It is always nice to see...

...when your creations are talked about. In two recent ENWorld threads, MoogleEmpMog talked about my Brainstealer Dragons, which appeared in Dragon #337.

Though as great as this is, there is a downside - the brainstealer dragons are so popular that they drowned out the other four monsters in the article: Illithocytes, Mind Worms, Nerve Swimmers and Ustilagors. Show them other brain nibblers some love!



Ewww I think that came out wrong.

Kind of envious

For quite some time, Eric Burns of Websnark fame managed to post meaningful, long posts on Websnark, daily. Each and every day. Not anymore, but that's beside the point. I just want to know how he did it. ;)

Part II of the Worldbuilding post is approximately halfway done, I think.

Semi-Random Crunch - Unleash Aspect of Creativity

While I compose the coming updates, here's a spell to enjoy.

Unleash Aspect of Creativity
Conjuration (Creation) [Aspect]
Level: Bard 5
Components: V, S, (DF), XP
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect: One created creature
Duration: 1 hour/level
This spell extracts your imagination and enhances it, forming it into an aspect of your creativity. The aspect appears as a creature almost identical to you, and its statistics are based on yours. It receives a +10 insight bonus to a single Craft, Perform or Profession skill, chosen at the time of casting.
The aspect of creativity suffers a –10 penalty on all attack rolls, and can only cast Conjuration (Creation) spells, Illusion (all except shadow) spells, and Transmutation spells that target objects. The aspect and you share the same prepared spells or available spell slots, as appropriate. If the aspect casts a spell, it is expended just as if you cast it. Aspects cannot cast spells with the Aspect descriptor.
The aspect has equipment appropriate to the skill it receives the bonus to, and basic clothing. The aspect and all its equipment dissipate at the end of the spell.
For the duration of the spell, you suffer a –2 penalty to all mental ability scores. If the aspect of creativity is killed, the spell ends, and you suffer 2 points of ability drain to all mental ability scores. If you are killed, the spell ends immediately.
XP Cost: 50 XP

Otu's Monster Makeovers - The bodak

Inspired by Mike Mearls' Monster Makeover articles over at Wizards.com (namely the rust monster and the ogre mage, soon to be followed by the mind flayer), and previously posted on ENWorld, the bodak.

Old SRD stats:
BODAK
Medium Undead (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (58 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Death gaze
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity, resistance to acid 10 and fire 10, undead traits, vulnerability to sunlight
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Listen +11, Move Silently +10, Spot +11
Feats: Alertness, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (slam)
Environment: A chaotic evil-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary or gang (2–4)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 10–13 HD (Medium); 14–27 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

Bodaks are the undead remnants of humanoids who have been destroyed by the touch of absolute evil.
A bodak retains fleeting memories of its past life and can speak Common (or some other humanoid language).

COMBAT
Death Gaze (Su): Death, range 30 feet, Fortitude DC 15 negates. Humanoids who die from this attack are transformed into bodaks 24 hours later. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Vulnerability to Sunlight (Ex): Bodaks loathe sunlight, for its merest touch burns their impure flesh. Each round of exposure to the direct rays of the sun deals 1 point of damage to the creature.

---

Bodaks are supposed to have been destroyed by the touch of absolute evil. They have a bit of a glass jaw if their Death Gaze doesn't kill their foes, and a DC of 15 isn't that hard to make. If it doesn't gain a benefit from the death gaze, it turns into something of a sitting duck, with little ability to do anything (a single slam for 1d8+1?! Come on!).

My re-interpretation comes from the angle that bodaks are destroyed by that touch of absolute evil - they effectively become the fingers of that absolute evil. First off, let's remove the death gaze, and replace it by something similar.

Presence of Absolute Evil (Su): The Bodak exudes an aura that hints at the darkness that created it and haunts any living creature near it. Every creature within 60 feet of the bodak suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
Intensify Presence (Su): As a swift action, the bodak can intensify the aura for one round, increasing the penalties to -6. Good creatures in the area must make a Fortitude save (DC X) or be nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds. Once the bodak uses this ability, it cannot use it again for 5 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.

