Old Campaigns: Brython Map

I've been too busy to post, so I thought I would upload this old campaign map that I made. It was printed on colored stationary so that the minor color differences wouldn't show at all. The villains of the setting were a circle of knights that has betrayed an Arthuresque figure. Their coats of arms are visible on the map, indicating what areas they controlled.

The campaign features bandit knights, Tamlin, a Christianity cognate sweeping away pagan religions from a fantastic British isles, St. Brandon, and a really cool dragon that deserves its own update. The monsters on the map are taken from the Carta Marina, a 16th-century ancient map of northwestern Europe that should be required viewing for all d&d players. I would draw your attention in particular to the creature near the bottom of my version of the map: it's a 16th-century cartographer's version of a whale!

Two convincingly immoral organizations

I find many of the evil organizations in rpgs to be one-dimensional and cliche, so I tried to write a couple that were a little more complicated.

The Jackals
These religious devotees wear shrouds stolen from corpses and rub their bodies with cremation ash. They hold that good and evil are really the same thing. Indeed, they believe that all things are one.

By ritually embracing pollution in the form of cannibalism, they are revealing the illusory nature of the social taboos against it and, by extension, all other taboos and moral categorizations. They seek power and, when they obtain it, seek to find even more power, because they believe that the accumulation of enough power will allow them to escape birth and rebirth on the outer planes as petitioners.

The order does not fear the afterlife because they believe that, since all things are one, the various lower planes and upper planes are really the same place, and torment is the same as pleasure.

The Cult of Great Worm

A religion that venerates a temporal deity, these cultists cultivate mulberry forests and wear ceremonial garbs of the finest silk. Their deity is a vast, nearly immobile, man-devouring worm that the cult believes will pupate into a great deity once it has been fed enough.

Eons ago a great deity -the cultists would say the greatest deity- perished, and Great Worm spawned in the rotting, divine cadaver. Back then, it was as small as a man. Immortal and invulnerable, it remained until men were created, and fed upon them. Eventually, it grew too large to hunt for itself, but did not starve to death nor diminish in size.

Centuries later, a tribe of men began to worship it and draw power from it, despite its apparent lack of intelligence or acknowledgement of this worship. In gratitude for these gifts, the tribe would feed its enemies to Great Worm, who would not eat any food save the flesh of men. This tribe was the ancestor of the current-day order.

Great Worm is now so large that his slightest movement causes tremors in the earth, and still he has not spun a cocoon, nor pupated. He resides amidst a vast mulberry forest, his maw opening and closing, dripping filthy poison. One of these days, the cult maintains, he will finally be sated, and spin a vast cocoon of fine silk. What will emerge from that cocoon, nobody can say.

Hungry Idol

Unrelated to my ongoing collaboration with Tim about urban monsters, I present this:

Hungry Idol (construct)
A stone idol to a false deity can sometimes become animate by the power of the blood sacrificed to it. This stone idol leaks blood from its maw as it seeks to fill its endless hunger.

Init +4
Speed 4
HP 85
AC 17
F +10 R +4 W+4

Bite or Slam +10
Dmg 1d8 (claw), 1d12 (bite)
-Any creature hit by the claw attack must Fort DC 18 or fall prone.
-Any creature hit by the bite attack must Will DC 18 or be unable to attack or use a touch spell against the hungry idol while adjacent to it, for one hour. A victim of this power may still use a reach weapon to attack it. This is a fear-based, mind effect.

Bloodlust: If any PC is reduced to 0 hp or less by the hungry idol's bite attack, it immediately heals 30 damage.

Resistances/Immunities: The hungry idol enjoys DR 5 and energy resistance 10 against acid, cold, electricity, and fire. It lacks a biology and has only the most rudimentary mind and so is immune to physiological or mind effects.

