Ultanya

Down in the dark twisting labyrinth of Fang, unknown horrors await you. Devised by the devilish mind of Baron Sukumvit, the labyrinth is riddled with fiendish traps and bloodthirsty monsters, which will test your skills almost beyond the limit of endurance.

Countless adventurers before you have taken up the challenge of the Trial of Champions and walked through the carved mouth of the labyrinth, never to be seen again. Should you come out of the labyrinth alive, you will be wealthy beyond your dreams. Do YOU dare enter?

All three book covers

First published in 1984, Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone was a huge influence on me as a young DM. It was part of the Fighting Fantasyseries of single-player RPG books. I fondly recall playing through the book dozens of times over the summer when I was 10 years old. Eventually after countless delves I actually completed the dungeon one time successfully. I learned just how fickle fate could be when rolling dice to determine an outcome. Deathtrap Dungeon was a best-selling children's book in 1984 and just recently celebrated its 30 year anniversary.

In 1988, a conceptual video game version of the famous book was released. It was developed by Asylum Studios and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. The game was a 3rd person dungeon crawler which became a best seller in the UK. The two characters available were the Amazon Red Lotus or the Barbarian Chaindog. Red Lotus while popular looked more like a dominatrix with a great sword. I think she was perhaps in the wrong dungeon environment...

The game was loaded with nasty tricks and traps that would even give Lara Croft (Red Lotus twin sister?) and Indiana Jones a run for their money. Incidentally today is also the 33 year anniversary of the premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Did Ian Livingstone’s vision help to craft some of your early table top dungeons?


The start of Ian Livingstone's original map

Iain McCaig's original Bloodbeast sketch


Kelly Brook promoting the video game in Red Lotus Cosplay

Reading about the Adventurer’s League has me very interested in organized play for perhaps the first time. But I think the foundation for my excitement may be different from others. From my standpoint it should be used to draw old players back into the hobby and more importantly add new players. The biggest challenge I think to the former however is the friendly local game store (FLGS). While it is apparent there will be plenty of support provided them it may go mostly unnoticed.

Many remaining brick and mortar stores are only frequented by regular customers. Worse many of these stores are not a true demographic of the modern gaming community. I have been playing games for three decades and I find myself rarely staying long at a FLGS. Unfortunately they are usually filled with stereotypes which popular culture so loves to poke fun at. Most young people or even professionals who once played RPGs would never frequent these establishments.

For example my town has a large beginning of summer event where the entire main drag is filled with music, food, games and vendors – it’s like a carnival of fun and activities. There was potentially thousands of people walking up and down the street. The FLGS is right on the main drag in the heart of the action. Curious, I poked my head in to see what was going on. There was a smattering of CCG players who cast a questionable glance at me and not a single patron to be found.

Image is everything and the stereotypes of gamers are something I have battled against for a long time. I believe the average FLGS will continue to have a very limited new audience. The caveat being those stores which are not filled with grognards who treat newcomers with suspicion. They are rare but they do exist and flourish amazingly well as both a social place and retail environment. Therefore it is my belief that in-person and online play that does not happen in a game store will have lots of appeal. I hope to potentially make this happen in my area because nothing is cooler than seeing someone roll a D20 for the first time!

For this week’s throwback I thought we would take a quick look at a quintessential favorite the vorpal sword. The term vorpal however does not find its roots in role playing games. It was author Lewis Carroll who first coined the term in his 1871 publication Through the Looking-Glass. This was the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The term appears twice in a poem called Jabberwocky which Alice reads:

He took his vorpal sword in hand
And later,
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

The vorpal sword as we know it in fantasy role playing first appeared in D&D Supplement 1: Greyhawk (1975). It was basically a sword of sharpness on steroids that would decapitate you! Since then there has been numerous iterations of vorpal swords across many editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

Greyhawk Page 47, 1975

In the current Playtest material of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons the weapon is still deadly:

Property [Attuned]:The weapon’s bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls increases to +3. Attacks you make using this weapon ignore resistance to slashing damage.

When the number you roll on the d20 for your attack roll using this weapon is 20, make another attack roll against the same target. If you hit again, the target takes an additional 6d8 damage. If the second attack roll is also an unmodified 20 and the target has 150 hit points or fewer, you lop off its head, killing it instantly. If the creature doesn’t have a head, you instead chop the creature in half, with the same lethal result.

I think the former is a fair modern interpretation but I probably will not be using it in my home brew campaign. To me the vorpal sword is one of those boogieman weapons that should be truer to its 1975 form. Instead my home brew version will read as follows:

Whenever you roll an unmodified 20 and the target has 150 hit points or fewer, you lop off its head, killing it instantly. If the creature doesn’t have a head, you instead chop the creature in half, with the same lethal result. If the target has more than 150 hit points it takes an additional 6d8 damage instead.

I never actually have given a non-epic level character a vorpal sword in my campaigns over the past thirty years. Swords of sharpness made the rounds in AD&D a few times and were very prized items. Many DM’s stay away from vorpal weapons for fear the BBEG will die in one lucky roll of the d20. I personally feel that if a player finds a vorpal weapon it should be of artifact quality and yes every BBEG should be scared of it! Likewise every player should still worry about that wayward and very hungry rust monster…

So what is your take on vorpal weapons and the snicker-snack of a natural 20?

Vorpal Swords are no big deal!

For the first time since its inception I did not venture out on Free RPG Day. The last few years I have seen the decline of the event at most FLGS in my area. I was under the impression that the original foundation of Free RPG Day was to help the FLGS. Most establishments complain they must pay for the material and that people just grab and go. What I find laughable however is those same FLGS do absolutely nothing in terms of hyping the event.

In fact last year I stopped by one store in particular and everything was just thrown haphazardly on a table. The clerk working the checkout had his nose buried in a book and did not even say a word to me. At another store the local clique was given first dibs on all the best loot. The worst part was the store owner was happy with his decision to do the former.

