Frogling

And the work continues...

One of the "extras" in the TTT (Tome of Terrors and Treasures) will have some humanoid races listed with a playable character option!  So if you wanted to have Bugbear, Gnoll or Frogling characters you could! Most of these races have no EN, but of course a Referee could always over rule that.  So here is a sneak peak at the Frogling:

FROGLING

Encounter: 1d6                             Behavior: Territorial (12)

ST: 6-9                                         Habitat: Jungle, Marshes

DX: 10                                         AR: -2

IQ: 8                                            DM: 1d6 (Dagger or Javelin)

EN: 0                                           SP: Hold Breath

MV: 4/8 leap/ 6 swim                     TR:Pocket, Pack

Frogling's are 3'-4' tall amphibious humanoids that resemble frogs. Known to be of gentle spirit and even temperament, they are respected by all races. They are fond of gathering knowledge, telling stories and love to sing. The deep croaking voices of the Frogling do take awhile to appreciate when in song.

Frogling's live in small clan habitations of domed huts made of mud, lily pads and grasses. While this may sound dreary they are actually quiet cheery and green with the constant curves and rounded nature of architecture providing a peaceful and happy feeling. A typical village will be found near rivers, ponds, lakes and wetlands. In any clan two or three will be wizards with 1d6 spells each, while the rest will be adventurers.  

Frogling prefer only cloth armor or clothing and will rarely wear leather, and never metal armor. They will use shields as these can be discarded if the need to swim or leap arises.

Froglings are fond of wet climates and locations. They will avoid desert areas or dry areas. In such environments where the frogling may dry out it suffers 1d6 ST damage per hour. Salt water is equally unpleasant to froglings and they suffer 1 pt of damage per minute they are exposed (immersed) in salt water.

SPECIAL

Hold Breath: A frogling can swim underwater and hold its breath a number of turns equal to 2xST

FROGLING AS CHARACTERS

Frogling characters possess the following racial traits as a base.

— ST -2, DX +2, IQ +0, No EN.

—Natural AR-1

—Medium size.

—Special: Hold Breath

—Favored Class: Adventurer.

Currently (w/o the treasure portion) this beast is 300 pages!  HOLY CRAP!  There is still a lot of editing and work to do but I wanted to give you a sense of how big this sucker is going to end up being and you can see why this is taking a lot of time!  More coffee and back to work...  

Snake Bomb

In 190 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal won a  surprise victory against King Eumenes II of Pergamon. Although vastly outnumbered, Hannibal had an ingenious strategy. Short on other weapons, Hannibal filled clay pots full of venomous snakes. 

During the proceeding naval battle, Hannibal's forces fired hundreds of clay pots filled with the poisonous snakes against Pergamon's navy. Between the snakes and Hannibal's fighters, his army scored a resounding victory.

Snake Bombs in your game

This seems like the perfect kind of weapon to be used by bandits in a desert/jungle environment. They ambush a caravan by launching snake bombs into the caravan scattering everyone and then picking off distracted guards. Or maybe by weaker (but dexterous) creatures like kobolds and goblins who use them to defend their treasures, forts, or as a disruption tool to scatter and break up a stronger, cohesive opponent.

In general a pot should be considered to contain 1d6+1 poisonous snakes.  It can be thrown 1/4 ST in distance (minimum 1) or if launched through some sort of trebuchet/catapult contraption, it would have a minimum distance of 50' and a maximum of 1500'.  

A goblin or kobold slingshot style launcher (4 creature crew) could launch a pot min 30' maximum 150'.

If dropping a snake bomb from above it will break upon impact and the snakes attack the next turn after being released from the broken pot.

The goal is not a direct hit on a target, but an indirect shot that hits near targets and "explodes" the pot open sending snakes all over. The snakes will scatter within 1 space of the "explosion" space. They will attack any target in or adjacent to their spot the turn AFTER they have "exploded" out of the jar.  

This snake bomb creates a deadly distraction as the foes must shift their attention to the new immediate threat. giving the launchers a chance to run or overwhelm their confused and distracted foes.

How to

To capture a snake and handle it requires a 3/DX roll to catch it w/o being bitten! Failure mean the snake can roll to attack immediately!  A character with animal handling skill can apply that skill to this test.

No more than 7 can be put in the same pot and they will survive for 1d6+1 days in the pot.

Smiling from the undergrond

After a lot of time flying on business the past few days (finished 3 books while flying!) I have taken time off and plan on 3-4 solid days of uninterrupted work on the monster/treasure book this weekend. With my wife out of town for a few days I should have nothing but hardcore focused writing to fill my days. 

She's about 70% done with the cover image and its coming along nicely!  I asked and she is not wanting me to post an image yet as I asked for some revisions. Sorry, but I think it should be worth the wait!

So with a smile from the basement, the pale glow of a monitor illuminating the dark, the calming sounds of various baroque composers in the background and a pot of coffee to keep me rolling, the work continues.

Fight or Flight revisited

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Well at Heroes & Other Worlds HQ (besides working on the monster book) I have worked on the Fight or Flight idea some more.  Thanks to lots of great input and some play-testing encounters I would like to humbly present a new take on Fight or Flight (morale) rules for your consideration:

Summary of FoF idea:

1)      Chance of Fight or Flight is based on the creatures behavior

2)      That number is a 3 die test-roll: under or equal means fight/roll over means flight

3)      A FoF Test occurs whenever:

A)      A member of the creature's side is killed

B)      A creature takes a total of 30+ damage in one turn

C)      The Referee decides to make one.