Draft: Beyond Good and Evil

This is a piece of draft, but I thought it was worth publishing here, as is, before I codify the whole thing into a PDF or whatever. I'm pretty sure that it's better than Monte Cook's "nipple clamps of agony" or whatever campy schlock he was churning out when he wrote his Book of Vile Darkness. I haven't checked for spelling, style, or game balance yet, so don't be too cruel about that. This part deals with the basic abilities that especially good or evil characters derive from their (im)morality.
~~~
Whether or not you are using alignment rules, there exist stronger spiritual states than those found amongst the populace. A man may be good but not a saint, while a criminal may be evil yet not a pawn of infernal powers. These moral states of being fall into three categories, thus:

State of Innocence: You have an alignment (or perhaps not) but are not yet so strongly moral or immoral as to be spiritually elevated or degenerate. Most creatures fall into this category.

State of Sin: You have willfully committed crimes so great that it is almost impossible for you to make penance. You derive great power from your rejection of morality and indulgence in wickedness.

State of Virtue: You have spiritually perfected yourself, or nearly so, and exist in a morally exalted state. You are filled with righteousness and mindful peace.

Inherently aligned creatures such as celestials and fiends are considered to exist in a perpetual state of virtue or sin, as appropriate, but do not gain any of the benefits listed below --they already have abilities generated by their spiritual state, and are largely incapable of changing their morality. They made their moral choices while still alive, and are now spiritually unchanging.

Pure Virtues
The following are actions that are always morally positive in game worlds, and so much so that they may cause a creature to enter a state of virtue.
-Joining a righteous crusade declared by the head of a good religion, against an evil foe.
-Embarking upon a distant pilgrimage to a major religious site.
-Living a virtuous life and being visited in a sacred vision by good deities or their servants. Often this will happen following one being morally tested, and passing.
-Sacrificing one's life, or attempting to do the same, to save innocents from death.

Mortal Sins
The following are actions that are always morally negative in game worlds, and so much so that they may cause a creature to enter a state of sin. Alas, it is much easier to enter a state of mortal sin than to enter a state of virtue.
-Violently murdering a sentient creature for selfish, earthly reasons.
-Torturing or mutilating a sentient creature for selfish, earthly reasons.
-Violent rape or similarly repugnant sex crimes.
-Desecration of a powerfully consecrated religious site or object.
-The entering of a pact offered by

Changing One's Moral State
When a virtuous or sinful creature reverts to a state of innocence, it loses a level as though it had died and been brought back to life. This may be brought about by grossly violating the general tenets of one's state or by choosing to participate in certain rituals. This does not prevent the adoption of future moral states.

Virtues and Malices by Level
1-3: 1 Minor
4-6: 1 Major, 1 Minor
7-10: 1 Greater, 1 Major, 1 Minor
11-13: 1 Greater, 2 Major
14-16: 2 Greater, 1 Major
17-20: 3 Greater

When one exists in a state of virtue or sin, one draws tangible strength from one's morality or lack thereof. These manifest in the form of virtues and malices, specific benefits that may be chosen. These increase in number and power as one increases in level. Whenever one enters a new bracket, one may re-choose one's virtues or malices.

Minor Virtues

Battle Martyr
Once per day, you may divert an attack aimed at an adjacent creature to you, instead. The attack is treated as though you were its intended target.

Charitable Virtue
You may cast cure light wounds a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Easy Passage
Traveling between this world and the afterlife is getting easier and easier for you. When you lose a level because of being raised (or resurrected, etc), you lose less experience points. Your experience total is still reduced enough to make you a level lower, but you also add 10% of the experience needed to reattain the lost level. Each time you die and are raised or otherwise returned from the dead, this amount increases by 10%, to a maximum of 10% times your CHA MOD or 90% (whichever is lower).

Everyman's Blessing
Once per day, you may cast bless as a move action. You perform this casting as though a cleric of your level and do not suffer a spell failure chance due to armor.

Halo
You enjoy a +1 bonus to your saving throws.

Lakewalker
If you desire, you may walk over liquid or nearly liquid surfaces as though they were solid. This includes water, mud, quicksand, and even magma, though in the last case radiant heat may still be a problem. In the case of rough weather, footing may still be a problem.

Moral Clarity
You enjoy a bonus to your initiative equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Pious Virtue
You enjoy a bonus to saving throws equal to your Wisdom modifier against spells and spell-like effects.


Major Virtues

Above It All
You are so pure that to touch the ground would sully your virtue. You continually walk about two inches off of the ground without generating pressure, allowing you to bypass hazardous terrain such as webbing or spikes, as well as avoid pressure-triggered traps. You are also effectively invisible to the Tremorsense ability, and enjoy a +4 bonus to move silently checks and checks to avoid falling prone (including trip attacks). You still fall if there is nothing beneath you, and can still come in contact with the ground if you are somehow forced to (such as when you are successfully tripped).

Anamaya
Your presence is anathema to lesser illusions. Any invisibility effects of third level or lower are automatically suppressed within thirty feet of you, as are the following spells or spell-like effects: blur, mirror images, displacement, and darkness.

Compassionate Faith
You are healed when you cast any of the cure spells on another creature. In addition to the normal effects of the cure spell upon their target, you are healed 50% of the hp that you restore (round down).

Eternal Light
When you die, your unquenchable spirit finds another body if you are not raised within 24 hours (or after another, specific, span of time chosen by you at the moment of death). You automatically reincarnate yourself, as per the spell. You still suffer all the negative effects of being reincarnated.

Nimbus
You enjoy a bonus to your AC equal to your CHA MOD against attacks from sinful creatures.

Thrice Blessed
Three times per day, you may cast bless as a move action. You perform this casting as though you are a cleric of your character level.


Greater Virtues

Heaven-Bound
You enjoy a permanent protection from evil spell upon yourself. Any effect that plane-shifts you against your will, instead plane-shifts you to a single good-aligned outer plane of your choice (chosen when this virtue is taken).

I Am Become Death
You have much to do among the living, and are not ready to enter the afterlife. When you are raised from the dead by any means, this virtue allows you to permanently and irrevocably lower your CON score by 1 in lieu of losing a level. You cannot use this virtue if you perished from ability damage, nor if your CON score is 1.

Odor of Sanctity
You and any allies within 10 feet of you enjoy a +3 bonus to your saving throws against area of effect spells and breath weapons. Should you perish, this effect remains about your corpse for a week, assuming that your cadaver remains in relatively good condition. If your cadaver is subject to a gentle repose spell, this effect may persist for up to a month.

Petal Step
Flowers bloom in your every footstep, and plant life flourishes in the light of your presence. Every 5' space you enter becomes covered with lush plant or fungal life. Though you are easily tracked, your abundance of life energy fills your spells. Any cure spells that you cast are automatically empowered, per the empower spell virtue.

Radiance
You enjoy a +3 bonus to your saving throws.

Shining Soul
Your maximum hit points increases by your Charisma (not Charisma modifier).

Too Peaceful To Strike
You may cast sanctuary upon yourself as a move action, at will. You perform this casting as though you are a cleric of your character level.


Minor Malices

Butcher of Lives
Your melee attacks permanently mutilate and disfigure. In addition to your normal damage, you semi-permanently lower the target's maximum hit point total by 1. These hit points may only be restored by the following spells: restoration, heal, and regenerate. Keep track of these lost hit points.

Calculated Cruelty
You may use your INT MOD instead of your STR MOD when determining the damage caused by your melee attacks.

Lifedrinker
You are invigorated by suffering. Whenever you threaten a critical hit with a melee attack or touch spell, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your level. These hit points fade after an hour.

Malicious Impiety
You enjoy a bonus to saving throws equal to your Constitution modifier against spells and spell-like effects.

Malicious Mutilation
You have brutally disfigured yourself at the behest of evil powers. Your Charisma is permanently lowered by 2, but another ability score of your choice is permanently increased by 1.

Malicious Talons
Your hands have been warped so as to give you a natural claw attack. It inflicts 1d6 damage, threatens a critical hit from 19-20, and has a x3 critical multiplier. Cosmetically, the claws may be bone spurs, iron nails, or even just your normal hands.

Tonic Glutton
You may quaff a potion as a move action. Drinking potions does not cause you to draw an attack of opportunity. You may drink two potions as a standard action that does not draw an attack of opportunity.

Touch of Hellfire
Any time you use an area of effect spell or spell-like effect, or other area of effect ability that inflicts fire damage, it inflicts an additional +5 damage.

Vitriolic Wounds
Any creatures injured by your natural attacks do not heal naturally for the next week.

Who Dares Wins
You enjoy a bonus to your initiative equal to your INT modifier.


Major Malices

Apophatic Existence
You are anathema to divine creatures and their minions. You cannot benefit from divine spells, and are completely immune to them. However, this provides you with a great deal of protection against priestly spells. You suffer only half damage from damage-causing divine spells, and may make a new save each round against any offensive divine spell with a duration. You cannot profess a religion other than those that involve the destruction of all deities.

Aura of Filth
You foul the air around you with pestilence. Spells and effects that restore lost hit points are only 50% effective within a thirty foot radius of you, including on you. Additionally, any creature that is injured by one of your natural attacks must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 plus your level) or suffer a curse. For the next week, spells and effects that restore lose hit points are only 50% effective on the target.

Brimstone
The distinct whiff of brimstone is apparent whenever you are near. You enjoy Fire Resistance 10, or increase any existing fire resistance by 10.

Carrion Curse
