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20 Dwarf Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 5e, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , , , , , on June 14, 2019 by boccobsblog

Dwarf D&D Quest Ideas

Today’s 20 D&D dwarf quest ideas comes from Twitch streamer, Amishman:

1. There is a dispute among the blacksmiths, someone is stealing their tools, all of them are blaming each other rather then look for real evidence.

2. There is someone going around doing the most evil thing of all, going into nobleman’s houses… and shaving their beards off when they sleep. Many nobles are too afraid to show their disgusting and beardless faces.

3. After digging what the lesser races would call… too deep… the dwarf mines have found both a gold vein and a shrine to a demon lord. Go get rid of the shrine and cultists so they can get the mines reopen.

4. Clearing out the mines. Some goblins/bug things/dragon clawed into the tunnels and it needs to be sorted out.

5. Quick gather some wheat in order to make and forge legendary dwarvish bread weapons. Then quickly distribute them in order to defend against the mildly irritating rat king.

6. Rediscover a forgotten dwarven form of magic called Stone Singing. Need to find a race of friendly elementals long separated from the dwarven people, you could use Galeb Duhr instead of elementals.

7. A gnome entrepreneur has come to the dwarf halls with a small team of Apparatus of Kwalish that have been re-purposed for mining, the local miners want to hire the PCs to sabotage the machines and the Gnome wants to hire the PCs to protect the devices from saboteurs.

8. Dwarves have a fairly high mushroom intake in their diet. Their mushroom caverns have been poisoned and the PCs are tasked with finding out why. (Druids who hate mineral extraction from the earth, Myconoids trying to awaken their fodder cousins leaving them poisonous, Duergar plot to kill their kind-hearted cousins, the gnome from the last hook re-purposed his Apparatus to harvest mushrooms is leaving them inedible)

9. A dwarven Ale Meister hires the PCs to delve into a lost dwarven hall that legend says holds the recipe to some sort of ambrosia-beer so that he might win an upcoming competition and solidify his name as the greatest Ale Meister in all the halls. Why was the hall lost? Pick an underdark race (Duergar, Drow, Neogi, and Tsochar tend to make more sense than the more food-centric like Mind Flayers or alien like Grell and Aboleth…though pretty much anything will work)

10. The Dwarf mine in the volcano has been dug too deep and has freed an ancient demon.

11. The Dwarves throw a feast for the party at the end of a different adventure and at the party someone dies. To prevent the unknown murderer from escaping the Dwarves lock down the house/manor/keep and the players must help to solve the mystery since Dwarves don’t really make good detectives.

12. The Dwarves are besieged by a gigantic army from the Underdark, they have been guarding the only entrance to the Underdark in the area and if they fall the unprepared races/kingdoms they have been protecting for centuries will surely fall.

13. Old man Worcestershire at the bar has a map to a rumored treasure deep beneath the volcano, but doesn’t have funds or warriors willing to go after it as it is supposedly guarded by undead/demons.

14. The lord of the city is rumored to have been killed and replaced with a doppleganger. A local guard thought he saw the lord change skin, but he can’t be sure. He approaches the party for help with the matter.

15. A townswoman has been hearing strange rattling and moans coming from the abandoned house next door. She asks the party to investigate.

16. Two opposing tailors each have half of the finest pair of pants ever created. You have been hired to repair the pants and reunite the halves.

17. The library has been infested with small mimics disguised as books. Exterminate them.

18. Through less-than-reputable channels, the party hears about a plan to hunt a small roving group of purple worms. The local crime syndicate wants the precious and hard to obtain organs and blood from the worms. The local city guard wants the location of the nest discovered and reported and nothing more.

19. A noble requests that the party deliver a small package. Around ten minutes after the package is delivered, someone approaches the party and asks where their package is, providing valid identification.

20. A city watchman requests the party’s help in setting up a sting. If the party agrees, the operation begins, but when the target arrives, at least one member of the party recognizes the target and believes them to be innocent.

Amishman has been gaming since the early 80’s and once fought Danny DeVito in a K-Mart parking lot. He can be found at

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WoTC to Reprint 3.5e Books

Posted in D&D 3.5, Dungeons and Dragons on August 4, 2012 by boccobsblog

Wizards of the coast is going to reprint the core rule books from 3.5 this Sept.

From Wizards.com:

Earlier this year, we announced the release of the 1st Edition core rulebook premium reprints. And now, we’re further pleased to offer 3.5 Edition Core Rulebook premium reprints releasing this September!

