Venomire: 4e isn't terrible, it's just different. Nothing says you must play it, and while I know that people posting here realize it, many tend to forget that.
pitycrit: i'm not playing your shitty wow tabletop clone what i lament is that anything i produce relating to the game is no longer relevant to the general player base because wizards made some poisonous design decisions because they think copying wow and catering to the lowest common denominator will make for the best game experience for the most people, and as long as they pour the money into marketing and high production value the user base will buy their schlock, enjoy your twenty round combats played with official hasbro miniatures you weak brained porcino-capitalist chimp
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sekolah
I have always loved cults and religions. The mythology of most religions makes for great reading, and the means of worship vary significantly. This is one of my favorite religions, from one of my better games.
Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branchèd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind.
-John Keats (1795-1821), Ode to Psyche
The Salahs
In the Second Enlightened Sekolian Cult, a Salah is considered to be the personified power and authority of the shark-deity Sekolah, holding the authority to act as a leader in the church and to perform priestly duties, as well as the sacred power to work miracles. A group of Salahs is referred to as a 'shiver'.
The word 'Salah' denotes elements of both power and authority. All Salah have undergone and survived a shark attack known as 'the Shriving', and been spared death via Sekolah's implicit intervention. This brush with Sekolah and death gives the Salahs a mystical understanding and authority over the oceans, as well as the twin processes of life and death. As a spiritual power, Salahs are said to possess the abilities to control the winds, to communicate with sharks, and to devour wicked spirits that threaten their devotees.
The Shriving
There is a single requirement to become a Salah: Any man or woman that has been assaulted by sharks, lost two-fifths or more of his or her body mass, and survived, is then eligible to become a Salah. This loss of body is regarded as an offering to Sekolah, and may be either deliberate or accidental. Such horrible injuries are considered to cultivate detachment from mortality in the victim that then allows them to achieve a closer relationship with the deity than other worshippers.
The Modern Cult
The faith of Sekolah is referred to as a cult because it focuses on a principle deity and his associated menagerie of spirits, but does not purport a doctrine of morals by which believers are expected to live their lives by. The doctrine of Sekolah's cult is concerned chiefly with how to honor and revere Sekolah, and what few morals it espouses pertain to individuals and their duties to various categories of other people, such as spouses, family, and mamluks.
The modern cult is more temperate than its predecessors, who were blood-soaked and aggressive. It is presently led by one Iber Salah, who has distinguished himself by forbidding his Salahs to set foot on soil that is not part of the Guatican Co-Prosperity Sphere. This has led to a number of foreign Salah to reside aboard houseboats and the like, and is interpreted as a tacit support for the Shah's recent expansionist policies.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Jabberwock's Aerie
Not a bad session tonight. I'm curious whether my PCs will try and go after the dragon, or pursue side quests that hold the promise of making killing the dragon easier.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Absinthe and Opium
I'll skip the mini-essay about the inclusion of drugs in the Book of Vile Darkness being related to Monte Cook not being invited to the really good parties.
I have included rules for fantastic versions of two much-storied substances that I feel sure can fit into most games. It is my thought that, although these substances can add gris gris to a campaign, they should not be the focus. Thus, the rules avoid complication as well as I am able.
Addiction: Creatures that are exposed to one of these substances must make Willpower saves of the listed DC or form a habit. A creature with a habit must take a dose of his drug each day or suffer the specified drawbacks.
Each week that a character goes without his substance, he must make a Willpower save against the listed DC in order to shake his addiction. If this check fails, the character will do anything in his power that does not violate his alignment to obtain more of the substance in question. If this check succeeds, the addiction is over, though if he ever takes even a single dose of the substance again, his habit automatically reforms.
Greater Restoration or more powerful magics are required to cure addiction via magical means.
Opium (DC 18, 15gp)
This substance is usually used in a tincture or smoked via apparatuses that avoid applying direct flame to the substance. Opium products such as laudanum (opium dissolved in red wine or alcohol) are prized for their medicinal effects, and when used in conjunction with a Heal check or cure spell, allow the recipient to heal an additional +6 hp. In this case, the recipient must check for addiction.
Opium is also used for pleasure, and is renowned for the strange visions and mental activity that it causes. Each day, a creature with an opium habit may choose to memorize one of the following, which may be used as an extraordinary ability: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Detect Secret Doors, or Detect Undead. This ability does not resemble magic, and the user may not even be aware that he is acting in an extraordinary fashion when using these abilities.
Once one has an opium habit, one must use daily or else become fatigued. If one goes more than two days without, one instead becomes exhausted. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by using opium.
Absinthe (DC 14, 25gp)
The green faerie, the artist's liquor, a distillation containing wormwood and anise, among other things. This is the wizards' drug, reputed to allow men to taste souls, see the future, and hold traffic with fae creatures. When quaffed as a potion, absinthe will function as a potion with the effects of detect invisibility and detect magic at the same time, with a duration of but a single round.
A character with an absinthe habit will enjoy +1 to the DC of his spells, and enjoy a +2 bonus to Charisma-related checks with fae creatures.
When one has an absinthe habit, one must use daily or else become dazzled. If one goes without for more than a day, he instead becomes shaken. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by renewed use of absinthe.
I have included rules for fantastic versions of two much-storied substances that I feel sure can fit into most games. It is my thought that, although these substances can add gris gris to a campaign, they should not be the focus. Thus, the rules avoid complication as well as I am able.
Addiction: Creatures that are exposed to one of these substances must make Willpower saves of the listed DC or form a habit. A creature with a habit must take a dose of his drug each day or suffer the specified drawbacks.
Each week that a character goes without his substance, he must make a Willpower save against the listed DC in order to shake his addiction. If this check fails, the character will do anything in his power that does not violate his alignment to obtain more of the substance in question. If this check succeeds, the addiction is over, though if he ever takes even a single dose of the substance again, his habit automatically reforms.
Greater Restoration or more powerful magics are required to cure addiction via magical means.
Opium (DC 18, 15gp)
This substance is usually used in a tincture or smoked via apparatuses that avoid applying direct flame to the substance. Opium products such as laudanum (opium dissolved in red wine or alcohol) are prized for their medicinal effects, and when used in conjunction with a Heal check or cure spell, allow the recipient to heal an additional +6 hp. In this case, the recipient must check for addiction.
Opium is also used for pleasure, and is renowned for the strange visions and mental activity that it causes. Each day, a creature with an opium habit may choose to memorize one of the following, which may be used as an extraordinary ability: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Detect Secret Doors, or Detect Undead. This ability does not resemble magic, and the user may not even be aware that he is acting in an extraordinary fashion when using these abilities.
Once one has an opium habit, one must use daily or else become fatigued. If one goes more than two days without, one instead becomes exhausted. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by using opium.
Absinthe (DC 14, 25gp)
The green faerie, the artist's liquor, a distillation containing wormwood and anise, among other things. This is the wizards' drug, reputed to allow men to taste souls, see the future, and hold traffic with fae creatures. When quaffed as a potion, absinthe will function as a potion with the effects of detect invisibility and detect magic at the same time, with a duration of but a single round.
A character with an absinthe habit will enjoy +1 to the DC of his spells, and enjoy a +2 bonus to Charisma-related checks with fae creatures.
When one has an absinthe habit, one must use daily or else become dazzled. If one goes without for more than a day, he instead becomes shaken. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by renewed use of absinthe.
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