You may restore damage to yourself by consuming the freshly dead bodies of humanoids. The bodies must have perished within the past hour. Consuming such a body requires a single minute, be it because you are able to glut yourself at an unnatural rate, or because you sate yourself with the most restorative portions of the body. Each body that you so consume heals five hit points of damage. If you take this malice, you no longer heal naturally over time.

Contaminating Claws
Any medium humanoid slain by your natural attacks raises as a flesh-hungry zombie on the following turn. The zombie is not under your control but will not attack you. Otherwise, it will attempt to kill any living creatures that it can. The DM may find it convenient to use the following abridged/modified statistics:
Zombie: Speed 6, ATT +5 bite, dmg 5, AC 10, HP 20, saving throws +6; suffers double damage from area of effect spells and abilities.

Graveyard Step
Once per day as a standard action you may dimension door to any location within fifty feet. You must not be grappled, swallowed, or entangled, and your starting and destination locations must be upon soil or stone. You are pulled beneath the ground by dozens of undead arms and thrust up by them at your destination location.

Infernal Brand
You are marked with an obviously supernatural symbol, perhaps a demonic mark that emits actual flames, or perhaps a skull symbol that emits unhealthy light. The brand represents that you are the property of otherworldly powers. Outsiders and elementals of any alignment other than yours suffer a -3 morale penalty to attack rolls against you.

Nobody's Fool
Once per day, you may divert an attack aimed at you to an adjacent creature, instead. The attack is treated as though your chosen recipient were its intended target.

Onomancy
If you know a creature's given name, it gives you a measure of power over them. Your spells against that creature are made with a +1 bonus to their DC, respectively.

Touch of Decay
Organic matter crumbles beneath your caress, and even ferrous metal rusts. Only non-magical materials are affected, but most cannot long withstand us

Unfettered Soul
When you succeed a saving throw against a compulsion (such as dominate person), the caster must roll a saving throw against his own spell or be affected instead, as though you were the caster.


Greater Malices

Blasted Soul
Your spirit is so evil that it has been wracked with the torments of your likely afterlife, while you yet live. No earthly suffering holds any dread for you. Your maximum hit points increases by an amount equal to your Intelligence score (not Intelligence modifier).

Disordered Mind
Your mind is such a horror that any creatures attempting to perceive it or any facet of it risk their very sanity. Any creature that uses the following listed spells (including spell-like abilities) must make a Willpower save (DC 10 + character level) or be affected by an insanity spell, against which he may make a new save each day.

Blood of Attrition
Your blood has been infused with or replaced by some unwholesome substance, perhaps insects, poison, or darkness. Whenever you are injured by a melee attack from an adjacent creature, that creature suffers damage equal to your Constitution modifier. This damage is considered to be weapon damage for the purposes of damage reduction.

Gaze of Despair
When you threaten a critical hit against a creature or it rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw against an offensive spell that you cast, it suffers a -2 morale penalty to AC for the next 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting, fear-based, gaze attack.

Ritual Scarification
You have so mutilated your skin that it is a crisscrossing of nearly solid scar tissue. You enjoy a natural armor bonus to your AC equal to your Constitution modifier.

Shroud of the Outer Darkness
You are surrounded by an undulating cloud of shadows. Your attack rolls enjoy a +1 bonus.

Doppleganger Part I

Tim responded to my earlier monster post with one of his own, though he has not yet released it. My turn, again:

Lumpenproletariat Doppleganger
A harmless beggar, or a criminal shapeshifter?

Init +2
Speed 6
HP 20
AC 13
F +2 R +6 W+0

Imitated Weapon (type is irrelevant) +5
Dmg 1d8, sneak attack +1d6

Sympathetic Shapeshifting: The doppleganger may transform into an identical copy of a humanoid from whom it has obtained an object. The object must have been handled most recently by the humanoid that the doppleganger wishes to change into, and must have been handled during the past hour. Once copying a creature, the doppleganger mimics that person's appearance and equipment with perfect accuracy, though none of it is functional. The doppleganger may remain in this altered form for up to a week.

Combat Trickery: Once per encounter, the doppleganger may use its unnaturally protean form to misdirect a melee attack that targets it. The attack is instead directed at another creature to whom the doppleganger must be adjacent.

Racial Immunities: The doppleganger is immune to any spells that reveal alignment, veracity, identity, culpability, or location.

Biology

In its natural form, this doppleganger appears to be a pale humanoid with no facial features save large gray eyes, and the only other form that it may assume without using its sympathetic shapeshifting ability is that of an unremarkable beggar.

This variety of doppleganger subsists on a peculiar diet consisting entirely of alcoholic beverages, which do not cause inebriating effects in its species. In order to pay for it's liquid meals, the creature will often assume the shape of people that gift it with funds, and then commit simple crimes such as mugging and burglary. It's assumed form will usually protect it from justice.

Expensive Non-Magical Equipment

I was trying to come up with some good non-magical stuff for PCs to burn money on, and we came down to five things: high-end equipment, rank, land, and consumables.

I'm going to skip land because it's such a big can of worms, and because the Wizards of the Coast attempts at selling players forts and bases ended up looking like stupid versions of ewok villages.

High-End Equipment

Cask of Pitch (100gp, 200 lb) - A smaller-sized barrel of flammable plant tar. Heating it to a liquid state requires ten minutes over a steady heat of at least campfire size. Pouring out a cask of burning pitch covers a ten foot square area, and inflicts 3d6 fire damage to everything in it. It will remain burning in that area for twenty minutes if outdoors or five minutes in a cave with poor ventilation.

Cask of Whale Oil (800gp, 240 lb) - A smaller-sized barrel of flammable whale oil. It is liquid under normal temperatures, and extremely flammable. Pouring out a cask of burning whale oil covers a ten foot square area, and inflicts 5d6 fire damage to everything in it. It will remain burning in that area for three minutes if outdoors or one minute in a cave with poor ventilation.

Iron Strongbox (400gp, 200 lb) - A large iron chest with a difficult lock incorporated into its design. It can hold three cubic feet of goods. It is hermetically sealed when shut, admitting neither gas nor liquid, and can withstand most energy attacks without difficulty.

Windlass (700gp, 40 lb) - A very heavy crossbow that requires ten rounds to reload. It inflicts 3d6 damage, range 12/20, two-handed. It is as large and bulky a crossbow one can get,without being considered a ballista. Carrying more than one of these unwieldy objects is improbable for most humans.

Rank
Though ranks are usually meted out because of worthy deeds or noble extraction, in more pragmatic societies a certain stipend (legal or otherwise) may be required. Suggested bribe-costs are included in parenthesis, and the circumstances required to earn these ranks are left as an exercise to the reader. These assume a fairly standard feudal system of governance.

Shrievalty (2000gp)
You are invested as a conservator of the peace, specifically as a Reeve (or Sheriff, if you prefer). This means that you are tasked with preserving the peace within the borders of the frontiers and townships of the kingdom meting out this rank. You may arrest a non-noble for disturbing the peace, and carry arms within townships. You may add +1 to an ability score of your choice. If you are ever stripped of your title, you lose this benefit.

Baron (4000 gp)
You are granted a minor "life peer" title. This means that you are invested as a lesser member of the nobility (the lowest, in fact) and that this title does not pass along to your descendants. You are entitled to bear arms and armor anywhere save in the presence of the highest government personages, and may demand that others (even the king) refer to you as "Lord" and so forth. You can also add +1 to an ability score of your choice. If you are ever stripped of your title, you lose this benefit.

Hereditary Title (6000 gp)
Your Baron title now passes onto your descendants, and you are entitled to add a coronet to your coat of arms. You may add +1 to an ability score of your choice. If you are ever stripped of your title, you lose this benefit.

Consumables
The idea here is that players may spend money over time on temporary benefits as a money sink.

Exotic Spices
Exotic spices are consumed or used over the course of a week with one's food, to gain some benefit during that time. One may only benefit from one exotic spice benefit at a time. A weeks worth of a given spice weighs about one pound.

Myrrh, oil of (80 gp)
You cannot be animated as undead while using myrrh.

Pepper, imported black (100 gp)
+1 alchemical bonus to saves against spells

Pepper, imported red (100 gp)
You heal +1 hp when cured or treated for damage.

Pearl, powdered (100 gp)
You enjoy a +1 alchemical bonus to Willpower saves.

Tea, imported desert (120 gp)
+2 alchemical bonus to initiative checks

Charms
Charms are worn in the amulet slot and absorb some small amount of energy damage before becoming inert and useless.

Weak Charms
Weak charms cost 60 gp and do not weigh a significant amount.

Weak Ember Charm
Absorbs a total of 5 fire damage, then shatters.

Weak Frost Charm
Absorbs a total of 5 cold damage, then shatters.

Weak Storm Charm
Absorbs a total of 5 electricity damage, then shatters.

Strong Charms
Strong charms cost 110 gp and weigh 1 lb.

Strong Ember Charm
Absorbs a total of 10 fire damage, then shatters.

Strong Frost Charm
Absorbs a total of 10 cold damage, then shatters.

Strong Storm Charm
Absorbs a total of 10 electricity damage, then shatters.

A Shot Across The Bow

Tim wanted to separately stat some of the monsters from our list earlier. So, in my own rules shorthand, here's one:

Chimney Cadaver
During the day it is a powerless spirit, but at night it becomes a silhouette of ghostly ash that emits choking sobs as it terrorizes the living.

Init +2
Speed 6
HP 40
AC 16
F +5 R +3 W+3

Vulns: 5 cold.
Resists: 15 fire.

Burning Touch +6
Dmg 1d6+1

Black Lung: Every three rounds, a chimney cadaver may exhale a 15-foot cone of burning ash. Any creature hit suffers 1d10 fire damage, Fort 13 for half. Any creatures that fail their save are also slowed for the next day (their speed is reduced to 10 feet).

Death Knell: When reduced to 0 hp, the chimney cadaver explodes in a fiery conflagration. Any creatures within ten feet are affected as though hit by the black lung ability.

Undying: A chimney cadaver that is slain will reform after 1d6 days if its body is not found and given a proper burial.

Spawn: Any creatures slain by the chimney cadaver's black lung ability that do not receive a proper burial will return in 1d6 nights as a chimney cadaver.

A Confederacy of Adventurers

