Dinosaurs & Stream of Annihilation

I've been sitting here for a little while thinking about statting up some more dinosaurs, because you really can't have enough dinosaurs. Then along comes Stream of Annihilation, and now I'm faced with deciding whether to still stat some dinos or accept that Wizards will probably be giving stats to about 15 more dinos in the near future.

I'm really looking forward to Tomb of Annihilation regardless.

Of Gods, Demons, & Devils

I'm just going to ramble a bit about all those powerful supernatural entities D&D has running around in the Outer Planes.

Against The Wicked City talks a bit about how those demon lords & arch-devils used to be a bit closer in power level to the PCs. It is certainly true: powerful enough to be dangerous, but weak enough that a decently high level party could stand a chance of taking them out. As new editions have come and gone, we've seen these beings become increasingly more powerful.

It seems that 5e has kind of scaled it back a bit, though at CR 30, Tiamat could really ruin your party's day. Send her consorts along for the ride, & a 20th level party would probably decide to nope out, until better circumstances presented themselves.

Anyway, so far CR 30 is as high as things go, with the demon lords statted up so far being between CR 21 & 28. Of course, some of these guys used to be CR 35 or 40 or more, and I know some people don't like this downpowering.

I've decided to try to stat up a CR 30 Asmodeus. I'll be posting these stats soon. I know some people are going to be all "He's a god now. He shouldn't have stats at all or should be CR 45 at the least." A CR of 45 seems kind of pointless if you ask me.

If you can't stomach these ultra powerful beings being downgraded from previous versions, you do have options: aspects, proxies, & avatars.

Aspects are duplicates of an entity, bestowed with a small part of the being's power. They first appeared in the D&D miniatures game. They can be of various power levels and are used to represent the being in matters either too dangerous or too trivial for the entity to deal with directly. When they are created, and multiples can exist at the same time, they are of the same mind as their creator, but from that point on, they are essentially free-willed. Supposedly, an entity can create one really powerful aspect, but only one due to how much power is invested in the creation.

Aspects never willingly come near each other, and are likely to try to destroy each other if they are forced into each other's presence. If the original entity is destroyed, the aspects continue to exist, and it's possible for one to ascend to the position of the original entity.

I've never seen a proxy in an adventure, while I've seen aspects a few times. The proxy is a servant of the entity in question that has proven itself and is given a bit of the entity's power. So kind of similar to an aspect. The proxy then goes out to represent the interests of the boss.

An avatar is, I believe, a manifestation of the entity under the entity's direct control. It's not as powerful as the original, but it's still one bad mofo. If it's destroyed, the entity is all nice and safe back on it's home plane of existence.

If you've read this far, thanks. As I said, this was just a bit of rambling. Now the question is, do those stats written up for the demon lords & Tiamat represent the entities in their full glory? Or are they just avatars or aspects?

Star Wars & Things

I was going to start working on a 5e Star Wars conversion, inspired by Rogue One, but quickly decided it was way too much work. There are already some conversions out there anyway, done by much more devoted people than I.

That said, Rogue One was pretty awesome. I highly recommend it.

I should be getting my second DM's Guild project done pretty soon: another monster book, this time with creatures from various myths & legends that have not gotten the D&D treatment as far as I am aware. It will be a few fey, some monstrosities, & one undead.

That's all for now.

What has come before.

I'm a complete amateur at this blogging thing. It's been fun, though I noticed I've put up enough posts at this point that finding anything is proving difficult. So I thought I'd list my posts here by category.

PC Races:

The Grippli

The Treeling

Critter Stats:

Bonjo Tombo

Indominus Rex

Aspis Drone

The Rest of the Aspis Nest

Yuki-onna, the Snow Woman

Ilsidahur, the Howling King

The Ghour

The Wendigo

Nordom & the Gear Spirit

Fall-from-Grace

The Sa'ir

The Eyeball, the tiniest beholderkin

The Yeth Hound

The Hodag

The Rakasta

The Norker

St Kargoth the Betrayer, King of the Death Knights

The Firbolg

Some Smaller Elementals

The Caterwaul

The Ukobach

The Cooshee, the Elven Dog

The Nightgaunt

The Ghasts of the Vaults of Zin

The Firenewt

The Keythong

The Ahool

My Sorry Excuse For An Attempt At A Class:

The Theurge

The Fey Sorcerer Bloodline

A ramble on the nature of the D&D multiverse.