On sale September 18, these 3.5 Edition premium reprints feature new covers and the latest errata — so, be sure to pick yours up at your friendly local book or gaming store!

    • The Player’s Handbook has all the rules players need to create characters, select equipment, and engage in combat with a variety of supernatural and mythical foes.
    • The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the DM with advice, guidelines, and everything he or she needs to create challenges, adventures, and full-fledged D&D campaigns, including sections on prestige classes, magic items, and character rewards.
  • The Monster Manual contains material that players and DMs alike will find useful. With hundreds of monsters to populate all levels of dungeons, this tome also includes monster creation rules, information on playing monsters as characters, details on monster tactics, and powered-up versions of standard creatures.

Together, these three volumes comprise the core rules for the 3.5 Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game!

The article also contains a link to vote for other 3.5 books you’d like to see reprinted.

If they were just reprints I wouldn’t be excited, but if they contain new information and updated errata they will be worth it. I remain doubtful of the amount of new material as each book comes in at the exact page count as the previous iteration (320).

They will retail for 50 bucks each (boo!).

Will they be available early at Gen Con? That would be nice.

Article link

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Simple Human NPC’s for D&D 3.5e or Pathfinder

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Uncategorized with tags , on July 12, 2012 by boccobsblog

Lately I have been making more “cheat sheets” for my 3.5 games. I hate being unprepared, but always seem to fail to plan for something. This double-sided handout contains the stats for several human npc’s. Need a quick town guard or a thug? I took these from WotC’s Races of Destiny and tweaked/shortened them slightly.

NPC1

Currently I am working on the DM’s,  “Oh Sh!t Sheet”. I should be finished tonight or tomorrow.

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Thundercats D&D

Posted in D&D 3.5, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2011 by boccobsblog

Those of us that lived through the 80’s, the Thundercats were an inescapable pop culture phenomena. That said, the Cartoon Network is having success with the show’s latest incarnation that runs on Friday evenings. I have watched a few episodes and it is pretty good. The new version is a retelling with a younger Lion-O, but the essence of the old show is preserved.

That said I thought it would be fun write a post that would give you ideas for running your own Thundercats D&D, d20, or Pathfinder campaign.

In no special order:

No Human/Demihuman Races

The fun of the Thundercats is that there were no humans and that image of a world populated by anthropomorphic animals was something different and alien. (To my knowledge, Mumm-Ra was the only Human on Third Earth) Use only anthro-animal races like Gnolls, Lizardmen, catfolk, etc.

Medium Magic

Remove classes that prepare spells in advance, such as wizard and cleric, and allow only spontaneous casters like sorcerers and favored souls. This is slightly lower the magic level of the world by limiting the number of spells your players will have access to, but most importantly it will better fit the theme of primal forces and innate power.

Dealing with Tech

The new series sets up technology as something that the Thundercats don’t use or really understand. This approach will help to highlight the nature/tech dichotomy of the show, and make your life easier as a DM. Tech should be as obscure to your characters as ancient artifacts are to your players.

If you get too liberal with the Tech, you wont be playing a fantasy game any more. If you add too much, it will cease to be powerful and mystical. Besides tech is the weapon of Mumm-Ra and his forces, if you give your players too much tech, it will blur the lines between the nature/tech struggle at the heart of the series.

I would use the futuristic weapons listed in the DMG page 146 to outfit Mumm-Ra’s goons. A Thundrillium shortage could explain away every single soldier doesn’t carry a rifle.

Thundercats

You can simply use the catfolk from the Races of the Wild book, or use the following subspecies to give your world more definition. These variations follow the catfolk entry, expect as noted. I made each of these the same size, even though wild cats vary greatly in size : Cheetah 140 lbs., tigers 675 lbs., lions 550 lbs. (thanks Wikipedia!)

Lion- +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Chr, Size: medium, Favored Class: Fighter

Noble and strong, the lionfolk are the rulers of Thundera.

Tiger- +4 Str, +2 Dex, Size Medium, Favored Class, Ranger

Solitary and brooding, tigerfolk are stronger than lions, but do not work well in a groups, preferring to work alone.

Cheetah- +4 Dex, Size medium, Favored Class: Scout, Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative,  Dash[1]

The fastest of the Thundercats, the cheetahfolk aren’t as strong as their brothers.

Sabertooth- +6 Str, -2 Chr, Size medium, Favored Class: Barbarian, Bonus Feat: Toughness

Savage and feral, the Sabertoothfolk are the strongest of the Thundercats, but the hardest to lead.