Ideally, my D&D games should be an unholy synthesis of A Confederacy of Dunces and Left 4 Dead. A party of adventurers stupid enough to make raiding death traps for treasure their profession, and smart enough to survive it. For a while, anyway. So back when I played relatively unmodified third edition, I cobbled together a way for players to gain teamwork-based benefits. Teamwork is a Charisma skill that is in-class for every class in the Player's Handbook.

Teamwork (CHA)

Each player character contributes points towards a pool of teamwork points that are spent by mutual consent to provide benefits to the entire party. Each player character contributes a number of points equal to their skill ranks in Teamwork plus their Charisma modifier. The party may not have more benefits than there are player characters in it. These abilities only work if the party is able to communicate effectively with each other and within fifty feet of each other. The player characters may re-spend these points at the start of each session. Each benefit has its point cost listed in parenthesis.  

Teamwork Benefits 

Helping Hand (3) Part members enjoy a +2 bonus to beneficial skill checks that target other party members, such as Heal and Disguise.

Megaflank (4) +2 to damage when attacking a target that is flanked by party members. 

Ultima Hombre (5) If all party members save one are unconscious or dead, that character receives a +2 bonus to AC, attack rolls, and spell DC.

Mass Assault (6) +1 to melee attack and damage rolls when charging on the first round of combat. 

Crossfire (7) +1 to ranged attack rolls and damage if no member of the party made an attack with a melee weapon during the previous round. 

Backup (8) Each party member enjoys a +1 morale bonus to their saving throws, so long as at least one other party member is within fifty feet. 

Nice Save (9) If at least one party member is unconscious or dead because of events from during this encounter, cure spells cast between party members heal an additional 50% (round down). 

Two To Tango (10) You may switch spaces with an adjacent party member as a move action that does not draw an attack of opportunity.

Back To Back (11) If at least one party member is unconscious or dead because of events from during this encounter, all party members gain a +1 morale bonus to AC.

Gitter Done (12) Party members enjoy a bonus to their initiative rolls equal to their Charisma modifier. 

Coordinated Backup (13) Each party member enjoys a +2 morale bonus to their saving throws, so long as at least one other party member is within fifty feet. This benefit does not stack with Backup.

Take One For The Team (14) If a party member is reduced to negative hit points by a melee attack, any adjacent party members receive an attack of opportunity against the creature that caused this.

Folies Au Deux (15) When a party member is knocked unconscious or killed, all party members enjoy a morale bonus to weapon and spell damage equal to their Charisma modifier until the end of their next turn.

Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner (16) Any party member may take a full round action to allow a single fellow party member within fifty feet to immediately take a five foot step that does not draw attacks of opportunity.  

Notes Concerning Retrofitting for Other Editions 

For second edition, you might have Teamwork be a general non-weapon proficiency that takes one slot. The player characters receive a number of teamwork points equal to half their Charisma --this method is a little front-loaded, but second edition can handle a slight power bump at the lower levels. Some of the benefits may not work as written for second edition, but I'm sure you can iron out the details better than I can. These rules will work with fourth edition with very little modification, though I would suggest that is not be used with that version of the game because it is complicated enough. For first edition, well, this isn't written by some septuagenarian so I'm not going to even bother figuring out how the hell it would work for you guys.

Doing Attacks of Opportunity Right

Attacks of opportunity were added for two reasons, the first being that the exact position of characters must have primacy in order to necessitate the use of expensive miniatures, and the second being that an additional layer of complication was felt necessary for the combat system to be more interesting. Neither of these features are necessary in a well-run game.

Therefore, I propose removing threatened areas, attacks of opportunity, and the usage of reach as general rules, with the following qualifications:

1. Retain attacks of opportunity against creatures that use ranged attacks and ranged offensive spells when in melee. This is simple and makes range-based characters require protection.

2. Reach remains somewhat useful as a way to to fight past friends in crowded dungeon corridors. To help reach along a little bit, I suggest removing the cover penalties to attack rolls from attacking past allies in melee.

3. I also suggest removing most of special attacks from the game, except for Charge because it is simple and fun, and Trip because that is so essential for the Monk class. The special attacks and related feats that I would suggest removing include: Bull Rush, Disarm, Overrun, and Sundering. These special attacks are used only infrequently by most groups, and add undesirable complications to the game. I would also suggest removing Grappling as a PC option, saving it for those few monsters that have grab attacks. Will your game suffer for having these annoying, over-complicated options removed? I think not.

4. Remove Combat Reflexes from the game. Replace the effects of the Mobility feat with the following: "Mobility: You do not suffer a penalty to AC when charging."

I have been running a game without attacks of opportunity, and it's amazing how much faster things go, and how much easier combat has been. The complications from removing it are so few, and players can move around the battlefield with less stress. You might bemoan the loss of positioning being quite so important, but I think most groups will find the trade off to be well worth it. Try it and you will see what I mean.

Doing Ability Damage Right

When that undead drains two of your dexterity, about six different things change on your character sheet. If a cleric restores the ability damage, you must fix all six things, again requiring paperwork. Then if another undead of the same sort hits you for four dexterity damage, you must calculate everything all over again. It's clumsy, it takes too long, and too much of your character is reliant on ability scores to change them willy nilly.

The same goes for the +4 ability boost spells like Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, et ceteras, especially when they have a duration of one round per level, meaning they can wear off in the middle of a fight or when you are affected by a dispel magic or anti-magic spell. Temporary modifiers aren't the only problem, either.

Having semipermanent ability score boosting items be such an integral part of third edition reduces the uniqueness of each character because the ability scores are the most unique part of a character.

How to fix it? Easy. Replace the ability damage attacks used by undead and poisonous monsters, fix ability boosting spells into more coherent buffs, and replace the ability-boosting magic items with more focused benefits.

Ability Damage Attacks

Most ability damage attacks are intended to allow monsters to slowly reduce players' non-hit point capabilities. Ability damage (and its bastard cousin, level drain) do this, but clumsily and with all the complications of other ability score modifications. To fix this, replace the abilities. My suggestions:

Undead Special Attacks

Undead are perhaps the richest category of monsters in d&d. Their special attacks are intended to scare players and permanently injure them, but level drain attacks are no fun and can derail an entire campaign by setting the players back months of real life time, not to mention affect five or six different things at once (just like ability score damage). Here are some suggested replacements for undead ability damage:

Energy Drain: The target's maximum hit points are permanently lowered by -1, and he suffers a negative level until the next day. Negative levels are a -1 inherent penalty to attack rolls and a -1 inherent penalty to spell DCs. Simple, fast, and permanently inconveniencing, but with none of the fuss.

Life Drain: You inflict an extra amount of damage (usually a convenient number like +5) that you then gain as temporary hit points.

Magic Drain: The target loses one of his spells. The spell is of the lowest level that he still has memorized (or one spell slot, for free casters). 0th level spells not affected by magic drain. The undead gains temporary hit points equal to 5 times the spell level of the drained spell.

Poison Attacks

The poison table in the DMG adds nothing to the game, and makes just as little sense as the poison tables used in first and second edition. With a few unbalanced exceptions, most players do not use poison as an option. I suggest that the rules for poisoning weapons be replaced, and offered guidelines below.

Note that these are all injury poisons, that the duration of all penalties is one day, that penalties of the same sort are not cumulative, that saves negate all damage and effects, and that secondary damage has been eliminated as a general characteristic.

Poison, Cost, Fortitude Save, Effect
Small Centipede Poison, 40 gp, DC 11, -1 alchemical penalty to AC
Greenblood Oil, 80 gp, DC 13, 5 damage
Black Adder Venom, 100 gp, DC 11, +10 damage
Medium Spider Venom, 120 gp, DC 14, -2 alchemical penalty to attack rolls
Large Scorpion Venom, 300 gp, DC 18, -3 alchemical penalty to attack rolls
Giant Wasp Venom, 300 gp, DC 18, -3 alchemical penalty to AC
Purple Worm Poison, 600 gp, DC 24, -2 alchemical penalty to attack rolls
Insanity Paste, 1000 gp, DC 20, -2 alchemical penalty to spell DCs
Deathblade, 1800 gp, DC 20, +15 damage
Wyvern Poison, 2400 gp, DC 17, +20 damage

The idea is that you can spend money on expendable combat bonuses that hinder the target for a day. The prices are fairly round numbers so that it is easy to keep track of how much money one is spending on poison or to do math relating to poisons with different delivery methods, and the price is directly related to how helpful they are.

It is easy to devise additional poisons based on this list. A good rule of thumb for devising cognate poisons with different delivery methods is as follows: contact poison should cost +50% more, ingested poison should cost only 25% as much, and inhaled poisons should cost +100%.

Neutralize poison removes any ongoing effects caused by poison but does not restore lost hit points, and I suggest you replace delay poison with the following spell:

"Delay Poison (1st): You may protect a friendly creature that you touch against the effects of poison until the end of the encounter. Any poison damage or penalties do not occur until the end of the encounter. This spell cannot help against poison penalties caused before this spell is cast. This spell may be cast as a move action."

Poisonous Monsters

Creatures that use poison as part of their natural attacks will cause additional damage or a negative effect that lasts for a day, if the target fails a saving throw. I have suggested alternate effects for several creatures' poisons. The DC against the poison effects remains the same as that listed in the monster's entry.

Monstrous Scorpions: -2 alchemical penalty to attack rolls.
Monstrous Spiders: -2 alchemical penalty to attack rolls.
Monstrous Centipedes: -2 alchemical penalty to AC.
Giant Wasp: -2 alchemical penalty to AC.
Wyvern: +20 damage.

