas, the skies above start to get cloudy. The temperature drops suddenly as a feeling of dread overcomes the ship. Members of the crew begin to display a foul attitude and the whispers of mutiny fill the air. And on top of it all, an overall feeling of dread comes over the party. Something is not right.

Background: During some rough waters, an ornate vase decorated with Oriental artwork and symbols overturned and the lid came off. The vase is actually an urn of phantom trapping, and contained a supernatural creature known by those who trapped it as an oni. The oni is a demon that operates on the Prime Material Plane by possessing an individual and using it's powers through its host. It lives to sow misfortune amongst mankind.

The oni has taken possession of the ship's captain, and has been using this disguise to take the ship off course as well as sow dissent with the crew through the overuse of punishment for the smallest offenses. To the party, the oni has been cordial. This way the PCs would be more likely to suspect the most vocal member of the crew as the wrongdoer. If the captain is killed, the oni will simply jump into the next nearest person and continue his work. The only way to stop the mutiny and the eventual deaths of everyone on the ship is to find the possessed individual, force the oni out, and re-trap it in the urn of phantom trapping. If discovered, the oni will run to the cargo hold to retrieve it's kanobou +2 for the final battle (see below).

Monster:

Oni

No. Appearing: 1
Alignment: Chaotic (Evil)
Movement: 240' (80') as an incorporeal spirit, otherwise as host
Armor Class: 0 as spirit, otherwise as host with a +2 bonus
Hit Dice:8
Attacks: 1 (by weapon)
Damage: By Weapon with bonus due to Strength (See Description)
Save: MU 8
Morale: 9
Intelligence: High
Hoard Class: None
XP: 1000

An oni is a demon that lives to cause misfortune. On the Prime Material Plane, the oni appears as a hazy, incorporeal monster standing 8 feet tall with a horned head, fangs and either red or blue skin. In this form, it can do little besides use its summon weather power or to possess a host using an ability similar to the magic jar spell, only the oni does not need an inanimate object to store it's life force.

Once in possession of a body, the oni grants its host incredible strength (18, or 18/00 if your rules uses exceptional strength). In this form, the oni gains access to it's other magical abilities. Once per round the oni can use the following spell-like abilities: cause fear, darkness, putrefy food and water, warp wood and resist fire. Once per turn, the oni may use cause disease, bestow curse, call lightning and control temperature (with a 100' radius). Once per day the oni may use insect plague, control winds, lower water and move earth. If forced into melee combat, the oni prefers to use a large two-handed iron -shod club called a kanobou that does 1d10 damage plus the host's bonus for exceptional strength.

An oni can be forced out by a cleric of at least 8th level. Oni, like undead, can be turned and are treated as vampires for such purposes. A separate turn attempt is needed for exorcising the oni from a host before turning it again to banish it.

New Monster: Chienge

Back in my post about monsters, I discussed the idea of abominations. As I recounted back then:

These are creatures that should not be. Their very existence goes against the natural order of the world. They are twisted mockeries of life. They are formed not by nature but by sorcery, science or both in some cases. Abominations usually come in two varieties; corruptions of an existing lifeform or an attempt to create a new form of life. The former includes the undead and, depending on the campaign setting, orcs and mutants. The latter includes fusion creatures like the owlbear and created life like the golem or robot.

Consider this my newest addition to the list of monsters for your campaign. The chienge (pronounced Shee-Enj) is a cross between a dog and a monkey. The name comes from combining the French names for dog (chien) and monkey (sange). Depending on your point of view, the chienge is either man's best friend merged with man's closest genetic relative, or it's a rabid pit bull that can climb trees. Your call.

The following is designated as Open Game Content per the Open Game License.

Chienge

No. Enc.: Alignment: Movement: Armor Class:    Hit Dice Attacks: Damage: Save Morale Hoard Class: XP:

1d3 (2d4) Neutral 150' (50') 6 1+1 1 (1 bite or by weapon) 1d4 or by weapon Fighter 1 7 None 65

The chienge is a hybrid creature; half-dog, half-monkey. How these creatures are created are unknown. But many sorcerers seek out these creatures as familiars due to their loyalty, intelligence and ferociousness. Their appearance is mostly dog-like, save for their limbs with prehensile paws and a prehensile tail. Chienges can climb objects such as trees at the same rate of speed as they can normally move on land. In combat, they can either attack with a vicious bite or use small weapons in their prehensile paws. Chienges can be trained to use tools in their paws. Their tails can be used to hold small objects and can support their own body weight when hanging upside-down.