These are just a few of the possibilities. I thought of doing other types, Panthers for example, but it is hard to make them mechanically different from tigers.

Sword of Omens (minor artifact)

This version is based on the new series. The original sword had about 126 powers and would be impossible to duplicate.

The Sword of Omens is a +5 thundering bastard sword. The sword has the following abilities:

Size Variation- As a standard action the wielder may change the size of the sword to any one of the following: dagger, short sword, longsword, bastard sword. Regardless of the weapon’s size it retains all its properties.

Call of the Pride- As a standard action the wielder can produce the symbol of his clan in the air. The symbol is visible to clan members regardless of distance of visibility.

Sight Beyond Sight- Once per day, as a standard action the wielder may use Clairaudience/Clairvoyance as per the spell. Caster level 20th.

Claw Shield

The claw shield is a leather glove reinforced with steel strips. It acts as a buckler, and thanks to its steel claws, can act as a slashing weapon as well. Because of its strange nature, the claw shield is an exotic weapon. (DM’s could consider giving Thundercats this proficiency as a bonus racial feat)

Claw Shield   30gp   1d6 dmg   x2 crit   2lbs.   slashing   armor bonus 1   armor check penalty -2   10% arcane spell failure

The shield claw cannot be used to perform a shield bash, and the user cannot wield a weapon in their claw hand as the claws are fixed. The shield claw is considered a light weapon. Claw shields can be adapted to sheath small blades.

Hopefully this will give you a starting point to work from. If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more like it, let me know. Next time I could stat out Mumm-Ra and create a Thundertank.

[1] Complete Warrior

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Another 101 D&D Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , on July 27, 2011 by boccobsblog

Many of you may remember the post we did several months back entitled, “101 D&D Quests Ideas”, it has been one of the most popular articles on the blog and one of the most searched terms by readers using search engines like google to find us (in fact if you google, “D&D Quest Ideas” B3 is the first hit- woot!). So we turned out another 101 D&D quest ideas usable for any fantasy-themed RPG, but written with D&D and Pathfinder in mind. Enjoy! (And a big thank you to Dave R. and Adam A. for submitting quest ideas)

1. A minotaur was victimized by a wizard, and now he will hire you to lead him through his own labyrinth to his treasures.

2. A painter has been using magic to easily duplicate his own paintings to sell as originals. But a fowl art critic with a penchant for theatrics is on to him and has sworn to reveal the secret unless he is permitted to marry the artist’s only daughter. The artist hires you to eliminate the critic who knows too much.

3. The sun set 26 hours ago. The world is in panic. The Drow are invading, and only the heroes can stop them.

4. A madman who thinks he is a prophet is slaughtering the livestock of the local farmers in the hopes that it will bring forth Ibanirox, the Night Eater, a long forgotten (and made up) deity of immense power. The farmers offer the group 20 gold or 3 cows per adventurer.

5. A theatre director hires the party to keep his lead actor (who is marked for death by a crime syndicate) alive long enough to perform in front of a powerful monarch. The assassins attempt to make his death scene a real one.

6. A tribe of kobolds has taken up residence in the sewers and has been hunting dogs and cats as food.

7. The pc’s are sent after a powerful artifact/weapon that will make their patron unstoppable.

8. The pc’s are hired by a Gensai sorceress to recover her mephit familiar from an enemy.

9. A character notices an error in a broadsheet posted in the city square, and quickly realizes that the paper has been forged to deflect guilt from a minor noble. The noble hires thugs to “dissuade” the party from investigating further by stealing some of their gear and shifting their attention to the thieves.

10. Mind flayers are performing perverse rituals on local orc tribes and granting them psionic abilities. The party must find and destroy them before psionic orcs destroy the kingdom.

11. Ancient prophecies predict that a star will fall at a precise location on a certain day. Whoever is first to grasp the star will receive a wish. Various dark factions camp and await the coming of the star, intent on making their wish.

12. A devil/caster/demon/warlock has set a fire using hell fire and it can only be quenched by the waters from a spring in Celestia

13. A Devil prince coerces you to sabotage the wedding of one of his political rivals.

14. A besieged city holds a tournament to mock their enemies. The King asks you to sneak into the city and win the tournament to demoralize them.

15. A wizard believes he has discovered the location of the wreckage of a legendary battleship, but so has his rival. You must recover the arcane weaponry from the wreck before the opposing team does.

16. You are hired to perform a filibuster in the legislative body of a monstrous nation. It proves dangerous.

17. An ancient and complex prison facility for extraplanar criminals is malfunctioning. The party must repair it as a group of imps attempts to use the facility against them.