I went through the list in the SRD and these were the monsters that I found with poison attacks. I apologize if I missed any.

Ability-Boosting Spells

I have already discussed fixing clerical buff spells at length, but have not yet provided any kind of replacements for arcane spellcasters that have had their buff spells taken away. Below are a few suggested spell replacements that will please arcane spellcasters who are no longer allowed to memorize ability boosting spells. Note that some of these spells ought to be memorizable by divine casters, as well.

"Protection From Evil (1st): A friendly creature touched enjoys a +2 deflection bonus to his AC and saving throws until the end of the encounter. For the duration, he also immune to possession, charm and compulsion effects, and cannot come into bodily contact with evil summoned creatures (making him immune to their natural attacks). This spell may be cast as a move action."

"Shield (1st): A friendly creature touched gains a +2 shield bonus to AC until the next day."

"Magic Weapon (1st): A weapon held by a friendly creature touched gains a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage until the next day. This spell may be cast as a move action."

"Bull's Strength (2nd): A friendly creature touched gains a +3 morale bonus to damage with melee weapons until the end of the encounter. This spell may be cast as a move action."

"Empower Spells (2nd): A friendly creature touched enjoys a +2 morale bonus to his spell DCs until the end of the encounter. This spell may be cast as a move action."

"Enlarge Person (3rd): A friendly medium humanoid touched becomes large sized and increases his natural reach to 10 feet until the end of the encounter. This reach bonus is the only statistical modification caused by this size change, and does not stack with any other reach-enhancing bonuses, though reach weapons may still further modify one's reach."

"Chill Shield (4th): A shield of cold harms creatures that attack you in melee, and protects you from fire attacks. Any creature striking you with natural attacks or non-reach melee weapons suffers 10 cold damage (no save), and you gain fire resistance 20."

"Fire Shield (4th): A shield of fire harms creatures that attack you in melee, and protects you from cold attacks. Any creature striking you with natural attacks or non-reach melee weapons suffers 10 fire damage (no save), and you gain cold resistance 20."

Note that I will discuss alternatives to using attacks of opportunity in a future column, but in an attempt to be somewhat modular about my remedies I have included the enlarge spell as given.

Ability-Boosting Magic Items

Items should be broken up into bonuses to specific characteristics, rather than blanket ability score bonuses. I have suggested items that fulfill this role below, with what I feel to be appropriate pricing.

Amulet of Faith: This item provides an enhancement bonus to the DC of your divine spells.
Price 4,000 gp (+1 DC), 8,000 gp (+2 DC), 16,000 gp (+3 DC), 24,000 gp (+4 bonus), 32,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Belt of Health: This item provides a bonus to maximum hp. If the belt is removed, your maximum and current hp immediately lower themselves by the imparted amount.
Price 4,000 gp (+10 hp), 8,000 gp (+20 hp), 16,000 gp (+40 hp).

Boots of Reflex: This item provides a resistance bonus to Reflex saving throws.
Price 2,000 gp (+1 bonus), 4,000 gp (+2 bonus), 8,000 gp (+3 bonus), 16,000 gp (+4 bonus), 24,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Circlet of Spells: This item allows you to memorize additional arcane spells each day (or make use of additional spell slots if you are a free caster). If you unequip this item, you lose two spells of the appropriate level.
Price, bonus spells
2,000 gp, two extra 1st level spells
4,000 gp, two extra 2nd level spells
8,000 gp, two extra 3rd level spells
16,000 gp, two extra 4th level spells
32,000 gp, two extra 5th level spells

Cloak of Allure: This item provides an enhancement bonus to Charisma-based skill checks.
Price 2,000 gp (+2 bonus), 4,000 gp (+4 bonus), 8,000 gp (+6 bonus), 16,000 gp (+8 bonus), 24,000 gp (+10 bonus).

Gauntlets of Archery: These gloves provide an enhancement bonus to damage dealt with ranged weapons.
Price 4,000 gp (+2 dmg), 8,000 gp (+3 dmg), 16,000 gp (+4 dmg), 24,000 gp (+5 dmg), 32,000 gp (+6 dmg).

Gauntlets of Power: These gloves provide provides an enhancement bonus to damage dealt in melee combat.
Price 4,000 gp (+2 dmg), 8,000 gp (+3 dmg), 16,000 gp (+4 dmg), 24,000 gp (+5 dmg), 32,000 gp (+6 dmg).

Gloves of the Magus: This item provides an enhancement bonus to the DC of your arcane spells.
Price 4,000 gp (+1 DC), 8,000 gp (+2 DC), 16,000 gp (+3 DC), 24,000 gp (+4 bonus), 32,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Greaves of Fortitude: These metal leg-plates provide a resistance bonus to Fortitude saving throws.
Price 2,000 gp (+1 bonus), 4,000 gp (+2 bonus), 8,000 gp (+3 bonus), 16,000 gp (+4 bonus), 24,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Helm of Power: This metal helmet imparts an enhancement bonus to melee attack rolls.
Price 4,000 gp (+1 attack), 8,000 gp (+2 attack), 16,000 gp (+3 attack), 24,000 gp (+4 bonus), 32,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Lens of Aiming: This glass lens imparts an enhancement bonus to ranged attack rolls.
Price 4,000 gp (+1 attack), 8,000 gp (+2 attack), 16,000 gp (+3 attack), 24,000 gp (+4 bonus), 32,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Mitre of Spells: This hat allows you to memorize additional divine spells each day (or make use of additional spell slots if you are a free caster). If you unequip this item, you lose two spells of the appropriate level.
Price, bonus spells
2,000 gp, two extra 1st level spells
4,000 gp, two extra 2nd level spells
8,000 gp, two extra 3rd level spells
16,000 gp, two extra 4th level spells
32,000 gp, two extra 5th level spells

Slippers of Willpower: These slippers provide a resistance bonus to Willpower saving throws.
Price 2,000 gp (+1 bonus), 4,000 gp (+2 bonus), 8,000 gp (+3 bonus), 16,000 gp (+4 bonus), 24,000 gp (+5 bonus).

Next: Doing Attacks of Opportunity Right

Doing Feats Right

Doing Feats Right

I sat down to write about how to fix the problem of chained feats. That is, those that feats with multiple pre-requisites to take. I found that I could not do so without modifying the way that the fighter class works. As I believe any readers playing third edition are unlikely to alter their basic character classes, I had to content myself to tidying up the feats found in the core rulebooks.

If this is a little dry, I apologize, but I think some d&d players will find these suggestions very helpful.

Removing and Fixing the Useless Feats

Remove all the feats whose sole benefit is to give a trivial bonus to two skill checks. This eliminates some fifteen or so feats listed on d20srd.org, including the following: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent, Investigator, Magical Aptitude, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Self-Suffient, and Stealthy.

While you are at it, you may as well remove the feats that are useless or extremely weak within the context of the core rules, namely: Endurance, Eschew Materials, Extra Turning, Heighten Spell, Improved Counterspell, Improved Overrun, Improved Shield Bash, Improved Turning, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mounted Archery, Quick Draw, Run, Skill Focus, Spell Mastery, Toughness, and Widen Spell. Suggested replacements:

Endurance: You heal fast than other people. Your natural healing and any spell or effect that heals damage heals you an additional +50%, rounding down.

Skill Focus: You enjoy a +4 bonus to a single skill of your choice.

Toughness: You enjoy bonus maximum hit points equal to your level or +4, whichever is greater.

Remove and Fix the Clumsy Feats

Then there are the feats that are so poorly designed that using them slows your game down or requires extra paperwork to use, feats like: Augment Summoning, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Leadership, Power Attack, and Trample. Of particular note there are Power Attack and Combat Expertise, which exist solely to slow down combat as math-savvy players haw and hem about the optimal penalties to take against a particular foe. Also of note is Improved Sunder, because once you're no longer low-level it becomes incredibly easy to destroy the weapons used by one's enemies. Suggested Replacements:

Combat Expertise: Any time you take a full attack action, you enjoy a +1 bonus to your AC until your next turn.

Combat Reflexes: You enjoy a +4 bonus to your attack rolls when making attacks of opportunity.

Dodge: You enjoy a +1 dodge bonus to your AC.

Improved Sunder: Whenever you threaten a critical hit against an opponent wielding a weapon, he must make a Fortitude saving throw equal to 15 plus your level or his weapon will be broken.

Power Attack: When taking a full attack action, your one-handed melee attacks inflict +2 damage and your two-handed melee attacks inflict +3 damage.

Trample: When you threaten a critical against a target that you have made a mounted charge attack against, you knock the target prone and inflict an additional amount of damage equal to your character level.

Removing and Fixing the Metamagic Feats

You should ignore the metamagic feats in the core rules. Every last one is weak tea or, in the case of Natural Spell, broken. They are completely eclipsed by the metamagic feats given in other supplements, and I'm not even talking about the really unbalanced supplements.

Alas, most of them are also uninspired. I think it better to just replace them wholesale rather than futz around with fixing them. Let me know if you like my suggested replacements.

In the case of metamagic spells where memorization is indicated, free casters may still use the feat and need not choose what spell to use it with in advance, but may still only used the listed feat once per day. As usual, a free caster making use of a metamagic feat casts his spells as a full-round action.

Aeromancy [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single area of effect spell so that it knocks any medium or small bipedal creatures that fail their saving throw against it prone. Spells that do not offer a saving throw cannot be used with this metamagic feat.

Augment Summoning [Metamagic]: Any creatures you conjure via the Summon Monster spells have +2 to their attack rolls and +2 to their AC.

Explosive Magic [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single damaging area of effect spell so that it inflict extra damage of the appropriate type. It inflicts an additional amount of damage equal to twice your level.

Favorite Spell [Metamagic]: Choose a spell. Any time you cast that spell, its DC is increased by +1. When you gain a level, you may reselect the spell to which this feat applies.

Focused Magic [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single damage spell that targets a single creature to deal extra damage of the appropriate type. It inflicts an additional amount of damage equal to thrice your level.

Heighten Spell [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single spell to be especially difficult to resist. The DC of this spell is increased by +2.

Natural Spell [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single spell that you will be able to cast while in an alternate form such as those granted by the wild shape ability. The chosen spell must not be of the very highest level you can cast. For example, if you can cast third level spells, this feat may only be used with a spell of second level or lower.