For me the PDF’s made available by the Indie RPG community are what Free RPG Day is now. But alas, this is also why 99% of my buying is online versus brick and mortar. Between stores boycotting the event and very poorly managed stores Free RPG Day is becoming endangered in my area. Hopefully it turns around and some entrepreneur able to think outside the box makes a fun event out of Free RPG Day.

Some of the loot available this year

I had rather wear out than rust out - Richard Cumberland (d. 1718)

For this week’s throwback we take a look at one major anathema of adventurers, the rust monster! I have always loved this beastie because it remains one of those constants in the universe. Old rusty creates wide eyes and guarded play regardless of character level.

My favorite aspect however of the rust monster remains in its origins. I actually remember having the very toy the rust monster was created from as a child. Gary Gygax recalled the history of our ferrous eating friend and was quoted in Dragon Magazine #346:

There isn't much to relate regarding the rust monster, truth be told. When I picked up a bag of plastic monsters made in Hong Kong at the local dime store to add to the Sand table array-we were playing Chainmail Fantasy Supplement miniatures at a 1:1 scale, there was the figurine

that looked rather like lobster with a propeller on its tail.

As we assigned names and stats to these critters, bulette and owl bear for instance; nothing very fearsome came to mind regarding the one with the projecting feelers. Then inspiration struck me. It was a "rust monster," a thing whose touch turned ferrous metals to ferrous oxide, even magical steel armor or enchanted iron or steel weapons.

The players soon learned to hit one with spells and arrows so as to slay it at a distance. When one appeared in the D&D game, usually in a dungeon setting, there was great haste to remove from its vicinity if there was no sure and quick means of destroying it at hand.

It really is fun to think that such a classic monster of the Dungeons & Dragons game was inspired by a bag of cheap plastic monsters. It just goes to show what you can do with some imagination and a trip to the local dollar store.

Recently there as an interesting article floating around the web about a plant in the Philippines which eats metal. As soon as I read about the Rinorea niccoliferaI just knew I had to somehow turn it into a monster. After all something as innocuous as a plant is usually the unexpected adversary which catches players off guard. So below I present you with a new perennial plant to hide among the red and orange autumn leaves.

Rustent (5E example stats)

Large Plant

Armor Class: 14

Hit Points: 40 (4d10 + 16); see Traits below

Speed: 30 ft.

Senses tremorsense 100 ft.

Str 18 (+4) Dex 16 (+3) Con 18 (+4)

Int 12 (+1) Wis 10 Cha 9 (-1)

Alignment: unaligned

Languages: nil

TRAITS

Hide in Plain Sight: The rustent can hold itself so still that it appears to be a tree. A DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals that the tree is, in fact, a rustent

Damage Resistance: The rustent is resistant to bludgeoning damage.

Vulnerability: The rustent is vulnerable to fire.

Rust: Each time the rustent hits a suit of armor or metal weapon with its hyperacccumulator tongue, the armor or weapon is rusted. If the armor or weapon is magical, its wearer or wielder can make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. Successful Save: The armor or weapon is not rusted.

A rusted item takes a cumulative and permanent –2 penalty. In the case of armor, the penalty applies to its AC, and if penalties from rust reduce the target’s AC (ignoring Dexterity) to 10 or less, the armor is destroyed. In the case of a weapon, the penalty applies to damage rolls made with the weapon, and if the penalties from rust reduce the weapon’s damage result to 0 or less, the weapon is destroyed.

ACTIONS

Melee Attack—Slam: +4 to hit (reach 10 ft.; one creature).

Hit: 16 (3d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.

Ranged Attack—Tongue: +3 to hit (20 ft./40 ft.) one creature wearing metal armor or carrying a metal weapon). Hit: The target’s armor (01–75 on a d100) or weapon (76–00 on a d100) is rusted (see the Rust trait).

ENCOUNTER BUILDING

Level 5

XP 600

Original Plant creature art by Didizuka.

Over the past week I have been absorbing the new Dungeons and Dragons starter and basic rules. I’m very pleased with the new “green box” and it will find a well-deserved spot on my game shelf. I printed the entire free basic PDF and assembled a binder for ease of use. While flipping through it this past weekend one new cantrip really resonated with me.

Thaumaturgy is basically prestidigitation for clerics which I think is just awesome. One of the big design elements of 5th edition was to harken back to the old ways of playing. And by that I mean less roll playing and more role playing. Thaumaturgy is a great tool to assist with this as it gives our divine casters a bag of minor magic tricks.

The etymology of the word thaumaturgy is from Greek thaumatourgia, or “wonder-working”. It was first anglicized in John Dee's book Mathematical Praeface to Euclid's Elements (1570). He mentions an "art mathematical" called "thaumaturgy... which giveth certain order to make strange works, of the sense to be perceived and of men greatly to be wondered at."

Medieval Europe is filled with stories of Saints and their healing miracles or portents of things to come. Interestingly the Greeks really developed the word thaumatourgia to label these saints and document their wonders. In a low magic campaign or just an area remote of magic thaumaturgy opens all sorts of story doors for any dungeon master.

I can just imagine an unscrupulous or evil cleric using thaumaturgy to strike fear into an entire village and controlling it. These acts of the “gods” would be unlimited and the common folk would be wary and frightened by them.

The role playing opportunities for players with a cleric character are really endless now. And just like prestidigitation dungeon masters should encourage their players to be inventive. Don’t be glued to the bullet list of manifestations below as they are but mere suggestions and examples.

Thaumaturgy
Transmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V
Duration: Up to 1 minute

You manifest a minor wonder, a sign of supernatural power, within range. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

•   Your voice booms up to three times as loud as normal for 1 minute.
•   You cause flames to flicker, brighten, dim, or change color for 1 minute.
•   You cause harmless tremors in the ground for 1 minute.
•   You create an instantaneous sound that originates from a point of your choice within range,
such as a rumble of thunder, the cry of a raven, or ominous whispers.
•   You instantaneously cause an unlocked door or window to fly open or slam shut.
•   You alter the appearance of your eyes for 1 minute.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its 1-minute effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Gandalf using Thaumaturgy?

I just received my copy of Gygax magazine issue 4 in the mail. Every time I open one of these issues it takes me right back to the early 1980s. From the smell of the freshly printed paper, the design layout and the content this is a nostalgic homage to the original Dragon magazine.