18. The party is sent to investigate the disappearance of a missionary cleric in a vast and dark jungle. Investigation reveals that the cleric has instead been converted by the demon-worshiping jungle people and now mobilizes them against his former mission.

19. Gnolls have dug up the severed head of a lich in the desert, and it has promised them great power if they reunite him with his body.

20. A band of Drow (or similarly evil humanoids) comes to town claiming to be not evil and seeking asylum.

21. Ghostly dryads haunt the grove where their tree was destroyed and they can only be put to rest if the grove is replanted.

22. A werewolf, seemingly immune to wolfs bane and silver terrorizes a village. He is in fact a barghest.

23. A ruined tower is in fact a colossal animated object.

24. A yeth hound poses as a wounded blink dog.

25. The pc’s seek an item buried within a grove sacred to a centaur tribe.

26. A delver tunneling under the city is causing earthquakes.

27. The characters are sent to a primitive island to retrieve an item/find a treasure/seek an npc. The island is filled with dinosaurs, near-humanoids, and dire animals. As the pc’s explore the island they begin to devolve, as do their animal companions, mounts, familiars, etc.

28. The mayor, sheriff, high priest, has been replaced by doppelgangers.

29. A white dragon is freezing ships and carrying them off to his glacial home.

30. A major port is now home to spawning dragon turtles.

31. Dryads have taken loggers hostage.

32. All news and shipments from a dwarven stronghold have stopped; the king frees a Duergar attack.

33. Ettercaps have poisoned village children and carried them off, the pc’s know they have a limited window in which to rescue the children before they are eaten (as ettercaps like to let their dinner hang and liquefy before eating).

34. Hippogriffs, run off their mountain roosts by a red dragon, have begun devouring cattle.

35. All the townspeople in a village have contracted lycanthropy and become were-moose at the full moon. The group must discover that the alchemist upstream of the village’s water supply has been experimenting with dangerous chemicals to turn his beloved pet albino moose, Alabaster, into a sentient best friend.

36. The pc’s break a law in an unjust and evil land while doing something good, but are later pursued by a zelekhut for their actions.

37. The elementals that power a dwarven forge have broken free and must be captured without harming them.

38. A thief tells the party about a dragon graveyard that contains the treasure of a dozen hoards, but is haunted by ghostly-dragon guardians.

39. The pc’s require the help of a lillend, but she refuses unless the party’s bard can impress her with his musical abilities.

40. Ice mephits have frozen the town’s well.

41. Merfolk are waylaying ships from traveling over a sacred coral reef.

42. A gelatinous cube, used to eat waste, has escaped the sewer and must be lured back down.

43. Drunken satyrs have carried off a number of women from the village.

44. Will o’ the Wisps are luring people to their swamp.

45. All the animals in the village have collected on a hill nearby and refused to come down.

46. A splinter cult of Drow are kidnapping townspeople and sacrificing them to a powerful aranea sorceress, they worship as an avatar of Loth.

47. The pc’s hired by a local politician that fears he will be poisoned at an upcoming banquet.

48. Thieves have stolen dragon eggs and put the entire town in jeopardy as the angry mother wreaks havoc.

49. The “haunted forest” is actually filled with awakened creatures.

50. A mage’s guild seeks thieves to steal an artifact that will hamper the use of magic. They plan to use it to control all magic in the city.

51. A stray cat taken in by the pc’s is the familiar of an enemy spell-caster.

52. Mongrelmen living under the city are demanding citizenship and full rights.

53. The local wizard’s college wants to hire the pc’s to capture some new familiars.

54. A con artist posing as a priest is fleecing peasants.

55. The pc’s must stop an angry mob from attacking a peaceful tribe of orcs.

56. A glacier has been discovered with an enormous, nightmarish creature inside and the ice is beginning to melt.

57. The pc’s are asked to serve as guardian to a young noble whose parents have been killed.

58. The pc’s must smuggle a message into a besieged city.

59. A dying dragon holds a contest to give away pieces from its hoard.

60. Lizardman-half-Mindflayers are being spotted in the marshes outside town.

61. A vigilante is killing evil criminals in town. The party is hired to capture him, while the people view him as a hero and champion of good despite his methods.

