Archive for the Dungeons and Dragons Category

Jeff Easley at the Bristol Renaissance Faire

Posted in Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News with tags , , , on July 31, 2011 by boccobsblog

photo by Paul P.

The highlight of this year’s Bristol Ren Faire (aside from my yearly tradition of getting shitty on mead and puking a turkey leg into the cleavage of a 300-pound woman dressed like a fairy), was seeing Jeff Easley.  If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Easley’s work- he did the art for much of second edition D&D (the DMG and the PHB for example). The cover art he did for the D&D basic set (the Troy Denning Black Box) remains, to this day, my favorite D&D image (and the reason I joined the hobby).

In my mind, there is no greater fantasy artist than Mr. Easley.

If you get a chance, visit his booth at the faire or visit his website.

Images from Jeff Easley’s official site.

RenQuest

Posted in Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, LARP with tags , on July 28, 2011 by boccobsblog

On our trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire my friends and I tried a role-playing event they offer called Rennquest. What is RenQuest? Well according to their website:

Be among the first to get a glimpse of the latest chapter of RenQuest™, the live action fantasy game many have credited with setting a new standard for multiplayer role-playing events everywhere. Originating at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in summer 2008, RenQuest™ draws upon the unique resources of one of the country’s top Renaissance fairs to create an interactive theatrical experience that provides gamers with an unprecedented opportunity to test both their mental and physical skills, beyond the realm of their computer screens.

After a three-summer struggle to rid the hamlet of Bristol from the threats of the barbaric Draco Disciples and the legacy of the Dragon Bloodtharken, this summer’s RenQuest™ finds new forces of evil emerging, amidst mounting chaos and a prophetic warning to all would-be protectors not to be fooled by unlikely foes.

RenQuest™’s playing field is an entire 30-acre village with 1,200 period performers, artisans and merchants, and a professional production staff, ready to engage patron-players in an evolving adventure of riddles, spells, hunts and other challenges. As players advance through the levels of the live action game, they earn individual player achievement rewards and accumulate points toward the advancement of one of two factions with which they’re aligned.  Some quests last a day; others extend over multiple weekends or the entire Faire season.

Overall the experience was enjoyable. The quest took the better part of the day (though we did stop several times for drinks). It was cool to interact with NPC’s that were in full costume (though some were more “in-character” than others).

The puzzles were challenging and the cast did a great job.

I would highly recommend RenQuest to gamers in the Midwest.

Check them out on their Facebook page, or on the Bristol site.

All photos by Paul P.

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

Monster Mash-Up Round Two

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , on July 20, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Monster Mash-up contest is heating up. Eight monsters have been eliminated and the second round has begun.

The round two match ups are as follows:

Were-Chimera vs. Enfield

Grivvin vs. Displacer Cube

Intellect Tyrant vs. Strigethid

Displacer Dragon vs. Medusa Hydra

Vote here.

(They turned down my Vampiric Weasels, so they can all go to Hell as far as I’m concerned)

Fortune Cards: Neverwinter Released Tomorrow

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News with tags , , on July 18, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via wizards.com

On July 19th Wizards will release their next set of Fortune Cards. The next set will feature a Neverwinter theme to coincide with the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting set to release in August.

The response to Fortune Cards has been mixed to say the least. Some players adore any opportunity to add to and modify their game in new and exciting ways, others see them as a just another attempt to get their money.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the cards work; here’s an explanation from Wizards.com:

At the start of each encounter, shuffle your deck and draw a card.

You can play one card per round. It requires no action to play. The rules on each card state when you can play it and what effect it has. A card takes effect just once unless it states otherwise, and you discard the card when its effect ends.

You can have only one Fortune Card in your hand at a time. At the start of each of your turns, you can do one of the following:

  • Discard the card in your hand and draw a new one.
  • Draw a new card if you don’t have one in your hand.
  • Keep the card that’s in your hand if you haven’t played itThe cards will come in booster packs of 8 cards and retail for 3.99 USD

Example cards:

 

 

 

 

 

We would be interested in hearing from anyone that uses Fortune Cards in their game. What do you think of them? Do they improve game play?