O is for Oni

There is something that bugs me about the AD&D Ogre Mage. I think it's because there is an assumption by the game that the Eastern and Western conceptions of the ogre are congruent. While the western conception of the orge is that of a brutish humanoid, roughly larger than a man; the eastern idea is more along the lines of a demon or evil spirit. To me, trying to link the two is like fitting a square peg in a round hole (provided that the length of the square's diagonal is greater than the diameter of the circle). So I think I am going to try to create an oni that fits in more with the eastern interpretation.

According to the internet substitute for real research, Wikipedia, the oni was originally an invisible spirit that caused misfortune. Later influences gave the oni it's current form as a monstrous horned club-wielding demon. So what I am looking at is an evil, corrupting spirit. By itself, it is mostly powerless and vulnerable. But it's true power comes out when it finds a host to exploit to it's fullest potential.

I had hope to have the finished monster ready for this post, but I think I will need some time to work out the details. Consider this issue tabled until I get the concept fully fleshed out.

N is for Necromancy Overload

Forgive the pun, but I think it's time to declare a moratorium on the undead.

Maybe it's the glut of vampires and zombies in pop culture, but I am starting to get tired of the number of undead popping up in fantasy RPGs. I can understand why they are used. There is usually an appropriate undead type for a given campaign level, and energy drain is an effective threat against high-level PCs. But it seems you can't swing a re-animated dead cat without hitting a haunted house, or a mysterious tomb or a necropolis full of the walking dead.

There has got to be something else to challenge the players with. Something that can create the same sense of dread. That's not to say that the undead don't have their place, but I think we need to hold back on using them until they feel special again.

M is for Monsters

This is a post that I have been meaning to write for a while, but I have had a hard time coming up with a good thesis for it. So instead, I'm just going to give a few examples of what I think qualifies as a monster.

Abominations
These are creatures that should not be. Their very existence goes against the natural order of the world. They are twisted mockeries of life. They are formed not by nature but by sorcery, science or both in some cases. Abominations usually come in two varieties; corruptions of an existing lifeform or an attempt to create a new form of life. The former includes the undead and, depending on the campaign setting, orcs and mutants. The latter includes fusion creatures like the owlbear and created life like the golem or robot. Whether or not creatures like these can be redeemed usually depends on the nature of their creation. Accidental creations may not be inherently evil. If the corrupted subject was good in his previous life, that goodness may still exist in his new form. Likewise, beings that are created may not turn against society if they are accepted by at least a few decent people right away. But often, the process that creates the abomination drives it mad, and makes it a danger to all around it.

Aliens
This does not refer to the rubber-forehead variety seen in science-fiction. Rather, this is more about a lifeform whose existence is so radically different from humanity that there is no way for a normal person to relate to it on any given level. These beings may look at humanity as we would look at an unintelligent animal, if we're lucky. This means that the characters are faced with something that is a threat simply because it does not recognize what we are as sentient. We are food/raw materials/pets/whatever to this being, and it will accept no alternative. Especially not equal.

Ever-present Threats
Society has it's share of dangers. These usually are in the form of creatures, or groups of people, that choose to take what it wants from civilization through force. While the dragon that demands a virgin sacrifice or the wyvern that steals the local livestock are the usual staples of this type, ever-present threats include more 'mundane' dangers such as bandits and pirates. The latter groups usually have outlaw status, meaning that they suffer from no protection under the law. This makes it legal for any person to kill, steal or enslave them. In many medieval societies, outlaw status was an effective death sentence. This tends to create a certain mindset in some people. After all, if your rights to life, liberty and property were stripped from you, you too may become a dangerous person, if only out of self-preservation.

Just Plain Evil
A lot of people don't like this category. The idea of someone or something just being evil is one that most people have a problem with. Surely there has to be some extenuating circumstances that has made the villain what he is? While it is true that for some people life sucks, it is also true that some people just don't give a rat's ass about others. Sure they may pull out the 'bad childhood' card every once in a while, but it is usually in order to dupe some naive do-gooder into helping them with their nefarious tasks. These people are self-centered assholes that will do whatever it takes to get what they want. Some are overgrown bullies that are in desperate need of an ass-kicking, others are master manipulators that manage to convince other to do their dirty work for them. The worst part of these types is that some of them don't even see themselves as being evil. Instead, they believe that they are performing a 'greater good' with the death and destruction they sow. The ones that know they are evil tend to be a bit more sadistic as they play with the lives of others. This type of monster is as likely to be a normal human as they are a fanged creature from the netherworld. A fact that makes this category one of the scariest.

By no means is this a definitive list of monster types. There usually is some overlap between categories. As I mentioned in the beginning, I had a hard time coming up with this post, hence the unfocused nature of it. I'm sure others may be able to come up with other categories, or better examples for each category. So it begs the question, what do you think?