Off-Hand Spell [Metamagic]: 9th level or higher. Your first level spells may be cast as move actions. You must have two hands free in order to use this feat.

Quicken Spell [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single spell that normally requires a standard action to cast so that it will instead require a move action. The spell that you so choose must not be a spell of the very highest level you can cast. The chosen spell must not be of the very highest level you can cast. For example, if you can cast third level spells, this feat may only be used with a spell of second level or lower.

Reach Spell [Metamagic]: You may memorize a single spell with touch range so that it may instead be cast with short range.

Sacred Spell [Metamagic]: When you cast an offensive spell, you may spend a turning attempt so that undead suffer additional damage from it. This extra damage is equal to your class level.

Scribe Scroll [Metamagic]: Each day, you may choose a single spell that you know and are able to cast. That spell is recorded on a special scroll that may only be cast by you. Their magic fades after the day is over, and so you cannot accumulate more than one at a time.

Good Ideas, Bad Feats

Also, a lot of the feats are good in theory but their implementation is shoddy or they rely on bad rules from the other parts of the game. All of the item creation feats fall into this category, as do Improved Grapple and other attack option feats. Mounted combat doesn't work very well, either, because mounts often have trouble fitting into dungeons, and the extra attacks that mounts can make can slow the game considerably.

I don't care to tackle any of those problems in this post because this is already lengthy and those feats seem to fall outside its scope. But I will tackle the two-weapon fighting feats. Extra attacks are the single worst offender when it comes to slowing down combat to a headache inducing crawl. My suggestion is, firstly, to remove multiple attacks gained from a high base attack bonus and, secondly, to replace the two-weapon fighting feats with these:

Two-Weapon Fighting: You may make a single additional attack that suffers -5 to its attack roll with a light weapon in your off-hand. If this is attempted without the benefit of this feat, both attacks suffer a -5.

Two-Weapon Defense: When you are equipped with a weapon in your off-hand, you enjoy a +1 bonus to AC. When you are equipped with a double weapon, you enjoy a +2 bonus to your AC.

Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting: 3rd level or higher. The weapon in your off-hand need not be light to use two-weapon fighting style feats.

Double Weapon Mastery: 6th level or higher. When using a double weapon to make a whirlwind attack, you inflict an additional +3 damage.

Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: 6th level or higher. The penalty for your off-hand attack is reduced to -2, and you inflict +1 damage with your off-hand weapon.

Greater Two-Weapon Fighting: 11th level or higher. You suffer no penalty with your off-hand attack, and your damage bonus with your off-hand weapon increases to +4.

In Summa

That's over forty feats (or about a third core rules feats) that are either useless or cumbersome. So much for playtesting. I do not assert that my suggested changes are the best possible or that that all of the above feats are useless in every campaign, but I have never regretted changing them in my games.

Here is an optimized feat list with my changes included, in PDF form.

Next: Doing Ability Damage Right

Doing Buffs Right

As part of my "fix third edition" week, I have provide alternate versions of several popular cleric "buff" spells as well as the rationales behind them. I am doing cleric spells because I think that casting buff spells fits them better than the other spellcasting classes.

Sometimes I use the fourth edition concept of encounter-based durations because I find it a useful mechanic that can be introduced into any edition of d&d without much trouble, and because it is so much easier than keeping track of how many rounds your effects are lasting for. My commentary on the official version of spells is based on the versions at d20srd.org, a wonderful resource for third edition players. Without further ado:

"Bless (1st level): All friendly creatures within a 30 foot radius of you enjoy a +2 morale bonus to their weapon and spell damage rolls until the end of your next turn. This spell may be cast as a move action."

This version of the spell doesn't impart a trivial bonus. It lets the caster (presumably a cleric) get in on the action. It doesn't take the cleric's main action to cast, so he can still cast a more powerful spell or go to town with his non-edged weaponry. The spell ends quickly, and everybody knows whether they are affected by it or not. Best of all, a cleric is unlikely to burn a ton of spell slots on doing this, but he still might memorize it so that the whole party can have a round with extra oomph. This is desirable because clerics should be able to devote at least half of their spells to memorizing proactive spells with direct effects, rather than being chained to healing and buffs. They ought to still be the buff class, only it shouldn't be buffs that are best cast on other people.

"Bull's Strength (2nd): A friendly creature touched gains a +3 morale bonus to damage with melee weapons until the end of the encounter. This spell may be cast as a move action."

This spell is also a move action to cast, so that the cleric need not spend his first few turns of each combat charging up his comrades. The bonus being applied specifically to melee damage instead of strength sidesteps all the other side effects of changing the strength ability score, and offers the caster a much better idea of how he is helping when he casts his spell. The more specific and focused the benefits of a spell, the better.

"Prayer (3rd level): All friendly creatures within a 30 foot radius of you enjoy a +2 morale bonus to their AC until the end of the encounter. This spell may be cast as a move action."

This version of the spell is not a move action because it offers benefits to the entire party for the duration of the battle, and is likely to have a significant effect on how successful the party is. Every party member likes having a higher AC, so it doesn't just help the weapon using classes. Unlike the original version of the spell, it does not affect the attack rolls of the enemies. Having penalties to all enemies' attack rolls is a sloppy game mechanic --having a higher AC is much easier to keep track of, and achieves the same effect.

"Divine Power (4th level): You become filled with divine wrath, and are ringed with a halo of angry-colored light. Until the end of the encounter, your melee attacks enjoy a +3 morale bonus to damage. Additionally you gain +15 temporary hit points; these hit points vanish at the end of the encounter."

This spell takes an action because it is a hefty bonus on top of other buff spells, and only affects the caster so that he cannot waste a fourth level spell slot on making the fighter better. A set amount of bonus hit points is desirable because the normal version of the spell offers very trivial benefits for a spell of its level. Consider that the given version of the spell offers a strength bonus only slightly better than a second level spell (bull's strength), and the extra temporary hit points start off at +7, hardly an impressive bonus then, and even less impressive at higher levels. A +15 temp hp bonus is helpful at any level, and though it becomes less useful at higher levels due to hp inflation, so too does the damage bonus become less important at higher levels (or Strength bonus in the official version of the spell).

"Spell Resistance (5th level): The subject touched is shielded from spells by the grace of your deities. Until the next day, he enjoys a +4 morale bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like effects."

I sidestep spell resistance because slowing down encounters with additional rolls --one roll ought to be enough when saving against magic. The +4 bonus is just right. If you are burning a fifth level spell on protecting someone from magic, it had damn well better make a difference. Nor do I think that having a conditional saving throw bonus of this sort is too difficult to track, especially as it lasts for the entire day.

"Heroes' Feast (6th level): You conjure a grand feast that feeds one medium creature per level, takes an hour to consume, and offers benefits to the characters that do so. Until the next day, characters that have feasted enjoy a +2 alchemical bonus to attack rolls, +1 alchemical bonus to the DC of their spells, and gain +15 temporary hit points. These temporary hit points do not vanish until the next day."

This spell offers benefits to the cleric's companions for the entire day, including spellcasters. The extra hit points let them start the day's adventure off with extra hit points, so that the cleric need not squander as much curing on them and can concentrate on more proactive spells. Assuming a party of five adventurers, this spell will add a total of 75 temporary hp to the party, but it isn't unbalanced because it is quite spread out. The vitality powers from the psionics handbook can easily grant 75 temp hp to the user, and do so again when they have taken damage. By comparison, this spell is very balanced.

"Regenerate (7th level): The subject regrows any severed body parts or permanent physical injuries. Additionally, the subject is cured 30 hp of damage and gains +50 temporary hp, that fade after the encounter is over."

The spell as given in the srd is not intended for combat, but rather to fill the role of "we need a spell that can restore lost limbs even though the game has very little in the way of permanent injury.

Actual regeneration of the sort that occurs every round is a pain in the ass. Remembering to heal those hit points is annoying, and mistakes are common. Moreso if there is more than one creature with regeneration, things become even more annoying. It's much better to use temporary hp to express a limited form of regeneration. You regenerate a certain amount, and then your ability is overloaded.

In this version of the spell, I combine the non-combat healing (the limb loss function that rarely comes into play) and a combat application (healing and extra hit points) to make a spell that fills its distinct rules niche and is also very handy in dungeons.

If I wanted to stat a player regeneration effect with a longer duration (like a ring of regeneration) I would find it expedient to have the character begin each encounter with a certain amount of temporary hp.

"Holy Aura (8th level): All friendly creatures within a 30 foot radius of you enjoy a +4 morale bonus to their AC and saves until the end of the encounter. During this time, they are immune to possession and mental influences. This spell may be cast as a move action."

Simple, helpful, powerful, and only a move action. Worthy of an eighth level spell. Save it for the dungeon's climax, and use lower level spells (like prayer) in the meantime.

"Hand of Glory (9th level): You are temporarily imbued with a portion of your deity's power. Until the end of the encounter, your first melee attack each round receives a +15 morale bonus to damage. Additionally you gain +100 temporary hit points; these hit points vanish at the end of the encounter. After this spell wears off, you become exhausted."