For more info on Fortune Cards click here

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

Wizards Transforms Indy into Neverwinter

Posted in Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, Gaming News, Gen Con 2011 with tags , , on July 8, 2011 by boccobsblog

At this year’s Gen Con Wizards of the Coast will be transporting fans to the fabled city of Neverwinter. According to Wizards.com:

This year, Wizards of the Coast is taking Dungeons & Dragons fans back to the iconic, fan-favorite city of Neverwinter with a robust offering of Neverwinter-related products and programs. Gen Con attendees will find themselves fully immersed in the city with hundreds of gaming sessions in the Sagamore Ballroom, a life-sized encounter in the Wizards booth, and the largest Dungeons and Dragons event of the year, D&D Neverwinter Game Day, taking place on Saturday. Fans will also get the chance to experience Neverwinter by participating in the first-ever “mass adventure” happening throughout the show with a chance to earn fun prizes and swag items. A full schedule of seminars and special guests is also planned, including New York Times Best-Selling author R.A. Salvatore.

I’m not sure what a “life-sized encounter” is, but I will be sure to find out and report back live from the con.

We are less than a month away from the 42nd Gen Con!

D&D Monster Mash-up Finalists

Posted in Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, Gaming News with tags , on July 6, 2011 by boccobsblog

A while back we posted a link to Wizards creature mash-up contest. The following is a list of the final contestants. We hope yours made the list.

Over the next few weeks fans can vote on Wizards.com/dnd and decide which monster wins.

Were-chimera: The result of a mad artificer who studied lycanthropes, this terrible creature morphs into any form it needs to gain advantage against its prey. In combat, it’s been known to change from a dragon (controller) to a lion (skirmisher), to a goat (charging brute), to still other creatures as necessary.

Cannibal cow: Carnivorous pack animals, typically found in lightly settled plains and scrublands. Some say a wizard crossed a bull and a lion in a fit of magical animal husbandry, some say a barbarian tribe held a yurt-raising that went too far. A mane of fur around their necks and a lion’s tail differentiate them from lesser cattle. Their teeth have adapted to ripping and tearing flesh, using their dim intelligence to bring down smaller animals and to herd larger ones. They have been known to raid farms, rustling cattle for their own herds. The wisest and cruelest of them worship the Horned King, Baphomet.

Enfield: A creature with the head of a fox, the feathered breast and foreclaws of an eagle, and the body of a wolf; the enfield possess the subtlety and cunning of the fox, the fortitude, grace and honor of the eagle, and the fierceness and loyalty of the wolf. In Celtic mythology, the enfield protected the fallen bodies of chieftains against desecration by the enemy until the tribesmen of such chiefs could give them proper funerary rites; although it appears in real-world heraldry (such as the coat of arms of the London Borough of Enfield), this hybrid has never before appeared in the game.

Platypotamus: This immense semi-aquatic animal has a beak shaped like an axe-head, a huge flat tail that it uses to propel through the water (or to swamp boats that venture too close), and venomous spurs on its hind legs.

Rust Grub: Also known as Anvilbane Worms, these species of grubs range in size from 1′ to 1″ and secrete an oxidizing enzyme that breaks down most metals into a digestible format. They travel in swarms and have been known to ruin entire mines, not to mention suits of armor.

Grivvin: This foul creature is a combination of hyena and vulture. While it has the wings, tail, and hind feet of a vulture, its head and forelegs are that of a hyena. The grivvin is a carrion eater, loathsome enough that it will even eat the undead. Its wild maniacal laugh is said to be one of the few things that unnerves undead creatures!