I'm going to warn you now, this really is a long-winded, rambling bit of nonsense regarding D&D cosmology, creation myth, and all of that silliness. Read at your own risk.

The kind folks at Wizards put in a few different cosmological models for every DM to choose from with this most recent edition. We have the classic Great Wheel (my personal favorite), the tree one (that I'm not that familiar with), and the Astral Sea and Primal Chaos (which I guess was introduced in 4e?). I've recently spent a little too much time reading the various articles and what have you about the nature of the D&D multiverse and it made my eyes cross.

Now, the easy way to handle it is to say "Screw it. Oerth exists and Toril is someone's fever dream." Or vice versa. There are no other worlds, etc, etc. I grew up reading DC Comics, so as a result I can't do that. The thing is, the different "In the beginning" stories for each setting don't really mesh all that well together at times. We have Tharizdun trying to destroy everything in Oerth's distant past, Primordials looking at the Prime Material Plane and yelling "Gimme!" over in the Abeir-Toril neighborhood, and who knows what else. I'm not that familiar with many of those apparently awesome settings that came out in the 90s and possibly later. I mean, warforged! How awesome are they?

Now, keep in mind, I'm just rambling here. This is how I've decided to reconcile all of this craziness so that if, for some insane reason, I want people from the Forgotten Realms to visit the World of Greyhawk or vice versa, it all make sense. To me, at least. And honestly, it probably won't ever even factor into the game, but damn it, DC Comics!

So this is my thought: in the beginning there were primordial gods who did stuff. Exactly what kind of stuff? Who knows for sure. These gods predate any and just about all of the current gods running around out there messing with mortal lives. And, for whatever reason, most if not possibly all of these primordial gods, who didn't require the worship of mortals because there weren't any, are dead. Or whatever passes for dead for a supposedly immortal being. Thus we have giant, petrified dead gods floating around the Astral Plane with Githyanki cities built on them. Tharizdun may have been one of these gods, as might have been Ao. Atropus was probably one of them, but now he's just (just!) a petrified undead head travelling around the multiverse stamping out mortal life wherever he (it?) finds it. If Asmodeus is, in fact, Ahriman, then he would be one too. But of course Asmodeus is a big, fat liar who spreads so many stories about his past, who can know for sure which version of his origin is true. Jazirian, the couatl deity, may also be part of that most ancient group of gods.

So, from nothing, or the Primal Chaos, or who really knows, the primordial gods appeared. They, in turn, began the shaping of all things, and from them came the oldest gods. It's arguable who these oldest gods may be, but this is a creation myth, so different names get tossed about depending on who is telling the story. They, in turn, gave rise to still other gods. And somewhere in all of this, the Prime Material Plane came into existence, and mortals started popping up like dandelions. So this is my thought: originally there was only one world. Somewhere along the way, something happened. Something truly cataclysmic. Maybe is was Tharizdun's attempt to destroy all of creation. Maybe it was the Primordials getting grabby. Whatever it was, it happened so long ago that only some of the most ancient beings in the planes know exactly what happened.

Anyway, this cosmic event caused the Prime Material Plane to splinter. What was once one was now many, and this is why so many different worlds resemble each other so much, with many having many of the same races. There are variations here and there, of course: Krynn doesn't have orcs and has kender instead of halflings, Eberron has the warforged, Athas has scary cannibal halflings, etc, etc. Separated, each world began developing in its own way. Btw, I'm not sure how I feel about this Crystal Sphere thing that Spelljammer has going on.

Now there are all these different worlds. Prime real estate for the molding. And wouldn't you know it, there are a gaggle of gods wanting to do just that. So there is a great, big cosmic landgrab and once those lucky gods and goddesses get in there, they start up their mythological PR machines, getting people to believe in their version of how it all started. Of course, some of those gods know more about those early days than others. Some of the youngsters probably don't really know that much more about it than the mortals do. And those who really know are either not talking, making up stories, or are dead and gone. The few remaining obyriths probably know the real deal. Ao, maybe Asmodeus, the oldest of the tanar'ri such as Demogorgon. Regardless, the truth of the matter is buried under so much conjecture, divine spin doctoring, and misinformation that very few know the real story. Then mortals start travelling the planes and sharing the stories of their own world with people from other places, and myths start getting combined and it all becomes a big mess that religious scholars and planar sages spend all their time debating. And of all the races populating the various worlds of the Prime Material Plane, only the aboleth really know what is going on, but they don't care to actually share this information with anyone else.