I work in the information technology world for a living and I’m a big technology guru. That being said, I still really enjoy hard copy magazines and books. There is just something tactile and pleasing about leafing through real pages you just don’t get with a PDF. Also RPG books and magazines just lying around are probably one of the best gateways for new players. Curiosity because of a fantastic cover often will draw just about anyone in for at least a cursory once over.

And that is what brings us to this Throwback Thursday and Gygax magazine issue 4. The cover is painted by the incredibly talented Den Beauvais. His work has graced countless RPG products over the past decades. A quick visit to his website will really open your eyes just to how voluminous his works have been.

There is an interesting backstory to the cover of Gygax magazine issue 4. It actually represents the ongoing saga of a magical chess game being played out for a very long time. It all started with Dragon magazine issues 83, 86, 89 and 118.

Dragon issue 86 still resonates with me the most in terms of cover art in the chess series. It was 1984 and I had been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about one year at that point. I remember several attempts at trying to draw the knight scene I loved it so much. I wish I still had them to share with you all now.

Gygax magazine has not disappointed me yet and the cover of issue 4 is a wonderful follow-up in the series. For the uninitiated in chess the queen is the most powerful piece, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Early queen attacks are rare in high level chess, and a queen exchange often marks the beginning of the endgame for more advanced players. With that in mind this latest work really keeps that theme as a foundation as the fifth painting in the series.

For those interested in Gygax magazine I encourage you to support the publication. A one year subscription (Issues 5, 6, 7, 8) runs $35.00 and you receive both hard copy and PDF. Just the name of the magazine alone should inspire grognards and greenhorns alike!

This past weekend I ran part 1 of the Lost Mine of Phandelver with three avid 5E play testers and three veteran returning players. We used the pre-made characters provided with the starter set and my wife rolled up her own character. Five of the players were physically present and one Skyped in from out of state. After they all selected characters I spent about ten minutes explaining some of the rule changes and then we jumped right in.

WARNING: Spoilers past this point!

Just for background one of the things I immediately liked about the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure booklet was how easy it was to read. Since it was filled with helpful tips to assist a new DM I really just skimmed it a few hours before game time. Admittedly, I did not follow the adventure and changed things as I saw fit based on player interaction.

Hired by a dwarf in Neverwinter to bring a wagon of supplies to Phandelver the players set off. Eventually they happen about a grisly scene on the road consisting of black feather laden horse corpses. At this point the curious halfling rogue in our group went up for a looksee. Unfortunately she suffered the ambush of the goblins hiding in the thicket. Luckily one of the fighters with a longbow had been perched on top of the wagon the entire trip. Some return fire felled one goblin and provided some suppression for movement. Eventually hide and seek ensued in the thick underbrush ending in a melee.

I enjoyed the first encounter and I think it was well thought out to introduce new players to some important concepts. Sure the old vets in my group immediately realized they were being funneled into an ambush. That being said, new players need to learn that an opponent with a ranged weapon using cover and concealment is devastating. I think this encounter will be an educational experience for some groups!

Afterward the stalwart adventurers hobbled the oxen drawn wagon inside a thicket clearing and followed the goblin trail. Passive perception saved them from some nasty goblin traps along the way. The traps are another good primer for new players as they will learn that danger can take many forms. Just because it looks like a safe trail to follow does not mean there is not a big pit trap waiting to swallow you up.

Finally the group located a large cave which a shallow stream flowed into. This was the Cragmaw Hideout where the goblins and their bugbear boss were holed up. Without giving too much more away about the actual interior I will say there is a few surprises which I thought were fun. I think part 1 was a good mix of exploration and combat with part 2 potentially involving lots of investigation and roleplaying opportunities.

Overall the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a solid product to teach new players the game and also entertain veteran players alike. Sometimes reaffirming those old school values of combat, exploration and role-playing is even good for the grognards.

Here are some of my favorite comments from the game session:

“Clerics get a cantrip that does d8? Wow this is awesome!”

“This is how a longbow is supposed to feel”

“Sneaking up on the bugbear by yourself…probably not a good idea”

“I love how fast the combat is going. I did not even finish pouring a beer and it’s my turn again”

“Advantage/Disadvantage is a great mechanic”

For this week’s throwback I thought we would examine a now defunct character stat known as comeliness. It was just one of many new concepts released in the 1985 Unearthed Arcana by TSR. The former alone could be the subject of constant throwback material. Comeliness was the seventh D&D primary stat which fizzled away in later editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

Comeliness reflects physical attractiveness, social grace, and personal beauty of the character. It is used to determine initial reactions to the character and characters with a high comeliness may affect the wills and actions of others. While charisma deals specifically with leadership and interactions between characters, comeliness deals with attractiveness and first impressions.

This was an interesting concept and it came with that new car smell so many gamers tried it. Overall in the end I think most groups decided it served no real mechanical purpose in the game. It inherently was very subjective as an attribute since beauty is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. For example I may be an elven wizard with 18 comeliness and according to the Unearthed Arcana the beauty of the character will cause heads to turn and hearts to race.

But to half-orcs or even a dwarf maybe the ugliness of the character will cause stomachs to turn and hearts to stop? Obviously every culture or species has its own standards of beauty and a way to measure them. I think this is where comeliness really fell short in terms of its game use. To be fair the tables in Unearthed Arcana did come with the following caveat:

Comeliness will have the following effects on creatures of human sort. (This category includes, but is
not necessarily limited to, humans, demi-humans, humanoids. giant-class, and bipedal creatures of human-like form and motivation.)

I have used the comeliness tables as a reference tool for monsters that have Charm and Fascinate powers. Since they are using magic every race sees whatever they find the most attractive in that instance. I prefer to let players decide if their character is model material or battle scarred and ugly (which may be attractive to some). I then make notes and use it during role playing interactions with NPCs they encounter.

According to statistics released by the Society of Plastic Wizards, 14.6 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures, including both minimally-invasive and surgical, were performed in the United States in 2012. People are still looking into that magic mirror and really concerned about their comeliness score.