Displacer Cube: It’s rumored that a gelatinous cube once fed exclusively in displacer beasts, and absorbed something of their qualities. Already difficult to spot, the displacer cube’s actual location may be shifted somewhere else entirely. It attacks with gelatinous tentacles that reach out and inflict acidic damage. It’s noted that while displacer cubes are not necessarily interested in absorbing adventurers, they can nonetheless be very territorial.

Mantiplacer: The wizard Bubanta is known by many wealthy patrons who seek his services as a breeder of rare beasts for mounts and guardians. One such beast is the mantiplacer, a creature comprised of the aspects of the sadistic manticore and the predatory displacer beast. With the head of a man (albeit with catlike features), the body of the beast retains its six legs and panther form and can reach a full fifteen feet in length at adulthood. Its claws and poisonous bite are formidable weapons, but the mantiplacer also possesses two tails endowed with long spikes that can be hurled with great accuracy; furthermore, the beast can strike with its spiked tentacles or buffet foes with its bat-like wings—pushing them away to a preferable distance.

Abolithids: The foul results of a mind flayer experiment on ceremorphosis using an aboleth host. Unfortunately for the inquisitive mind flayers, the abolithids had the combined psionic power of both races as well as their pride and greed, and they quickly enslaved their creators. They largely ignore the humanoid races, as the abolithids’ size and power make eating such tiny, dull brains impractical; instead, they feast on the brains of aboleths and dragons, and let the their enslaved servants do what they want with the humanoid vermin.

Intellect Tyrant: Intellect devourers do not breed in the conventional sense. Rather, new larvae spawn from the brain tissue of creatures killed by other intellect devourers. Never does this occur with more terrifying results than when the host creature is a beholder. These hybrids appear as large intellect devourers, but with atrophied limbs and the beholder’s ability to hover; although they lack eye stalks, a visible aura of psionic tendrils surrounds them, used to cast the creature’s mind-controlling abilities. They are the ultimate puppet masters.

Ruxie: This fey creature combines the worst traits of a pixie and a rust monster. It appears as a tiny feral humanoid with a double set of gossamer wings, a malevolent glare in its eye, and an oversized mustache ending in twirling prehensile whiskers, usually a ruddy brown color. Able to fly quickly, turn invisible, and create powerful illusions, its most feared power may be that any ferrous metal touched by the whiskers is instantly reduced to a pile of rust.

Stirgethid: Seemingly a cross between a stirge and illithid, they are very similar in size and appearance to a stirge but with tentacles surrounding a lamprey-like mouth instead of a proboscis. The stirgethid attacks in a similar manner as a stirge; however its diet includes the brains of its victims—wrapping its tentacles around its victim’s head and latching on.

Elder Brain in a Jar: The great necromantic generals of the drow armies are said to have captured and enslaved an elder brain, keeping it in a state of near death in a magically animated jar of viscous fluid. The fluid preserves the brain and suppresses its will, making it subject to the control of the drow. Its psionic powers, however, are unparalleled.

The Displacer Dragon: A silent, vengeful specter, this dragon is known to stalk from the darkness, disappearing and reappearing from one shadow to the next. Midnight black, with glowing, golden eyes, the displacer dragon does not have scales but instead a velvet skin, with four large tentacles extending from its shoulders and ending in the spiked pads of displacer beasts.

Gray Matter: This odd creature—easily one of the most intelligent oozes—resembles a throbbing mass of brain matter. Seeking out the dark corners of humanoid settlements, it waits patiently for a suitable victim to take over with its psionic powers, a portion of itself entering the victim’s body and taking control; this new puppet is sent back into its community to lure more victims. After several days in a host body, the original mind is consumed. The victim will be abandoned, expelling a fully grown gray matter. In this way, an entire community might be consumed and outgrown in a matter of weeks.

The Legendary Medusa Hydra: This scaly, four-legged beast resembles a multi-headed hydra (with the hydra’s regenerative and multiplicative powers)—yet each head is that of a medusa, with a petrifying gaze.

You can read the complete article here

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

 

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