62. Something has driven all the game from the kings hunting grounds.

63. Prisoners are being sold to mindflayers.

64. Marble carved from a newfound quarry is animating.

65. The prison has been taken over by the prisoners.

66. When the well goes dry, the villagers discover a glowing portal to Sigil.

67. A wizard/engineer wants help capturing elementals to power airships.

68. A wizard polymorphed into a chimera is attacking caravans.

69. The pc’s must acquire an artifact from the hoard of a fiendish-black dragon that resides in the swamps of Othrys on the plane of Carceri.

70. People are disappearing and paintings of the missing are showing up in the inn/temple/manor.

71. Fiendish weasels are terrorizing a farmers chicken coop. The family is on the edge of hunger and ruin.

72. A group of wild elves hire the pc’s to escort their clan to a new home in the Beastlands.

73. Something is causing the dead to rise from the local cemetery.

74. After a dark omen all cure spells function as inflict spells.

75. Wererats are stealing children and infecting them with lycanthropy.

76. After a Drow priestess is hanged, women in the city begin giving birth to spiders.

77. The pc’s encounter a strange man on the road how casts a spell on them/gives them a potion, shortly after they arrive in town to see (with their arcane sight) that half the town are actually changelings.

78. A farmer finds a possessed tablet in his field and begins going on a killing rampage.

79. The city’s most powerful adventurers return from questing in a temple of Tharzidun.

80. A child has been bitten by a rare spider, and the only antidote requires some of the spiders venom.

81. A vampiric bard is dining on the finest artists in town.

82. A pc learns that his family lost a powerful legacy item to a dragon. The item is still in the dragon’s hoard.

83. The party is left to raise a brood of silver dragon wyrmlings after their mother is slain.

84. A child is possessed by a demon and must be exorcised.

85. The pc’s are shipwrecked and must build a raft to escape.

86. A child in the slums is spouting doomsday prophecies and is gathering a large following.

87. The pc’s are drugged and forced into naval service by a violent press-gang.

88. The party’s warriors are invited to participate in the alabaster cup (Com. Warrior).

89. The party is approached by an npc that claims to have detailed evidence of an assassination plot. The npc even shows them plans that he stole from the assassin. After the attempt is made, the pc’s are framed and they detailed evidence is found in their room at the inn.

90. An awaken golem is creating an army of warforged to wipe the lands free of living beings.

91. A barbarian horde threatens to invade unless someone can defeat their leader in single combat.

92. The new mayor of a rural village is a Rakshasa.

93. A massive egg has appeared in the village square and cracks are forming.

94. Each night eerie organ music can be heard from the ruin manor on the hill; in the morning, a townsperson is missing.

95. Lightning continues to strike the same gravestone every night for the last week.

96. A wizard, pretending to be goodly, hires the pc’s to retrieve his “stolen” spell book from a rival.

97. Cultists have obtained a scroll of Crushing Fist of Spite (BoVD) and intend on releasing it on the countryside.

98. A party member’s soul has been purchased/stolen/bartered for, by Asmodeus and the party must debate the Devil lord to get it back.

99. A gnoll army sweeps from the north, their leader wields what appears to be the Triple Flail of Yeenoghu, Demon Prince of Gnolls.

100. A Cauldron of Zombie Spewing (BoVD) has been unearthed in an ancient ruin by clerics of Neurull.

101. A mad cleric has resurrected the stuffed monster in the party’s favorite inn.

Another 101 quests

The first 101 D&D Quest Ideas can be found here.

 

Buy me an 1/18 of a cup of coffee
D&D 5E Core Rulebook Gift Set
Dungeon Mayhem – D&D Card Game
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

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Road Shrine Adventure Site

Posted in D&D 3.5, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 25, 2011 by boccobsblog

This non-combat encounter can be placed along any road in your game world. It is suitable for a party of 1st to 7th level, though lower-level characters will receive the biggest boon. Also, if placed shortly after a combat encounter the players will benefit from the possible healing.

Background (for the DM)

Several years ago (since the first dirt paths were trod by humanoids) a small stone shrine appeared next to the road. No one is certain who carved it or created the stone though several wandering clerics have spent time next to it offering aid to weary travelers. The stone is imbued with powerful magic and will gift the PC’s with a blessing if they leave a donation, or will bestow a powerful curse on them if they dare to rob the shrine of any of its treasure.

Description (read aloud to players)

A foot or two from the road sits a large gray stone worn and weathered. The stone is roughly five feet tall, seven feet in diameter. The stone is covered in dozens of messages left by other travelers written in white chalk or black charcoal. A rough shelf has been cut out of the center of the stone (about three feet from the ground) that is three feet deep. The stone alcove is covered in numerous piles of small treasure left like offerings on an altar. Coins, gems, flowers, and incense litter the small stone shelf. Among the treasure sits a small brass bowl filled with pieces of white chalk and black charcoal.