Has comeliness survived your campaign worlds or like others have you brushed it under the rug? In a world so obsessed with outward appearance I could see vanity leaking back into the tabletop environment. Rumor has it there is a dwarven wizard offering Flesh to Stone chiseling with a guaranteed reversal for a few thousand gold in a city near you!

“Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Fairest of Them All?”

Some if you may be wondering why my blog went dark (pun intended) for the last few weeks? Between family vacation and convention preparation I was extremely busy. For some background since 2012 I have been organizing a private game weekend called Ultracon for family and friends. Life has a funny way of distracting us from our hobbies and the relationships we have forged over the years. Add in social media and we all feel connected but are we really? Nothing beats sitting around playing games and having a good time.

Ultracon has been a fantastic success and this past weekend I think has built the foundation for many more to come. Every year we always try to find some cool swag for the attendees. This year the goodies included vintage d20s (0-9x2), custom Ultracon D6s, a rechargeable +1 bonus chip and some gracious additions from Goodman Games.

Coolest of all however are the items crafted by the players themselves. This included beautiful hand embroidered dice bags, metal engraved dice boxes and two cases of home brewed beer with a keepsake bottle. For today’s post I plan to focus on the beer as it has a game element you may want to add to your own campaign world.

Ultanya is a realm I have been creating for thirty years and during that time I have added many wines and spirits. One of the players in our circle is quite the beer aficionado and had the idea to bring some custom brew to Ultracon. As a fellow imbiber and indulger of liquid bread I was instantly on-board with this idea! I was invited to help during brew day which was a very educational experience since my knowledge did not go beyond the label of most bottles.

The recipe chosen was an English Dark Mild which is well known for low alcohol content and a very mild finish. Since our attendees all had eclectic tastes this would prove to be a good choice as everyone enjoyed it. The pilot brew actually won 2nd place in a local home brew competition and was praised by several brew masters.

I was so impressed with the effort being put forward with this project I just knew it needed a permanent place in my realm. I went to work on some back story and created a fun label. So without further ado let me introduce you to Dredgehammer Dark Ruby Mild Ale!

The Dredgehammers are known for their talents with barley and hops. Realizing that traditional deep ales were too strong for the non dwarven palate the Dredgehammers decided to make something unique for export to the surface world. The result is their immensely popular Dark Ruby Mild Ale.

The brewery was founded in 2125 by Lien Dredgehammer deep in the halls of Arbangaz. Originally self-distributed, Lien and his family bottled and delivered all of the beer to the dwarven market for the first forty years. By 2165, the Dredgehammers were shipping more than 500 barrels annually to surface kingdoms.

For the next several hundred years the Dark Ruby Mild Ale was perfected and continually exported. In 3002, the Dredgehammer’s opened a new production brewery on the surface world. This facility has seen dozens of major additions since then on a 16-acre site. Beers and ale are now brewed on a 50-barrel system with a total annual export capacity of more than 10,000 barrels.

Dark Ruby Mild is still their best seller and frequently found in taverns of mid to high quality. The alcohol content is very low (by dwarven standards) which is appealing to both the imbiber and of course the seller’s coin purse. Grainy to toasty caramel malts, low carbonation and a nearly still, bubbly head are defining characteristics of the brew. Colors can range from brown to dark red.

Game Information: Consumption of a pint of Dark Ruby Mild Ale will grant the drinker +1 to Wisdom Saves for 30 minutes, but at the end of that time the effect is reversed for the following 30 minutes.

Market Price: 200gp/barrel

At Ultracon this summer we used a mixture of the 5E Playtest and Basic rules since we did not have the Player’s Handbook yet. The main event was played over the weekend and involved a custom mega dungeon which the characters had to navigate through. For background they were all prisoners in a monastery dungeon awaiting trial for their individual crimes. Unbeknownst to them below the monastery was an ancient ziggurat which was being excavated by the evil bishop and his zombie workforce.

At the beginning of the weekend an earthquake sent all fifteen players down into the belly of this ancient ruin. With nothing but soiled rags to wear they had to collect makeshift equipment and try to escape. In terms of stress testing 5E the story turned out to be a great way to do so. Old school practices such as being innovative and thinking outside the box occurred time and time again. Even the most stalwart war gamers in our circle enjoyed a mix of theater of the mind and dice rolling.

Our three game tables were an even blend of veteran players, returning players and new players. Perhaps the most important observation over the weekend was the ease at which 5E played. This is a game that really pays attention to its heritage more than any other edition. One of our DM’s had not sat behind the screen in over 20 years. He was able to comfortably game master rules almost unseen and had a blast doing it. Sure there were hand waves here and there but that is supposed to happen!

Throughout the weekend I did not hear one iota of rules criticism from even the oldest grogs who attended. Instead all I heard was people having fun with an old friend they thought they lost called Dungeons & Dragons. The simplicity of the game and the modularity are very appealing to me. If Wizards keeps its promise of avoiding endless class expansions riddled with power creep 5E will have major roots in the RPG community. As a big fan of the OSR and I’m already digging the O5R acronym and think it’s really appropriate.

5E may turn out to be my favorite variation of D&D to date. It’s tough to make a comeback but I think they did it this time. I have not seen this level of excitement produced by D&D since the golden era of TSR in the early 80s. Full circle indeed.

I decided to crack open my AD&D Fiend Folio and give Stan Shinn’s 1e to 5e converter a whirl. I went to the first monster I saw which was the Adherer and started to update it. This is one of those underrated and very old school monsters that is just plain fun. Imagine a white skinned humanoid in funeral wrappings which secretes a thick resin akin to glue. This beastie will make for a memorable encounter if not a sticky situation for your players.

In terms of history the adherer first appeared as the gluey in White Dwarf #7 (June/July 1978). Subsequently it appeared in the AD&D Fiend Folio (1979) and then the second edition Fiend Folio Monstrous Compendium supplement (1992).