And just to mess everything up even further, along come the illithids, conquering world after world and threatening everything. And no one knows where they came from, not even the aboleth. Fortunately, events and their own arrogance conspired against these brain-sucking monsters and Gith and her followers destroyed the Mind Flayer empire and nearly exterminated the race. However, groups still exist here and there, which is why some worlds have them and some don't. And some worlds, like Golarion (that's right, I said it), once had mind flayers but were pretty much wiped out. However, some remnant still remains in the depths of Golarion's Darklands, the neothelids. Because as we all know, a neothelid comes from an illithid tadpole that didn't undergo ceremorphosis and wasn't eliminated by a colony's elder brain because it was dead. Sounds like the work of githyanki to me. And if the mind flayers are dead, and they either don't know about or care about the neothelids, then the githyanki have no reason to return to Golarion anytime soon.

And we all know that the Whispering Tyrant is a mystical echo of Vecna brought about by the Maimed God's attempt to recreate all of reality in his own image when he invaded Sigil. Right?

Imperial Space Marines in 5E Part 1

Some random attack of insanity hit me the other day and I started statting up 40K Imperial Space Marines for 5e. If you're not familiar with them, you might look at these stats and think, "Dang! These things are ridiculous!" If you are familiar with Warhammer 40K, you might look at these stats and think, "These are weak sauce compared to the fluff." I'm okay with that, since GW can't even seem to capture the badassitude that is the Imperial Space Marine in the 40K fluff.

Imperial Space Marines are genetically altered warriors that defend the Imperium of Man from all threats foreign and domestic in the year 40,000. They are altered by the genetics of the God Emperor himself, a superhuman who technically died in the year 30,000, but has been kept in a state of living death by his Golden Throne for the last 10,000 years. The Imperium is said to consist of a million worlds, and I'll leave that there because I don't want Dune fans to get overly irritated.

The initiates of the Space Marines go through several modifications over the course of a number of years, while also being essentially subjected to various kinds of conditioning and brainwashing as well as extensive combat training. Most Marine Chapters live by the Codex Astartes, which a sacred tome of military organisation, strategy and tactics, and moral behavior as written by one of the superhumans that started the Space Marines in the first place. For some reason, many in the Imperium have this stupid idea that Space Marines only go into battle in bright colors, charging into the teeth of enemy guns led by screaming glory hounds who think things like helmets are for lesser warriors. Some know better, though, aware that the Codex Astartes covers things like, oh, camouflage, and other things that involve a little more strategic and tactical acumen than acting like a Kzinti high on speed. (Scream and leap, suckers.)

Once an initiate reaches a certain point, he is sent into the field as a Space Marine scout. Scout squads are led by experienced warriors who share their wisdom with the neophytes while in the field. Once a scout is deemed ready, he will then be elevated to the ranks of the full battle brothers of their Chapter.

Part 1 is just going to cover the Space Marine scouts.

Space Marine Scout

Medium humanoid, any alignment

Armor Class 17 (scout armor)

Hit Points 75 (10d8+30)

Speed 35 ft.

Str                    Dex                  Con                  Int                    Wis                  Cha

16 (+3)             15 (+2)             16 (+3)             10 (+0)             13 (+1)             10 (+0)

Saving Throws Str +5, Dex +4, Con +5

Skills Athletics +5, Perception +3, Religion +2, Stealth +4, Survival +3

Proficiencies land vehicles

Damage Resistances poison, thunder

Condition Immunities deafened, frightened, poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Challenge 4

Astartes Organs. See specifics at a later date.

Charger. When the scout performs a Dash action, he may use a bonus action to make one melee attack. If he has moved at least 10 feet immediately before taking this bonus action, he gains +5 to the attack’s damage roll.