A DC 10 Search check reveals that there is 568 gold pieces in assorted coins and gems.

A DC 10 Knowledge Religion check reveals this to be a roadside shrine to a nature or travel god (or any deity fitting for your setting).

A DC 15 Knowledge Religion check reveals that this shrine is imbued with divine energy and has several spells keyed to it. (It is impossible to determine the exact spells stored in the altar)

Beneficial Effects

Should a PC place an offering on the altar they will receive a blessing whose strength will be determined by the market value of the offering.

1 copper – 10 gold

Roll d6 (assume a level caster of 1)

  1. Cure Minor Wounds (ignore if PC is uninjured)
  2. Guidance
  3. Light (ignore if PC has lit source of light
  4. Resistance
  5. Guidance
  6. Guidance

11 – 25 gold

Roll d8 (Assume a caster level of 1)

  1. Bless
  2. Cure Light Wounds (9hp, reroll if PC is uninjured)
  3. Divine Favor
  4. Magic Stone (3 appear)
  5. Magic Weapon (reroll if PC has a magic weapon)
  6. Protection from Evil
  7. Sanctuary
  8. Shield of Faith

25 – 50 gold

Roll d8 (Assume a caster level of 3)

  1. Aid
  2. Aid
  3. Align Weapon
  4. Bear’s Endurance
  5. Bull’s Strength
  6. Cure Moderate Wounds (19hp, reroll if PC is uninjured)
  7. Delay Poison (reroll if PC is not poisoned)
  8. Eagle’s Splendor
  9. Owl’s Wisdom
  10. Lesser Restoration (ignore if PC has not sustained ability damage)

51- 100 gold

Roll d8 (assume a caster level of 5)

  1. Create Food and Water
  2. Cure Serious Wounds (ignore if PC is uninjured)
  3. Magic Circle Against Evil
  4. Magic Vestments
  5. Prayer
  6. Remove Blindness/Deafness (ignore if PC is not afflicted)
  7. Remove Curse (reroll if PC is not cursed)
  8. Remove Disease (reroll if PC is not Diseased)

Detrimental Effects

If a player should choose to steal from the shrine, roll on the table below. A kind DM may wish to add a warning, perhaps a DC 10 Spot or Search check reveals a skeleton laying in the tall grass near the shrine gripping a small gemstone in its hand. Summoned creatures attack the thief and fight until death.

Roll a d12 (Assume a caster level of 7.)

  1. Bane
  2. Inflict Light Wounds
  3. Doom
  4. Inflict Moderate Wounds
  5. Summon Monster II
  6. Bestow Curse
  7. Blindness
  8. Contagion
  9. Inflict Serious Wounds
  10. Summon Monster III
  11. Poison
  12. Summon Monster IV

Shrine PDF

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The Alchemist’s Tree

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 11, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Alchemist’s Tree is a non-combat encounter site that can be easily dropped into any D&D or Pathfinder campaign.

Background

Nebkin Bronzebeaker was a gnome wizard that specialized in potions and alchemy. He traveled all over the countryside selling medicine and potions to adventurers and townsfolk alike. Many is the person with a tale of how their child or spouse was near death’s door only to be healed by a tincture from Nebkin who asked for nothing in return.

During a trip through a particularly savage valley, Nebkin was set upon by a ravenous wyvern intent on eating his ponies. The wizard fought hard to defend the horses that made his traveling business possible and served as his only friends, but try as he did, Nebkin was slain. As it ripped the ponies from their harnesses, the wyvern tipped the wagon on its side cracking open the roof. Hundreds of potions, tinctures, and tonics shattered and spilled out onto the ground. The stream of arcane fluid ran down a short embankment and soaked into the ground where a small sapling grew. The tree absorbed the magical properties of Nebkin’s potions and now sprouts magical fruit that produce random effects.

Description

Much of the brightly colored wagon still remains, but lays broken and shattered on the ground, and the claws of weather and age have begun picking at the paint. The ground is covered with the glass remains of hundreds of bottles. Ten feet from the wreckage, a young apple tree grows (or any fruit appropriate for your setting). Even the most cursory glance (DC 5 Spot check) reveals that the apples growing on the tree are very strange. Each of the apples is a different color, and some bear dots, stripes, or intricate patterns never found on ordinary fruit.