Below I have converted the adherer for 5E Dungeons & Dragons:

ADHERER
Medium humanoid, lawful evil
________________________________________

Armor Class 15
Hit Points 58 (4d8 +26)
Speed 30
________________________________________

STR 18 (+4)
DEX 14 (+2)
CON 15 (+2)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHR 10 (+0)
________________________________________

Saving Throws Str +2
Damage Resistances acid, bludgeoning and slashing
Damage Vulnerabilities fire and magic missile
Damage Immunities Non fire cantrips and 1st level spells (except magic missile)
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, intoxicated, prone
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages nil
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
________________________________________

Dungeon Camouflage. The adherer has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while underground.

Effect on objects: Any non stone object striking the adherer automatically sticks to it. As an action a character may attempt to remove a stuck object (Athletics DC 22).

ACTIONS
________________________________________

Multiattack. The adherer makes two fist attacks.

Adhesion Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d3+ 5) bludgeoning damage plus the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, takes 7 (2d6) acid damage per round and the adherer cannot use that fist on another target. That being said, the adherer can now use the target as an involuntary shield. This provides half cover (+2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws) using small to medium targets and three-quarters cover (+5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws) using large targets.

BACKGROUND
________________________________________

This curious creature bears a close resemblance to a mummy – man sized and with loose folds of dirty white skin which appear on first sight to be a mummy's bandages. Coincidentally, the creature is just as vulnerable to fire as is a mummy do to a resinous solvent in its body fluids.

It is immune to damage from all first level spells (accept magic missile – see above). The creature's skin constantly exudes a sour-smelling glue-like substance with very powerful adhesive properties; any material except stone will adhere to it. Only fire, boiling water, mighty strength or the creature's own voluntary secretions will break the adhesion. Thus any weapon which hits the creature will adhere to it as well. The adhesive properties of the secretion wear off in 10 rounds after the adherer is killed.

Usually the adherer will catch its prey by waiting in ambush, camouflaging itself by rolling in dirt, sticks, and leaves and then artfully arranging larger pieces of debris to conceal its form. Any prey (regardless of size) passing near its 'hideout' will trigger its attack response and the adherer will pounce on the closest target, attempting to hit and to cling with bulldog-like tenacity until the prey expires. However, if it is spotted and attacked before any potential prey has come into pouncing range (with missile fire or sometimes even loud noises); it will become confused and make a hasty retreat.

Boiling water (or boiling liquid of other types) will cause the adherer 1-3 hit points of damage if a sizeable quantity is thrown over the creature and inhibit its adhesive properties for the subsequent melee round. The adherer’s taste for prey is wide-ranging and it will usually attack, given a suitable opportunity. The only exception to this is the spider - the adherer will never attack a spider of whatever variety and sometimes it has been known to co-operate with them in trapping prey.

Despite its appearance, the adherer is not an undead creature.


Fiend Folio 1979

White Dwarf #7 1978

Fiend Folio Monstrous Compendium 1992

I’m a big fan of obscure monsters since they keep the players guessing and surprised. I decided to update the much maligned Thork from the AD&D Fiend Folio for 5E. This is a monster that inevitably has been passed over by DM and player alike for decades. It also has made several lists as one of the worst monsters every created and yet I think it has a certain charm. Resurrection challenge accepted!

In trying to create a good background for the Thork I kept thinking about the 6th labor of Hercules. The task was to drive away a flock of man eating birds which gathered at the lake town of Stymphalos.

These fly against those who come to hunt them, wounding and killing them with their beaks. All armor of bronze or iron that men wear is pierced by the birds; but if they weave a garment of thick cork, the beaks of the Stymphalian birds are caught in the cork garment... These birds are of the size of a crane, and are like the ibis, but their beaks are more powerful, and not crooked like that of the ibis.

Pausanias, Description of Greece

So now we have a great foundation for the thork. The Stymphalian bird was carnivorous with a metal beak, feathers and poisonous dung. Legend holds that the birds belonged to Ares, the Greek god of War. For our conversion I decided to combine some elements of the Stymphalian bird with the Thork.

Hercules and the Stymphalian birds 560-530 B.C.
Photograph courtesy of the British Museum, London

Thork
Large beast, neutral evil
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Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 28 (3d10 + 6)
Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft.
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STR 16 (+3)
DEX 10 (+0)
CON 15 (+2)
INT 15 (+2)
WIS 12 (+1)
CHR 07 (-2)
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Damage Immunities poison
Damage Resistances fire, bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Damage Vulnerabilities cold

Skills Perception +3
Senses Passive Perception 13
Languages nil
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
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Keen Sight.The thork has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Flock Tactics. The thork has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the thork’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Toxic Waste. Anyone within 30’ of a thork dung pile must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.

ACTIONS
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Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Boiling Jet (Recharge 5–6). The thork exhales boiling water in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

BACKGROUND
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These stork like birds live exclusively in or near water. Although they are similar to the stork in appearance and shape, closer inspection will reveal they appear metallic with a coppery sheen. An observer will also notice that wisps of steam rise from the bird's beak, though no discernible heat is radiated by the body.

The thork are renowned for being extremely vicious and unpleasant in temperament. Worse yet the bird is an insatiable carnivore which enjoys the flavor of human flesh. If it has not fed recently it will attack a human on sight if not terribly outnumbered.

Thork flocks are a plague to most human settlements and they prey on smaller villages on the edge of civilization. Their greenish dung is highly toxic and has been known to ruin very valuable water supplies. The odor of the dung has a unique albeit revolting acidity that most rangers will recognize immediately.

To attack, the thork squirts a jet of boiling water at its opponent. The bird is capable of sucking in the necessary quantity of water and heating it very quickly. If it cannot heat water it will defend itself by striking with its beak and attempt to draw opponents near its toxic excrement.

When a thork dies its corpse quickly becomes a dried out husk of high quality copper. These have been known to command prices as high as 200gp on the open market. Additionally they are very fond of platinum coins or other small objects made of that metal; it normally conceals them under a boulder or under a rock face near the water's edge.

________________________________________

Conversion tools:

Creative DM Imagination

Stan Shinn’s 1E to 5E converter

Stymphalian bird history

Original AD&D Thork from Fiend Folio

With Oktoberfest around the corner and my love of good Microbrew I felt compelled to create this background.