The Presence ability will almost always impact the fight, and can hit stronger if necessary. It can also be more powerful against good characters if intensified. However, now it doesn't really have a "kill" ability, and is still stuck with the measly 1d8+1. In fact, its very stats are a bit lacking, so I'll up them a bit. Now, for the kill ability, I'll return to the idea that bodaks are essentially "fingers" of the absolute evil.
Touch of Absolute Evil (Su): The touch and the natural attacks of a bodak transfer bone-chilling evil, capable of corrupting any foe to the bones. Any creature hit by a bodak must make a Fortitude save (DC X) or take 1 point of ability damage to all abilities. Evil creatures get a +2 circumstance bonus to this save. If any of the victim's ability scores drops to 0, it dies. 24 hours later, it rises as a bodak without its special attacks - it gains them after a week has passed since its creation. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Of course, this new bodak is no longer the silent ambusher, capable of killing the unsuspecting. It is more of an agent of evil, and as such should have different skills and feats, and a better speed. To round things out, I'll add an ability for better survivability (reducing the DR to compensate), and make a few more flavor tweaks (why resistance/immunity to fire/electricity if sunlight weakens it?). I feel the end result might easily be a CR 9, but that has to be determined by playtesting.

---

Semi-Final Stats:

BODAK
Medium Undead (Extraplanar, Evil)
Hit Dice: 9d12+9+27 (94 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 22 (+4 Dex, +8 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+7
Attack: Slam +8 melee (2d6+3, touch of absolute evil)
Full Attack: Slam +8 melee (2d6+3, touch of absolute evil)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Intensify Presence, Presence of Absolute Evil, Touch of Absolute Evil
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/good and cold iron, darkvision 60 ft., force into the world, immunity to cold, resistance to acid 10 and sonic 10, turn resistance +2, undead traits, vulnerability to sunlight
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +7
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 19, Con —, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills: Intimidate +15, Listen +13, Spot +13
Feats: Ability Focus (Touch of Absolute Evil), Improved Initiative, Improved Toughness, Weapon Focus (slam)
Environment: A chaotic evil-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary or hand (2–5)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil (any)
Advancement: 10–13 HD (Medium); 14–27 HD (Large), or by class level
Level Adjustment: —

Bodaks are the undead remnants of humanoids who have been destroyed by the touch of absolute evil.
A bodak retains fleeting memories of its past life and can speak Common (or some other humanoid language).

COMBAT
Presence of Absolute Evil (Su): The Bodak exudes an aura that hints at the darkness that created it and haunts any living creature near it. Every creature within 60 feet of the bodak suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks.
Intensify Presence (Su): As a swift action, the bodak can intensify the aura for one round, increasing the penalties to -6. Good creatures in the area must make a Fortitude save (DC 17) or be nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds. Once the bodak uses this ability, it cannot use it again for 5 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Touch of Absolute Evil (Su): The touch and the natural attacks of a bodak transfer bone-chilling evil, capable of corrupting any foe to the bones. Any creature hit by a bodak must make a Fortitude save (DC 19) or take 1 point of ability damage to all abilities. Evil creatures get a +2 circumstance bonus to this save. If any of the victim's ability scores drops to 0, it dies. 24 hours later, it rises as a bodak without its special attacks - it gains them after a week has passed since its creation. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Vulnerability to Sunlight (Ex): Bodaks loathe sunlight, for its merest touch burns their impure flesh. Each round of exposure to the direct rays of the sun deals 1 point of damage to the creature.
Force into the World (Ex): The bodak gets bonus hit points equal to its Hit Dice times its Charisma bonus (if any). It literally forces itself into the world by its sheer power of spirit.

Underappreciated World Building Tools - Classes I

With the perception that there is a glut of base classes released for d20/D&D, it seems that people lose sight of one fundamental aspect of what base classes are. They are not "just" building blocks for characters, be they PCs or NPCs. Like races, they are fundamental building blocks of the entire world.
It may seem like stating the obvious, but few games have room for all base classes currently available even from WotC. Deciding which classes are available - and to whom! - can easily set tone, flavor, dynamics, and mechanics of everything in your game. Even seemingly basic classes have a profound effect.
Just looking at the classes available from the core rules, there are multiple influences on your game world that are worthy of being closely examined.