  • A DC 15 Knowledge Arcana check will reveal that tree has absorbed the contents of the shattered glass bottles that litter the ground and hold magical properties.
  • A DC 15 Search check of the wreckage will uncover the skeletal body of a gnome in bright robes. Nearby the body is a spellbook, unreadable and ruined by exposure. (Note: should the PC’s bury Nebkin or perform any religious acts over his remains, he will appear as an apparition and lead them silently to his cache of treasure.) The cache holds 1,013 gp in assorted coinage, and 737 gp in gems (EL 7, feel free to increase or decrease).
  • A DC 25 Search check will reveal the gnome’s cache of treasure hidden in a compartment in the floor of the wagon.

 

Effects

The Alchemist’s Tree has 3d4 apples on at when found. If a player casts detect magic the fruit and the tree will glow. The spell school of each fruit can be determined with an appropriate Spellcraft check, but the actual spell contained is unidentifiable until eaten.

Once picked the magic fruit will last for one week before rotting and losing its magical properties, otherwise treat the fruit like any other potion (A DC 20 Knowledge Arcana check reveals that the magical energies locked in the apples cause the fruit to decay at a much faster rate).

Any attempt to dig up or move the tree will kill it.

Roll 1d20 and ignore repeats (keep results secret)

Caster Level 5th

01       Cure Light Wounds

02       Jump

03       Mage Armor

04       Barkskin +2

05       Bear’s Endurance

06       Bull’s Strength

07       Fox’s Cunning

08       Eagle’s Splendor

09       Cat’s Grace

10       Invisibility

11       Owl’s Wisdom

12       Levitate

13       Spider Climb

14       Fly

15       Remove Curse

16       Cure Moderate Wounds

17       Water Breathing

18       Tongues

19       Gaseous Form

20       Displacement

The Alchemist’s Tree PDF

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The Army of the Goblin Queen

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 1, 2011 by boccobsblog

The following is an NPC villain that you can use in your D&D 3.5 game (or Pathfinder with minimal changes). The Goblin Queen is a suitable reoccurring enemy for a party of four adventurers level 7-9 (She is CR 10).

Background

Many years ago a wizard named Grinlov summoned a powerful succubus and bent the demon to his will. For many years Grinlov used the demon to slay his rivals and steal their secrets but as he neared the end of his life he attempted to become a lich and died in the process.

After Grinlov’s death his captive, Uthara, was able to escape his tower as the spells and wards that kept her imprisoned began to break down.

Uthara is unlike most succubae, rather than play the part of the spy; she is a hardened warrior having fought countless battles in the eternal bloodwar. Uthara revels in combat, teleporting into and out of the thickest parts of an encounter. Covered in the blood and gore of her enemies she has single-handedly swayed the tide of battle.

In the years since she escaped Grinlov’s tower, Uthara searched the countryside for victims worthy of her wrath and stumbled upon a tribe of goblins. She teleported into the center of the tribe as they ate their evening meal, and before the goblins realized what was happening, the succubus beheaded the goblin chief. Seeing their mightiest warrior slay in an instant, they tribe threw themselves on the knees and began to worship Uthara as their goddess and queen.

The groveling and worship of the goblins pleased the succubus and she returned their servitude with strong leadership. She began to train the goblin warriors in the arts of combat. Through the use of her polymorph ability, Uthara began to breed with the strongest female goblins in the tribe creating an army of fiendish goblins.

Soon Uthara’s tribe was ready to be tested in combat. The Goblin Queen led her forces against another goblin tribe that laired nearby; the result was a complete slaughter. Any goblin tribe that did not fall to their knees and swear fealty to the Goblin Queen was destroyed.  Uthara’s tribe grew in power and number until all other goblinoids in the area either served the Goblin Queen or lay rotting on the battlefield.

Now the Goblin Queen has set her sights on the human lands to the south…

Possible hooks:

  • The players find Grinlov’s tower and among the ruins find a journal that details his servant, a powerful succubus warrior.
  • A mass exodus of goblinoid tribes have been raiding nearby villages as they are driven out of the north by a ruthless tribe of goblins led by a powerful goddess.
  • A sage hires the PC’s to investigate rumors of a new breed of horned goblins spotted in the forest to the north.
  • Bloodied and battered survivors stumble into town screaming about a goblin invasion led by a beautiful and terrible woman with bat wings.
  • The mayor of a besieged town sends word to the PC’s begging them to assassinate the leader of the occupying goblin army surrounding his town in order to swing the tide of the battle.