Brewer

You learned how to craft various alcoholic beverages either at home or in a commercial brewery somewhere in the realm. Your philosophy of quality and diversity has served you well.

Skill Proficiency: Intelligence (Nature); Charisma (Persuasion)
Tool Proficiency: Artisan Tools
Languages: Pick any 2
Equipment: Artisan’s Tools (brewer’s supplies), set of common clothes, recipe book, lucky tankard, a belt pouch containing 15gp.

Feature: Brewpub Legend

You have a reputation for crafting drinks with a stronger taste and frequently more alcoholic content than what most commoners are used too. In some cities and towns people have either heard of your creations are even tried them once. When other aficionados recognize you they tend to be interested in talking and very helpful. Because of this minor celebrity you may be able to gain access to important community leaders with relative ease.

Suggested Characteristics

d8 Personality
1.    I’m fanatical and obsessive about the brews I craft and drink.
2.    I grow bored quickly crafting the same alcoholic potable over an over.
3.    I’m a beer snob. I know arcane bits of knowledge about things brewed 1000 years ago.
4.    Unless it’s Dwarven made its just flavored water.
5.    I prefer to go with the trends when I craft various brews. I want to make money.
6.    My goal is to win every competition I can until my brews are on the King’s table.
7.    Did someone say hops? Please try this ground breaking brew. Bitter? No way!
8.    I’m just as happy drinking a good brew as crafting it.

d6 Ideal
1.    Giving: I want everyone to partake in my delicious creations (Good)
2.    Respect: My brew should only be made available to those responsible (Lawful)
3.    Diversity: I grow tired of the same boring brews. My creations will be everywhere. (Chaos)
4.    Avarice: When I’m filthy rich from selling brews you will all grovel before me. (Evil)
5.    Esoteric: I want to brew magical drinks for the most discriminating customers (Unaligned)
6.    Recognition: I want to be known for the brews I craft. (Any alignment)

d6 Bond
1.    I know the secret ingredients to a renowned recipe from a famous brewery.
2.    I’m still in debt to a dwarven brewer who took me in and taught me the trade.
3.    I have been tasked by a wealthy noble to create a brew using completely outlandish ingredients.
4.    I cannot resist visiting a new tavern to experience the local competition.
5.    I promised an ill brewer I would finish his/her research into a unique recipe.
6.    My family brewery was destroyed by a fire. I plan to return one day and rebuild it.

d6 Flaw
1.    I really enjoy excessively partaking in most everything that I craft.
2.    Alcoholic beverages crafted by others I find lacking and I’m boisterous about it.
3.    I like to brag about my brewing accomplishments.
4.    I often cut corners when I brew and hope I don’t get caught.
5.    I’m not nearly as experienced at my craft as I lead others to believe.
6.    I’m completely inflexible when it comes to brewing methodology.

Poison has been used by nature and mankind for ages and fantasy worlds are no different. It has been represented in various forms by the Dungeons & Dragons game over the past four decades. The mechanic almost always used is hit point damage to represent the debilitating effects. In 5E poison is given both a damage type and a condition as defined below.

Poison Damage. Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green dragon’s breath deal poison damage.

Poisoned Condition. A poisoned creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

The 5E Player’s Handbook also contains an example poison and kit which are available for purchase by adventurers as follows:

Poison, Basic. You can use the poison in this vial to coat one slashing or piercing weapon or up to three pieces of ammunition. Applying the poison takes an action. A creature hit by the poisoned weapon or ammunition must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or take 1d4 poison damage. Once applied, the poison retains potency for 1 minute before drying.

Poisoner’s Kit. A poisoner’s kit includes the vials, chemicals, and other equipment necessary for the

creation of poisons. Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to craft or use poisons.

Now while I think this is a good start it leaves poison as a tool relatively weak and not overly useful. Especially when you consider the second level spell Protection from Poison which makes it a non-issue for prepared adventurers.

Protection from Poison

2nd-level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S

Duration: 1 hour

You touch a creature. If it is poisoned, you neutralize the poison. If more than one poison afflicts the target, you neutralize one poison that you know is present, or you neutralize one at random.For the duration, the target has advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and it has resistance to poison damage.

So what can we do to kick poison up a notch and give it some O5R feel? I think the answer is to look at our own world's poisons and get creative. For example Curarehas been used in tropical South America as an extremely deadly missile poison for ages. The resin like sap is harvested primarily from the genusStrychnos. It is then boiled and reduced to a thick, black paste into which arrows and darts are dipped. Interestingly, Curare is only hazardous in the bloodstream, not swallowed by mouth. That being said, users of this poison must be careful not to cut or poke themselves with the poisoned tips of arrows or darts, lest they become the victims.

So how does it work? Curare is absorbed by the skeletal muscles and then interrupts them causing complete paralysis. Since those muscles are also needed for respiration the target eventually dies from asphyxiation. Death by curare is described as slow and dreadful, as the victim is awake and aware but cannot move or even speak.

Curare poison paste

Curare is a very popular poison used still in the Amazon basin for hunting since a well-placed shot will paralyze an animal quickly. Most importantly it has no effect on the meat of the animal so it remains a fantastic tool for any hunter to use. The poison emulates scorpions, spiders, and venomous snakes in that it paralyzes prey so it may be consumed.

When reading about Curare all I could think about was a tribe of kobolds or goblins dipping their arrows, javelins and spears in a similar substance. With Curare as inspiration I present to you Black Root Poison. Your players will never underestimate kobolds and goblins again!

Black Root Poison

Black Root is a very rare flowering plant which can be found in warm to temperate climates. It is not unusual for it to be mistaken for a common weed and only the most learned rangers and druids will recognize it. The plant is most famous for its spongy deep roots which are filled with a chewy tar like substance. Black Root is sometimes relied upon as a teething cure for children as it has no effect when ingested. However if collected and boiled down it reduces into a foul black paste. Kobold and goblin tribes have been known to use this extract as a vile paralyzing poison.