1. PC classes versus NPC classes. If you use both kinds of classes, you send a very clear message, namely that there are two tiers of characters- weak, standard, characters, and elites. Duh, you say. Yes, it is obvious, and makes sense. And you don't necessarily need both sets of classes for that effect. If there are no PC classes, the powerful characters simply have more levels, and vice versa. If there are no NPC classes, everyone has the potential to be a hero. But wait, there's more.


1. The commoner class. The most basic of the NPC classes, and the weakest. Surely it must exist? Well, what happens if it doesn't? For many creatures, nothing. Typically, only humanoids use it, and only those advance more than one level in commoner. The class could easily be replaced by giving a single Humanoid HD to the affected creatures as a standard, to be replaced by class Hit Dice. This makes the "commoners" of a world hardier, but to better excel at what they do, they need to advance as an expert.
   
2. The adept class. This class is a bit of an oddity, as there is no easily-found counterpart among the PC classes for it. The adept is part druid, part wizard, and due to the mixing of the spell list, has his own flavor. As the basic spellcaster, his presence or absence can have profound impact on the peoples' views of magic. Used verbatim, the adept is essentially a traditional witch, or a hedge wizard, in Vancian form, with healing abilities, curses, weather magic, and a familiar. As such, magic would seem a very mixed blessing to the rural folk the adept will most likely have contact with. Having this adept class in the campaign should invite many of the common superstitions about wizards cursing people who displease them, and keeping the elements at their whim. Spellcasters of any kind would be approached for healing or crop blessing by the common folk, as "that's what the hedge wizard here does, too." The adept is essentially a gift from heaven for the world builder, and changing what he does can greatly enhance the world.
   
3. Expert versus Aristocrat versus Warrior. This set of classes is a pretty natural progression from flexible skill-user, to skill warrior, to pure warrior. This allows NPCs to cover all, or at least most, non-supernatural basics. Though there is some implied flavor in the aristocrat class, it can mimic a "lesser" ranger or paladin just as well as a noble, swashbuckler or barbarian once you look past the name. If NPC classes exist, expert and warrior should definitely be among them.
   


2. PC classes versus Ability classes. Ability classes as they are used in d20 Modern can prove a flavor-stumbling block for a few people. Rather than clear-cut archetypes, you have broad ability sets. Rather than being defined by what they do, they are defined by what they can. Yet, the classes are just as archetypal as the more comfortably-known D&D classes once you look at the setting of the game - the modern world. In a D&D world, there may be knights and wizards, assassins and priests adventuring, while farmers till the field. Archetypes that lend themselves to certain mechanics. But in the modern world, there are far too many potential archetypes to be comfortably been given classes and distinct mechanics. There may be militaries, construction workers, truckers, librarians, college students, hackers, occultists, celebrities, and tons more. Some could get classes. Most couldn't ("I'm a 5th level student now!" - "I'm a 5th level scientist, but have absolutely no student levels. Shouldn't I have some?"). Putting much more emphasis on what the characters can has a similar effect as removing NPC classes - everyone has the potential for greatness, for being a hero or villain, and adds an element of uncertainty about the abilities of the people you meet.


1. Ability classes and a bad ability score. One of the biggest stumbling blocks in accepting the ability classes is the fact that you can have a weak Strong Hero, or a dumb Smart Hero, at least compared to their colleages. What may seem like a flaw can be a great opportunity instead. Rather than having an all-purpose scientist with high Intelligence and tons of Knowledge skills, you can have a dedicated scientist with the Savant talent and a level of Dedicated for Skill Emphasis. He doesn't know as much as his colleages do about other fields, but knows a lot about his chosen field.
   


3. Base Classes versus Prestige Classes. The age old discussion. What should be a base class, and what shouldn't be? Back in my first post on this topic, I said that it depends on the game world on how specific a base class can be. Many point to Paladin and Blackguard as an example - if one is a PrC, the other should be as well. There is good logic in that statement, but having them separate sends an interesting message about the game world: The Champions of Good are born. The Champions of Evil are made. To become an active force of Evil (not just evil), you have to, more or less, pursue that goal, whereas a Champion of Good might have been a simple farm girl until she receives a vision from her god and sets out to fight for Good. While this distinction wasn't planned by the original design team to the best of my knowledge, such distinctions should be kept in mind when creating a campaign world.
   

Let's try this again, shall we?

I kind of abandoned this thing, but contents update are following this one.

:o