There are no 9th level clerical buff spells in the srd, but I figure it's worth taking a shot at writing one. It is unlikely that a cleric using the core mechanics will be able to work too much mischief with the hefty damage bonus, even with critical hits, though I am sure he would find it helpful. Even if the cleric is using a weapon with good critical damage (such as a keen scythe) his crits will still only inflict an extra +40 damage because of this spell. This is much less than a harm spell or the hp likely to be lost to an energy drain spell, the cleric's 9th level "damage" option.
The extra hundred hit points aren't overkill at ninth level even though they are likely to roughly double the cleric's hp, and they allow the cleric to wade into combat to save his friends or to help them beat their enemies. Additionally, this spell is likely to be useful for important "boss" npcs that could use a pile of extra hit points to save them from targeted PC attacks. The exhaustion effect at the end is flavorful, and not a serious problem for most clerics.

Next: Doing Feats Right

Dubious Monsters

Before I kick off the rest of "fix third edition" week, I thought I'd post some of the monsters that my friend Tim and I came up with. We were discussing the difficulty of expressing man versus nature in roleplaying games, and decided that fauna is the most dynamic way of representing this. D&D is a game about killing monsters, not about dying from impersonal forces like thirst or exposure.

A number of monsters resulted from this. Perhaps you might enjoy them.

1. Ants that use psionics to compel you to set up camp near their hills. Perhaps they also have learned to set up camp fires.
2. Carrion-eating bees that spray you with particularly fragrant honey in Black Bear Forest. "Why the fuck would bees spray us with honey?" Then after they defend themselves from a hungry bear, they may find a half eaten deer carcass covered with bees.
3. A mimic that has learned to take the form of a tent.
4. Flamethrower eucalyptus that create their own controlled burns. Possibly occupied by fire-resistant drop bears.
5. A herd of horses that have developed a taste for human eyes.
6. A ghost shepherd. A murder herder, if you will.
7. A sentient field of wheat with razor-sharp stalks. "Lalala I love walking through fields OH GOD BLOOD EVERYWHERE..." Very Jared Diamond.
8. Birds of paradise whose feathers look like loved ones, that are used to lure you into quicksand, and then take your gems and items to festoon their bowers.
9. Dopplegangers that can only transform into beggars, prostitutes, or urchins, and subsist solely on the human flesh of the lower classes. "Don't give charity to that man, he could be a doppleganger." This idea beget several ideas relating to adaptive radiation and dopplegangers that can only imitate specific socioeconomic classes.
10. A blue-collared doppleganger that subsists purely on fermented beverages and sacramental foods.
11. A doppleganger baron that can subsist only on precious metals.
12. A colony of benevolent cranium rats living in the slums giving people dreams on how to exploit the rich. All they demand in return are fine and exotic cheeses.
13. An urban blight mold that spreads from house to house rotting the building materials and filling the residents with despair.
14. The ghost of a chimney sweep that has a black lung breath weapon. And his body is still stuck in a chimney somewhere.
15. Undead urchins that reach into your pocket and pull out a kidney. Organ pickpockets. They use the organs to fuel healing magic that they sell on the black market. Drunkards are useless to them; being drunk is surefire protection from their predations. Also lepers and those with consumption.
16. A psychic leech shaped like a top hat. It commands the creature that wears it to commit indignities upon the poor so that it may feed off the mental anguish. If a haberdasher tries to mend it, it screams, sprouts legs, and scurries off into the shadows. Also it gives off madness-causing fumes when threatened.
17. A symbiotic monocle-creature that allows you to see how much money a person is carrying and derives sustenance from the psychic energy produced by a rich wearer's feelings of contempt.
18. Literal street urchins of the spiny sort, that feel upon offal.
19. Sewage elementals, naturally.
20. A murderer that turns the soul of each person it kills into a brick, and builds a house. When he finishes the house, he stops murdering.
21. The ghost of a pet animal that died of starvation when its owners failed to feed it, and now possesses others' pets until they die. It feeds on the blood of its host's owners, and slowly mutates the owners into another version of it as a means of reproduction. "My, but your sideburns are looking exceptionally whiskery today."

The Wizards' Sins: 3e's Five Biggest Mistakes

This is my retrospective on third edition's problems. Since fourth edition isn't actually d&d, there seems little point in posting about how to fix it, and even less point in making lengthy lists of the things I don't like about it. Third edition can be rehabilitated, though, and to that end I present for your consideration a list of the worst things about it. Later posts will include ways of fixing these problems.

5. Buff Spells

Buff spells give characters bonuses or abilities that they didn't normally have. Haste, enlarge, resist elements, bull's strength, all of these are buff spells. Because there are no diminishing returns when one piles the spells on, it is often advantageous to pile all these spells onto the same person so that the most damaging attacks are also the most likely to hit, and the most dangerous character is also the least likely to be hurt.

Although the spell durations became more or less standardized in third edition, they remained a pain in the ass to keep track of in addition to everything else that happens during a fight. And with the varying bonus types stacking or not stacking, forget it.

Never mind that the spellcasters would be expected to waste half their spells on buffs. Playing a "support" spellcaster whose only purpose is to pump up another character so ~he~ can be the hero isn't much fun at all, and is contrary to the dramatic teamwork that d&d should be about. In summary, the buff spells were too many, too complicated, and too boring for the caster.

4. Chained Feats

The introduction of feats in third edition let characters of the same class distinguish themselves from each other without relying on kits that are essentially sub-classes. Kits suffer balance and flexibility problems, and often rely on a very specific flavor that can prove difficult to incorporate into every game. They are superior to the prestige class system, but that's another diatribe.

Feats are customizations to an existing class, and to an extent their inclusion ameliorates many peoples' peeves with a class-based rpg system. Most of my concerns, anyway.

Alas, not all feats are born equal. Feats are strung into great chains with increasingly powerful effects as you take more of them. These feats were such prominent features that one's feat choices became more important than one's class choices --and that's not what d&d should be like. Things should be customizable but not freeform. Which brings me to my next post...

3. Skill Points

Juggling skill points around adds nothing to the game. No extra drama is created by hawing and hemming over whether to put that extra point in survival or climb. The skills themselves are largely boring, and can result in spot and search checks being the most commonly made die rolls in the game.

Incorporating skill points was a shifting of gears from an ability based system to a point based system, and the game suffers for it. The non-weapon proficiencies of earlier editions are more fun and dramatic, though perhaps more poorly named. Instead of having to manage a hundred skill points that only kind of matter, you just pick a few things that seem interesting, and roll with it. When one looks at a second edition character sheet, one sees a list of things that the character can do and that will have a very real effect on the game. Likewise much of a fourth edition character sheet. But when one looks at a third edition character sheet, in addition to the useful things (feats and class abilities) one sees a list of messy skills that one can kind of use successfully.

I have been trying to move back to a proficiency mechanic in my latest game, and my players seem to be enjoying it. It isn't as difficult as I expected to make the switch back, and the game is better for it.

2. Ability Damage and Bonuses

As I mentioned before, keeping track of shifting bonuses is a hassle. How much more so when every time you get hit by some undead critter your ability score is reduced, changing every single thing that is based on that score. One hit from a dexterity-draining critter simultaneously modifies a character's armor class, reflex saves, initiative, and his ability to use ranged weapons. And the player needs to fix these stats every time the undead varmint hits him. Players shouldn't have to futz around with that crap in the middle of a dramatic combat, and a mechanic that forces this is a poor mechanic.

Ability bonuses are a pile of crap for similar reasons, but with the caveat that not only are temporary ability boosts annoying, but permanent bonuses are so unbalanced that they hedge out the interesting magic items. Well, as interesting as they get in third edition. Ability bonuses are so good that they make all the other magic items crap by comparison. The tendency to overspecialize in third edition is strong, so of course every wizard has the best intelligence-boosting item that he can get his hands on, and the other classes have a similar problem.

Ability-boosting items also served to sublimate ability scores. Once upon a time, ability scores actually defined your character. I may not miss the days of not being able to play a paladin because by scores weren't high enough, but I dislike that my wizard's inherent intelligence matters so little because I can eventually procure a boring stat bonus item with benefits sans flavor. If I have an unfortunately low stat, I can boost it with an item in one of the all too numerous magic item slots on my character. In prior editions, most low ability scores stuck around for the entire campaign --that wizard with a six in his constitution at first level would still cough and wheeze at twentieth level.

Worst of all, if your ability scores don't really matter, then what is unique about your character? Nothing.

1. Attacks of Opportunity

Although introduced prior to third edition in the second edition Player's Option series, I believe attacks of opportunity (or AoO) were made integral to the third edition rules specifically in the hopes that they would allow Wizards of the Coast to sell miniatures. I don't like the idea of owning miniatures, but sometimes use printed tokens when I want a fight to have especially high production values. So I'm not biased against the usage of minis, per se. I use them when I think that the game calls for them. But I wouldn't ~need~ them in 3.0 were it not for opportunity attacks and threatened areas.

Opportunity attacks are the most complicated part of third edition. I've had to explain and re-explain the rules to even longtime players, because they are so complicated and convoluted that many people find them difficult to learn.

Before 3.0, I would often eschew graph paper in favor of less precise white paper. It looked nicer even if it didn't tell me exactly where Mark the Fighter was standing. Without threatened areas and reach, position wasn't quite so essential. I could safely assume that the characters would be standing in the places where it would make sense for them to be, and not worry about it beyond that.