One dose of Black Root can be used to coat one slashing or piercing weapon or up to three pieces of ammunition. Applying the poison takes an action and once applied, the poison retains potency for 1 day before flaking off. A creature hit by the poisoned weapon or ammunition must make a DC10 Constitution saving throw or become instantly paralyzed for 1d6 turns. Subsequently the victim must continue to make this constitution saving throw for 1d6 rounds or until paralyzed. Once paralyzed the victim takes 1d4 constitution damage per round as the poison asphyxiates them to death.

If a victim is hit with multiple black root poisoned weapons or missiles increase the paralyzation saving throw DC by +1 per successful attack.

Another player may make a DC15 Medicine check to assist a paralyzed target with breathing. This is considered an action every round and does not cure the victim’s paralyzation but stops ongoing constitution damage. The medicine check will also reveal that only time or a magic cure will make the poison pass.

Black Market Price: 500 GP per dose

This morning I read the following tweet by Insane Angel Studios and thought it was great:

With Halloween around the corner the idea of some necromancer or warlock with a brain in a jar familiar really inspired me. Below is the find familiar spell from the current 5E Player’s Handbook. I like the new iteration of the spell and think its generic enough that there is plenty of wiggle room for a fun home brew tweak.

Find Familiar
1st-level conjuration (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must
be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal. When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.

You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.

As you can see a brain in a jar obviously would not be able to perform the regular functions of a familiar since it is sedentary and without vision. So below I have outlined some changes for this very cerebral familiar.

While your brain in a jar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. You may ask the brain to help you unravel some arcane or historic mystery. This comes at a cost however as the madness of the brain’s memories flash before your eyes. Make a DC12 Wisdom saving throw or suffer 2d6 points of psychic damage. Succeed or fail you gain advantage on one Arcana or History skill check on the next round.

Additionally, once per day, you may sustain two concentration spells at once. During this time, you must hold the brain in the jar and may take no other actions save movement.

So maybe this All Hallows Eve your players will wander into some dust covered alchemy shop at the end of dark alley. Inside they find a twisted old man with a droopy eye selling pickled monster parts and an odd assortment of pulsing brains inside glass jars. Be warned however rumor has it that certain undead are attracted to brains and may pursue any arcane practitioner using one as a familiar!

Get your brains here for 100 Gold!

October is my favorite time of year for gaming. I love seeing ghoulish pumpkin faces illuminated on porches in the neighborhood. The tradition of the Jack-o-lantern finds its origins in Ireland with the legend of Stingy Jack. People would carve scary faces on potatoes or turnips and display them outside their windows or doors to ward away wandering evil spirits and fey.

This sounds like a tradition that commoners would adhere to in just about any fantasy realm. In a game such as Dungeons & Dragons malicious fey and horrific undead are not an imagined problem. What if pumpkin patches were growing on top of some ancient grave site? Or maybe deep in the rich soil were the corpses of murder victims long forgotten.

The pumpkin harvest is well underway and night has fallen with a full moon. A group of dark fey happens upon the scene and senses the tormented spirits under the pumpkin patch. They excitedly hop from foot to foot and perform an evil ritual calling forth the tormented dead souls. Slowly the pumpkin matter is corrupted and calcified to form a likeness of rotted corpses. Then the unspeakable happens as they animate and shamble forth toward the cottages of the nearby village.

Below I have outlined a fun alternate version of a zombie for DM’s to toss at their players this October. The pictures I used in this post are the incredible work of Ray Villafane. Please check out his website for further inspiration as you carve up your own pumpkins this Halloween!

Pumpkin Zombie

Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 8
Hit Points 31 (4d8 + 9)
Speed 20 ft.

STR 14 (+2)
DEX 6 (−2)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 3 (−4)
WIS 6 (−2)
CHA 5 (−3)

Saving Throws see below
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Rejuvenation. If the pumpkin zombie is destroyed anywhere near soil, it regains all its hit points in 1 hour unless holy water is sprinkled on its remains or a dispel magic or remove curse spell is cast on them.

Detect Life. The Pumpkin zombie can magically sense the presence of living creatures up to 5 miles away. They know the general direction but not their exact locations.

Magic Resistance. The pumpkin zombie is created with fey magic and has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Decaying claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage.

Appearance

Pumpkin zombies move with a jerky, uneven gait. They appear to be a yellow-orange shambling likeness of a corpse. The smell of a ripe pumpkin field permeates any area they enter.

With Halloween quickly approaching my mind always shifts to haunted houses. But what about something we do not hear about as frequently such as the haunted object? If you are planning on running some Halloween themed games this October I have created a Haunted Sword Table below. The idea is to add just enough scare to really spice up that +1 sword the adventurers just found. The possibilities are really endless in terms of how far the DM could take any of these themes.

Just imagine that a restless, malicious or even sadistic spirit is somehow permanently bound to the blade. Maybe an entire quest could be embarked on just to unravel the mystery of the haunting. Make the players wary of the weapon or maybe even intimidated by it. Perhaps despite their best efforts it keeps turning up time and time again. The sword mocks them, goads them, and continuously finds ways to cause unease among the party.

Maybe after a good haunting some old school caution will be injected back into even the most stalwart of treasure seekers!

Haunted Sword Table (d10)

1.    The wielder feels another hand grasp the handle of the sword and a control it for a fleeting second.

2.    Odd laughter emanates from the blade while it remains sheathed. The laughing stops when the blade is drawn forth and examined.

3.    The wielder hears the sound of the blade being dragged across a whetstone repeatedly late at night.

4.    The wielder begins suffering from a recurring nightmare of accidently cutting themselves. Eventually the wielder awakens to find unexplained cuts on their appendages.

5.    The wielder starts seeing shadow figures darting around in their peripheral vision which reach for the sword.

6.    The sword makes the wielder’s hand feel tired, numb and cold. When it gets almost unbearable a faint and undecipherable whisper is breathed into one of their ears.

7.    The sword is never where the owner left after the sun rises. When found there will be unintelligible scribbling obviously created by the blade on the wall or ground.

8.    At complete random times the blood curdling death screams of someone will echo forth from the area where the sword is.