Making a test

The creature's behavior gives it the FoF #

• Cowardly (7)
• Unpredictable (10)
• Territorial (13)
• Aggressive (16)

Test is made by rolling 3 dice and comparing to the Behavior Number . (This is noted as 3/B#)

Rolling equal to or under the Behavior Number (B#) means the creature will continue to fight

Rolling over the B# means the creature will flee.

Fleeing

A fleeing creature and will move its full movement each turn away from its foes.  If it is cornered or unable to flee:

•  A Cowardly creature will surrender
• For Unpredictable creature roll 1d6: 1-3 it surrenders or 4-6 it fights  
• Territorial or Aggressive will turn and fight desperately.  It will attack at DX+1 and -1 IQ until it is able to flee or is killed.

NOTES

I want to make special note of testing option B) A creature taking 30 pts of damage in one turn. 

That means a coordinated party attack against a major high ST foe (Dragon, Frost Giant, etc.)  So rather than figuring ST levels and rolling, I used a massive damage done to influence the creature FoF roll for major creatures.

CHART ALTERNATE OPTION

As an alternative, here is an optional reaction chart. You could roll 2d6 on this chart (rather than test 3/B#) whenever a FoF test is necessary. In this version, when to make a FoF test is the same, but a DRM is applied to the 2d6 roll based on the creature's behavior:

• Cowardly +3 DRM
• Unpredictable: +1 DRM
• Territorial: -1 DRM
• Aggressive: -3 DRM

2d6 Roll              Reaction
 2- 5           Continues fighting, no reaction
 6-7            Hesitates, will not engage voluntarily this turn, but otherwise fights normally.
 8-9            Hesitates, will not take any attack option this turn.
 10-11       Break and run, will try to disengage and/or run off map away from danger.
 12+           Surrender - opponent drops to knees, drops weapons and tries to surrender.

Let me know what you think. 

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Chew on this

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Thanks to all the great feedback, I thought I would post the revised shark entry so you can see how a multi-range creature might read. Feel free to let me know if things look off or need changing.

 

SHARK

Encounter: 1d6                                 Behavior: Aggressive

ST: 14-45                                         Habitat: Water

DX: 10                                             AR: -2

IQ: 5                                                DM: 2d6-4d6 (Bite)

EN: 0                                               SP: Blindsense, Keen Scent

MV: 7-9 swim                                 TR: None

These carnivorous fish are aggressive and liable to make unprovoked attacks against anything that approaches them. Smaller sharks are from 5 to 8 feet long (ST14-20/ 2d6 bite) and not usually dangerous to creatures other than their prey. Large sharks can reach around 15 feet in length and are a serious threat (ST 21-35/3d6 bite). Huge sharks are true monsters, like great whites, that can exceed 20 feet in length (ST36-45/4d6 bite). Sharks circle and observe potential prey, then dart in and bite with their powerful jaws.

 

SPECIAL

Blindsense: A shark can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works only when the shark is underwater.

Keen Scent: A shark can notice creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius and detect blood in the water at ranges of up to a mile.

Creature Question

When giving stats for a creature with multiple size like a shark which can be Medium,  Large, or Huge...which is better?

One entry with a broad range such as

SHARKS

Encounter: 1d6                      Behavior: Aggressive

ST:14 -45                              Habitat:Water

DX: 9-10                               AR: -2

IQ: 5-6                                  DM: 2d6 to 4d6(Bite)

EN: 0                                    SP: None

MV: 7-9 Swim                        TR: None

Or individual entries for each size? Note the creature description will state the creature comes in various sizes

Preview: Cloaker

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I had a request--"can you give us a sneak peek of what's to come in the monster book?" Below is a look at the current proposed creature entry format.  If you have comments/concerns or suggestions feel free to let me know! 

CLOAKER

No: 1d6                 Behavior: Cowardly

ST: 35-48              Habitat: Underground

DX: 11                 AR: -1

IQ: 6                    DM:1d6+5 (claws), 1d6 (tail)

EN: 0                   SP: Engulf

MV: 2/5 fly            TR: None

When resting or lying in wait, these creatures are almost impossible to distinguish from common black cloaks (the cloaker’s ivory claws look very much like bone clasps). Only when it unfurls does the horrific nature of the creature become apparent. A cloaker has a wingspan of about 8 feet. It weighs about 100 pounds.

COMBAT

Cloakers usually lie still, watching and listening for prey. If facing a single opponent, a Cloaker uses its engulf attack. Against multiple foes, it lashes with its tail, then engulfs a survivor. Multiple Cloakers usually split up, leaving one or two behind to use special abilities while the rest make melee attacks.

SP: Engulf: A Cloaker can try to wrap a Human sized or smaller creature in its body as an action. The Cloaker attempts a grapple.. If it wins the grapple test, it establishes a hold and bites the engulfed victim with a DX+4 bonus on its attack roll. It can still use its whip-like tail to strike at other adjacent targets. Attacks that hit an engulfing Cloaker deal half their damage to the monster and half to the trapped victim. Cloaked victim's AR applies to damage done while engulfed.

Quick note on Fight or Flight options.  I really appreciate all the great feedback! I have not been responding as I have been play testing various options.  So do not take silence as a lack of interest, it just means I am trying to play through it all to see what works!

Thanks all for your support and patience!