Opportunity attacks, threatened areas, and reach were introduced to make exact positioning essential, and so make miniatures essential. This decision was done to the detriment of the game, except perhaps for those players that long for d&d to be more like a war game. I would argue that despite its roots in wargaming, d&d became something better, and that to attend overmuch to that heritage will hurt the game.

I concede that many players do not struggle with attacks of opportunity, but they still slow down combat even if you are using miniatures. And I would ask you, reader, what do they really add to your combat that you're keen so keep to use them? The game isn't complicated enough without them? You're really so worried about players running past the monsters that you need to incorporate this extra mechanic? Gimme a break.

In my most recent game, I have removed these elements and am amazed at how quick the fights seem. We can play very fast and loose with positioning, and it's one less dumb thing to worry about in an already complicated rules system. So yeah, attacks of opportunity and all the rest are crap.

Next: Doing Buffs Right

i post some useful forbidden rituals

This isn't just going to be kvetching about the new edition or pining for the old ones. This is about an applied science. But the blog is still finding itself, and we'll see what mix we get of game products, campaign trip reports, and rants about Monte Cook being a wiener. I feel obligated to add some rules crunch.

My most presentable d&d creations along those lines were done for 3e because that was what my gaming group wanted to play, and I've gotten better over time. I'm sure the real grognards decry feats like everything else, but like so much else, I found them a worthwhile game mechanic concept with shoddy implementation.

I think that part of the problem that I have encountered as a d&d player is that 4e isn't d&d. People that lost three characters to the 1e Tomb of Horrors, and 3e players that suffered through yet another terrible Monte Cook module are both playing d&d, but I would assert that anybody using the 4e PHB is not, in much the same way that a reptile that grows feathers and has warm blood is no longer a reptile.

Part of the way I approach the game is by finding something that I think is a good idea, and then redesigning it so that it works for me. Sometimes that results in something I'm a little proud of --my cognates of the mechanics in 3e's morality books, the Books of Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds, respectively, were much superior to those found within the published works. Then again, I wasn't shackled to writing deadlines or churning out useless exposition, nor beholden to the morals of the same audience.

While I'm rambling about the Book of Vile Darkness, Wizards of the Coast wasn't scared of putting bestiality in their modules relating to it, but it seems like they were scared of making evil mechanically rewarding. The premise of my approach to evil in my games has been that it ought to be rewarding, powerful, and easy --that's why people are tempted into evil. Being good is harder, otherwise everybody would be good.

So in the spirit of reclaiming things that I like from rules systems that I don't, here are some "forbidden rituals". In 4e, anybody can cast rituals if they learn them and pay the cost. Pretty much all the non-combat spells were moved there. These rituals that I've written ought to be usable in pretty much any edition of d&d with a little work, or at least give you enough of a gist to do your own stuff if you that think tempting characters with power has a place in your game.

Forbidden Knowledge

This knowledge is used and taught by evil creatures that seek to corrupt mortals for their own reasons. Using the rituals and skills carry no penalty or moral peril beyond the ramifications of the acts described, but the more one uses them, the more one seems to stumble upon other forbidden knowledge and the more one is presented with genuinely evil options.




Forbidden Rituals

Forbidden rituals are simple compared to more esoteric rituals used by proper spellcasters. So simple, in fact, that anybody of sufficient level can learn and cast them. The effects of forbidden rituals may be removed with a Remove Curse spell, but only if the recipient is willing. One cannot cast forbidden rituals upon an unwilling recipient.

Profane Altar
Caster Level 1
Cost: 100 gp.
Time: 1 Day.
This ritual debases an altar in preparation for darker acts. It requires the mutilation of a dead animal's body, but one need not actually sacrifice anything nor be the one to kill the animal. Celestials and certain very holy creatures may not approach within fifty feet of the altar of your shrine.

Twisted Gift
Caster Level 3
Cost: Target's level x 25 gp.
Time: 2 Days.
This ritual grants a minor wish but somehow things still seem wrong. You may give yourself a permanent -2 to one ability score of your choice in exchange for a permanent +1 to another ability score of your choice. This ritual must be performed at your altar.

Accursed
Caster Level 5
Cost: Target's level x 50 gp.
Time: 3 Days.
The recipient is filled with dark power, but also ravaged by it. He enjoys a +1 to attack rolls, and spell DC, but is also is resistant to curing magic --spells that restore lost hp only heal twice that amount. This ritual must be performed at your altar.

Bloodlust
Caster Level 9
Cost: Target's level x 75 gp.
Time: 4 Days.
The recipient is afflicted with a terrible craving for blood and death, but when this craving is filled he is supernaturally invigorated. Each day, you suffer -1 to your AC until you have slain a sentient creature. Once you have slain a sentient creature, this penalty is replaced with a +1 bonus until the next day. The circumstances and nature of the killing are unimportant to this ritual, a kill in combat is as efficacious as one done in a more formal setting. This ritual must be performed at your altar.

Summon Demonic Familiar
Caster Level 9
Cost: 1000 gp.
Time: 5 Days.
This ritual allows a wicked, sniveling creature to escape from sort of hellish afterlife, and binds it to serve as your sidekick. Though it must obey you in all things, it nevertheless is capable of causing mischief. Despite its best efforts, you should be able to use it only in the furtherance of good --if you're on the ball. This ritual must be performed at your altar.

Sulphur Imp
Humble yet sarcastic, this disgusting creature stands a foot tall, appears to have skin made of molten tar, and boasts a set of bat wings as well as a wicked looking scorpion tail that leaks venom uncontrollably. In addition to being magically bound to obey you in all things and being pretty darned helpful, the sulphur imp also has excellent networking skills and can put you in touch with more powerful evil creatures should the need ever arise.

Sulphur Imp: Speed 20 ft, Fly 30 ft, ATT +8, dmg 10 poison, AC 15, HP 30, saving throws +5; may turn invisible as a move action and remain that way even if attacking; when reduced to 0 hp is banished back to hell where it will make a full report concerning its observations in the mortal world, particularly regarding the spiritual state of the person that summoned it.

Intro For New Campaign

Whiskey Springs

Though for many decades uninhabited, the western frontier of Caeledon is considered part of the Free and Happy Kingdom of Naus. Though unsettled and inhabited mostly by bandits, great mounds have been discovered that contain the ruins of cities from legendary empires of the past. Great treasures have been exhumed, and disreputable sorts have flocked from all over the kingdom to start a-digging, and even more disreputable sorts have come to cater to them as is digging.

As if the promise of ancient treasure ain't enough, there's good reason to believe that four treasures of particular note are somewhere out here. If this really is where the old kingdoms were located then there's a decent shot that someone is going to find them. Maybe even you.

King McAllister IV has declared that he will reward the men that bring him any of these treasures with land and title, and though he might not be the sharpest knife in the royal silverware set, he is a monarch of his word.

So here you are on the main street of Whiskey Springs. They've got this fancy little knot that they tie on your swords so you can't draw a weapon without fussing around with it first. The guy that tied them told you not to take them off except in self defense, or there would be trouble. Well, all right.

D&D Kool Aid: An RPG Jeremiad

My disillusionment came on slow. I drank the kool aid for a long, long time. When 3e came out, I didn't mind one bit. Stale doesn't begin to describe how I felt about the 2e rules, although I was disappointed at Wizards' transparent attempts to sell miniatures via D&D. Prior to 3e, they were deliciously optional. And it was true that choosing feats was more important than one's class, that the weapons didn't offer much variety, and that the combat took so very much longer.

But despite these and other misgivings, I helped myself to cup after cup of sugary red kool aid. I would buy huge splat books just for the six pages with feats, and even then only a third of the feats would be well-designed, let alone useful to my players. The monster books remained helpful, as indeed my 1e and 2e monster books did. I've always had an able hand when it came to updating or improving stats, so I could still use a 1e Deities & Demigods critter in a 3e game without much preparation, for example.

Hiccups

Yes, there were hiccups. Simple fights began requiring three hours per round. The skill system was superfluous. Major books were released that took themselves very seriously and yet failed to satiate this hunger I had for a better game. Still, I persevered. Then 4e came out.

I was optimistic about the immanent release of 4e. All the changes I had heard about sounded good. Things seemed to be getting fixed. Some of my house rules even ended up canonized via some sort of convergent rpg evolution.

When I cracked open the book and was greeted by dragon men and demon men, both big hits with the sixth grader and irc roleplaying audience, it was still fine. I could just skip ahead --I don't need to use that part of the book, and I understand that it's just there to cater to the lowest common denominator of role-player for boosting sales. The rest looked all right, I thought.

Fourth Time's The Charm

Eventually, I tried to actually use the 4e rules, and that's when everything stopped. All of the characters are essentially the same. All of the class flavor has been beaten out of them --the differences between a cleric and warlord (what the fuck is a warlord?) are marginal. And combat is even slower than in my 3e games --even if we make huge allowances for the learning curve of a new system. What was the influence that caused these terrible changes to the game that I love?

World of Warcraft. Thanks to the brand identity witch doctors in Hasbro's basement thinking they can tap into some sort of consumer confusion, you too can know the joyful tepidity of being the "tank" for a band of asperger-lite neck-beards. Thrill as you deal monotonously increasing amounts of damage to overcomplicated enemies in an ever so slightly different way than the other people sitting at the game table.

Not that there wasn't good stuff in with the bad. Many of 3e's foibles were finessed, and even more of 1e and 2e's sacred cows were slain. But the changes in 4e are so comprehensive that one may as well be playing a different game, and that game may as well be WoW. No thanks, Hasbro.