9.    People will unknowingly and subconsciously avoid the owner of the sword. They will be seen glancing at the weapon and then quickly averting their eyes.

10.    The wielder’s skin takes on a sickening pallor and their eyes a solid black color whenever they use the sword in combat. Afterward it slowly fades and they feel cold and melancholy for a short time.

The 1980s were a great era for not only role playing games but also fantasy cinema. I recall very fondly how those movies influenced many table top adventures and also characters. One thing that really stands out about many of those movies was the unique weapons used by many of the protagonists. Just think of the first time you saw a light saber as a kid and the associated wow factor. Below I have listed eight such weapons that I believe any old school enthusiast should mold into their world. Perhaps you already once did back in the 1980s and it’s time for some modern day nostalgia!

Repeating Crossbow, Hawk the Slayer, 1980

This is a movie that I still love to this day because of the assembled party of adventurers. One such

hero was a grizzled fighter named Ranulf (Morgan Sheppard) who used a cartridge fed crossbow. The first time I saw this weapon in action I immediately had to put it into my campaign. A semi-automatic bolt spewing crossbow? Sign me up and Darryl from the Walking Dead keep on drooling!

Tri-Bladed Sword, Sword and the Sorcerer, 1982

Conceptually it’s hard to imagine wielding a triple bladed melee weapon. Ok, set logic aside and remember this is the stuff of fantasy and magic! In the movie Prince Talon (Lee Horsley) is able to fire the blades with incredible force at his opponents. So an anime style melee weapon that doubles as a blade shooting cannon? This HAS to be found and wielded by some lucky player character!

Caber, The Beastmaster, 1982

Dar (Marc Singer) is a barbarian with a really cool boomerang that has four axe blades. With the axe blade theme I can completely envision this being a dwarven exotic weapon. Especially when used in the narrow halls of the under realm and thrown across chasms. No dwarf would throw a perfectly good axe unless it returned to their hand! A weapon like the caber really allows a character to have that trusty ranged attack available when needed.

Glaive, Krull, 1983

When Prince Colwyn (Kenneth Marshall) pulled the glaive from the lava pool it was a cinema moment I will never forget. An ancient magical throwing weapon with retractable blades that returns to your hand! To a ten year old fascinated with shurikens this was like one on steroids. The glaive defiantly has an artifact aura about it and could serve well as one in any campaign.

Weirding Module, Dune, 1984

Being a big fan of gonzo and magitech in my own games I had to include this after a friend’s suggestion. The Weirding Module translates specific sounds into sonic attacks of varying potency. Imagine a well versed bard character finding one of these Purple Haze inducing devices? I love the idea of a magic item that amplifies and modifies one effect into another. Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) shatters a stone obelisk with his during a training exercise in the movie!

Double Crossbow, Ladyhawke, 1985

Navarre’s (Rutger Hauer) double crossbow is a great example of something so cool and yet not very outlandish. The over and under design with a double shot mechanism would not be hard to make in a fantasy world. I would imagine it would command a great price but most adventurers should be able to save for one. This was another weapon that immediately found its way into countless D&D campaigns back in the 80s. I highly recommend you consider it now and breathe some life back into crossbows!

Bone Club, Red Sonja, 1985

There is nothing more basic than a huge bone club and Falkon (Paul Smith) wielded his with great prowess. I really think this club deserves mentioning because it reminds us that the coolest weapons don’t have to be traditional. Maybe it’s the leg bone of some ancient mythical beast, virtually unbreakable and oddly heavy. I could see a party of adventures being on the receiving end something similar and then one of them using it afterward for many levels.

Serrated Sword, Willow, 1988

I will be honest in 1988 I only noticed the fiery Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) first and her wicked sword later. That being said, the serrated sword is such a nasty looking weapon. It hurts going in and like an arrow I could only imagine the damage this does on the way out. It also could double as a pseudo saw for an adventurer on some nasty dungeon delve. This is a great example of a normal weapon with a unique twist beyond just a simple (and often boring) +1.

For Throwback Thursday I thought it would be fun to remember Princess Ariel (voiced by Nellie Bellflower) from Thundaar the Barbarian. If you came here looking for a red headed mermaid I’m sorry to disappoint you. For those who don’t recall the cartoon it was way ahead of its time in terms of gonzo sci-fi mixed with fantasy.

The beginning narration is as follows:

The year, 1994. From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice. With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword, against the forces of evil. He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!

I picked Ariel for the throwback because I think she really was the unsung heroine time and time again. She first appeared in the episode Secret of the Black Pearl which aired October 4th, 1980. Ariel…black pearl notice all these references which pre-date Disney™? Being a sorcerous Ariel was incredibly valuable as an adventuring companion in the post-apocalyptic world of 3994.

Ariel’s powerful innate magic almost always utilized the somatic component of hand gestures. She was able to shape force magic specifically in the form of offensive bolts and protective shields. Many times Ariel was seen manipulating matter in ways similar to prestidigitation or even thaumaturgy. Perhaps coolest of all was Ariel’s ability to counter the magic of enemy casters which saved her companions time and time again.

While Thundaar and Ookla were great warriors they were also not the brightest bulbs. Ariel seemed to be a wellspring of knowledge pertaining to science and early human history. Apparently her father, Sabien, was responsible for her advanced education in both mundane and magical subjects. That being said, he was a vile and cruel man who kept slaves with one of them being Thundaar. Princess Ariel was responsible for freeing Thundaar and Ookla and thus became their companion in exile.

Ariel was depicted as a fit woman with dark skin, hair and eyes. She wore a form fitting blue tunic with golden belt, bracers and boots. A teardrop tiara completed her outfit which was barely visible under her raven colored hair. It was alluded to in the show that she had deep feelings and respect for Thundaar but he was too thick headed to realize it. Stupid barbarians...

Toynami 2003

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5E: The circle is now complete

5E Monster Conversion: Adherer

5E Monster Conversion: Thork

5E Background: Brewer

Black Root Poison

Brain in a Jar familiar

Pumpkin Zombie

Haunted Sword Table

8 Old School Weapons Your Campaign Needs

Throwback Thursday: Princess Ariel