Keen Smell. The scout has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Memory Consumption. The scout can experience the memories of a creature by eating it. The memories gained are usually only up to a week old and usually only provide general details.

Actions

Multiattack. The scout makes two melee or ranged attacks. He may also make one attack with an off-hand weapon.

Bolter. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600, one target or 10-foot-cube area. Hit: 13 (2d10+2) piercing damage.

Bolt Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 90/270, one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.

Combat Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing or slashing damage.

Heavy Bolter. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 400/1200, one target or 10-foot-cube area. Hit:  24 (4d10+2) piercing damage.

Shotgun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 50/150, one target. Hit: 11 (2d8+2) piercing damage.

Sniper Rifle. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 400/1200, one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) poison damage.

Reactions

Parry. The scout adds 2 to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him. To do so, the scout must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.

Space Marine Scout Sergeant

Medium humanoid, any alignment

Armor Class 17 (scout armor)

Hit Points 127 (15d8+60)

Speed 40 ft.

Str                    Dex                  Con                  Int                    Wis                  Cha

19 (+4)             15 (+2)             18 (+4)             13 (+1)             16 (+3)             15 (+2)

Saving Throws Str +7, Dex +5, Con +7, Wis +6

Skills Athletics +7, Perception +6, Religion +4, Stealth +5, Survival +6

Proficiencies land vehicles

Damage Resistances poison, thunder

Condition Immunities deafened, frightened, poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16

Challenge 6

Acid Spittle. The scout sergeant may spit acid as an action at a single target within 5 ft., causing 5 (2d4) acid damage, though rarely chooses to do so. This ability recharges on 5 or 6.

Astartes Organs. See specifics at a later date.

Charger. When the scout sergeant performs a Dash action, he may use a bonus action to make one melee attack. If he has moved at least 10 feet immediately before taking this bonus action, he gains +5 to the attack’s damage roll.

Keen Smell. The scout sergeant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Memory Consumption. The scout sergeant can experience the memories of a creature by eating it. The memories gained are usually only up to a week old and usually only provide general details.

Regeneration. The scout sergeant regains 5 hit points at the start of his turn if he has at least 1 hit point.

Stabilization. The scout sergeant has advantage on stabilization rolls when reduced to 0 hit points.

Actions

Multiattack. The scout sergeant makes two melee or ranged attacks. He may also make one attack with an off-hand weapon.

Bolter. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 150/600, one target or 10-foot-cube area. Hit: 13 (2d10+2) piercing damage.

Bolt Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 90/270, one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.

Chainsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) slashing damage.

Combat Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing or slashing damage.

Power Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8+4) bludgeoning damage.

Shotgun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 50/150, one target. Hit: 11 (2d8+2) piercing damage.

Reactions

Parry. The scout sergeant adds 2 to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him. To do so, the scout sergeant must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.

Scout Weapons                       Damage                      Weight                                    Properties

Martial Melee Weapons

Chainsword                             1d10 S                         12 lbs

Combat Blade                         1d6 P or S                    2 lbs

Power Fist                               3d8 B                           20 lbs                           Unwieldy

Martial Ranged Weapons

Bolter                                      2d10 P                         20 lbs               Ammunition (range 150/600), burst fire, reload (30 shots), two-handed

Bolt Pistol                                2d6 P                           6 lbs                 Ammunition (range 90/270), reload (10 shots)

Heavy Bolter                           4d10 P                         85 lbs               Ammunition (range 400/1200), burst fire, heavy, reload (100 shots), two-handed

Shotgun                                   2d8 P                           14 lbs               Ammunition (range 50/150), reload (15 shots), two-handed

Sniper Rifle                             2d6 P + 4d6 Poison      15 lbs               Ammunition (range 400/1200), reload (5 shots), silenced, two-handed

Grenades

Fragmentation                        5d6 P                           1 lb

Fragmentation Grenades may be thrown at a point up to 60 feet away. Each creature within 20 feet of an exploding frag grenade must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the damage listed a failed save, half as much on a successful one. DMG 268

Krak                                         5d10 P                         1 lb

Krak Grenades may be thrown at a point up to 60 feet away, but lack a blast radius. They may be attached to a target for maximum effect, causing double damage against objects such as walls, doors, etc.