Fighting the Goblin Queen

After fighting their way through hoards of goblin warriors, fiendish goblins and the half-demon goblin “princes”, the PC’s will confront Uthara. The Goblin Queen is a formidable opponent. With her DR, SR, and high AC, Uthara is a cocky combatant and fights without fear; this is not to say she fights without strategy. She will make liberal use of her Charm Monster ability on the most weak-minded members of the party (usually those in armor). Once she has charmed the melee combatants she will use her teleport ability to enter a square adjacent to a spell-caster and then grapple them and employ her energy drain.

The Goblin Queen is a highly mobile foe and should be role-played as such. Make use of her ability to fly and teleport. She is able to maneuver out of flanking with ease and should always have the advantage on the battle mat.

Uthara’s one drawback is that she doesn’t deal a lot of damage so make full use of her power attack feat. Also, if you want to up her damage positional, lose the shield and longsword and give her a two-handed sword.

While Uthara fights with wild abandon, she will not fight to the death and her teleportation, and ethereal jaunt powers should allow her to escape from most instances. The Goblin Queen will bide her time and pick the most inopportune moment to enact revenge on the PC’s.

Uthara’s full stats: Goblin Queen PDF

 

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Why I Love DDO

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5 e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, Product Review, Video Games with tags , on June 27, 2011 by boccobsblog

 The Dungeon Master. The narration helps me immerse myself in the game world. (This may seem like a small detail, but it adds a lot to my enjoyment of the game).

Repeatable Quests. I can replay any quest as many times as I like and still get XP and loot.

Variable Difficulty. Quests have five levels of difficulty to choose from: casual, normal, hard, elite, and epic. (Note you have to unlock the last three. If you beat hard, you unlock elite, etc.) This makes leveling easy and adds new life to old quests.

Hirelings. Are you a caster without a tank? No healer in the party? You can just spend a few coins and get a hireling of nearly any class/race combo.The hireling stays with you for the entire dungeon. (I pay one fifteen gold and hire a cleric and the two of us can easily complete dungeons on the hard setting)

Puzzles. For those that tire of hack and slash, DDO includes many challenging puzzles into some quests. (I tried some out this weekend and was greatly impressed)

It’s D20 system. DDO uses 3.5 mechanics (modified slightly for video game use of course). I like the familiarity and ease this brings. It also makes character creation a snap.

It’s Free. DDO is completely free to download and play. Granted there are options not available to the free account players (namely the Favored Soul class, and some races: drow, half orcs, and warforged). Also, free accounts can only have two characters. Wizards makes their money through the DDO Store, in which you can spend money to get points which can be used to buy several things (items, classes, races rare adventures, hirelings, etc).

DDO is certainly worth a try. I am enjoying it greatly.

Try DDO for free

DDO concept art from Wizards.com

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3 Games of Chance for Your Fantasy RPG

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2011 by boccobsblog

Gambling is a reoccurring theme in fantasy novels, games, and films. I guess since they have no TVs or Xboxs all Orcs have to do when they have down time from their pillaging is to throw dice and play cards. Today I wanted to show a few games that could be used in-game to add realism and depth to your campaign’s tavern experience.

For brevity’s sake I will not be going into rules or mechanics of each game, but I will provide links to their site so you can find more information.

Three Dragon Ante

This is supposed to be the premiere card game in the D&D multiverse. TDA works well as a stand-alone card game and is quick and easy enough to be worked into an adventure without taking up the whole night. TDA (and really all of the games mentioned today) give you a great opportunity to role play and let those charismatic players shine. One thing that I really like about TDA is that it has a section in the rule book that lets you us character skills to affect the card game. This option really lets players feel like they didn’t waste those skill points and have a great deal of fun in the process. At the link provided above, you can get a free copy of the rulebook and TDA quest ideas.

Harrow

Not to be outdone by Wizards of the Coast, Paizo has created their own card game for the Pathfinder world. Harrow is a stand-alone card game that can be played in-game or out. One cool feature about Harrow, is that it is can also be used as a future telling device as well. According to Paizo’s website, Harrow features the artwork of Kyle Hunter, whose comics have appeared in Dungeon Magazine.

The Red Dragon Inn: Gambling? I’m In!

This is actually nine games inspired by Slug fest Game’s The Red Dragon Inn, and can be used interchangeably. I had a chance to demo this game (not all nine, but the main game and two others) at last year’s Gen Con and they were all easy to learn and enjoyable. The game includes a 90-card deck and rules for all nine games that can be played as a stand-alone or in-character in any fantasy RPG.

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