Weapon Properties

Silenced. When this weapon is fired, creatures must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to hear it.

Unwieldy. This weapon is so large and heavy that it may not be used by the creature wielding it as part of a reaction.

Other weapon properties are as given in the Player’s Handbook & Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Armor

                                                Armor Class                                        Weight

Medium Armor

Scout Armor                            15 + Dex modifier (max 2)                 30 lbs

Scout armor is the armor used by scout squads in the field, being a modified form of carapace armor. Full battle brothers may also use this armor during times of relative peace. Scout armor consists of fatigues made of ballistic material and overlapping ceramite plates. It is equipped with a long-range, encrypted vox that allows the wearer to stay in contact with his unit. It also has an interlocutor beacon that helps identify the wearer to friendly forces and which can also act as a distress beacon. Lastly, due to the sacred unguents and special coatings worked into the armor, it makes the wearer difficult to detect through technological means. It grants the wearer advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks vs technological detection devices, as well as imposing disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks on anyone relying on a technological device to detect the wearer.

Marscon 2015

Last weekend was Marscon 2015, in sunny Bloomington, MN. It was relocated to the Hilton near the Mall of America. All in all, a good time. Unfortunately, I had a somewhat disorganized weekend, so I probably didn't take full advantage of what the con had to offer.

First off, the hotel. The Hilton was a new location for Marscon. A pretty nice hotel, but the parking lot was a bit too small. The Hilton did have some overflow parking down the hill that it shares with, I think, the Park Plaza. Two issues with this: 1. there is nothing to indicate that this is overflow parking, and 2. as you may or may not know, some con goers can't handle hills as well as others. But, the hotel was pretty nice otherwise, and easy to get around. The staff seemed decent as well. Some people complained about the heat in their rooms, but I didn't have an issue with that.

Second, the programming. Marscon had a nice spread of programming, and it's upped its game with educational programming and things for the youngsters. There appears to have been some last minute chaos, though. I found out Wednesday night that the con had decided to use two of my panel ideas and that I was on both panels to act as moderator. Both went okay, but only one other person was on one panel with me, and I was the only person on the other panel.

I wish I'd hit the movie room. It appears to have had a good selection of movies and people seemed happy with it. And as always, there was karaoke. And room parties. A fair number of room parties that ranged in quality from 'meh' to pretty darn cool.

I think the con staff did a pretty good job overall. There was one incident with a security volunteer, but I won't go into the specifics because it would just be hearsay and it seems to have been dealt with appropriately. The consuite staff in particular did a great job.

All in all, a pretty good con. It was perhaps a little disorganized, but this was a new hotel and I expect things will run more smoothly next year.

Two-handed weapons and optional speed factor

In the DMG there is an optional initiative rule called speed factor. It lists a bunch of modifiers for different weapon types and situations that affect your initiative roll. There's more to it than that, but that's not important for my purpose here. Anyway, the table lists a -2 penalty for two-handed melee weapons. That's completely wrong.

Now, I'm not an expert in medieval weaponry. I have, however, been taking medieval combat classes for a little while. I guess I can really only comment on the sword, as the class hasn't included things like axes or spears, but it has been clearly demonstrated by the instructor that the longsword is noticeably faster when used with two hands rather than just one. Now, I'm not talking some giant monster two-handed sword that you couldn't possibly use one-handed. Though looking at that table, it also gives a penalty for a heavy weapon, so if I were to use speed factor, I would consider just ditching the two-hander penalty and only apply the heavy weapon penalty.

It basically has to do with greater control of the sword. To really hit someone hard with a one-handed weapon, you pretty much have to get some momentum behind it. When you have two hands on the hilt, it takes a lot less motion to get power behind the hit. Does this apply for the other versatile weapons besides the longsword? I'm not sure, as I haven't worked with an axe or spear. Honestly, I would assume so if I was using speed factor and I'd just dump that two-handed penalty altogether.

Just my .02.

Oh, brave new world!

So, I've decided to add my voice to the crescendo washing over the internet and proclaim "I have an opinion!" And here we are.

Honestly, I'm really just expecting to use this as a place to keep gaming crap so I can stop worrying about where I left post-it notes and things like that.