RPG Blog Carnival

20 Cursed Magic Weapon Properties

Brass Tacks / cursed items, D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, dungeons and dragons, Johnn Four, magic item, magic items, pdf, RPG Blog Carnival, treasure, world building, worldbuilding / 11 comments

September 8, 2015

Curses! This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is “Curses! Cursed Items, Spells, and Campaign Stories,” chosen by Johnn Four over at Roleplaying Tips. This is one of my favorite themes yet!

Recently I designed 100 common magic weapon properties and 100 common wondrous items. These two posts are currently the most popular ever in this blog’s history. Since I love designing cursed items and people seem to love reading about them, I thought for this month’s theme I’d design another 100 magic item properties – this time it’s all about curses. This post includes the first 20 properties, which can be added to weapons.

Designing Curses – You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

When it comes to cursed items, I find it helps to mix the good in with the bad. For instance demon armor on page 165 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has a lot of beneficial properties, but also has a curse associated with it – the user cannot remove the armor without a remove curse spell after donning it and and suffers penalties against demons in combat. This presents an interesting conundrum for the player. Should the character wear the armor to gain its awesome infernal benefits, but know that whenever its time to doff a 3rd-level spell better be waiting and that combat with demons is extra deadly? Or is it better to wear some normal armor without awesome magic claws and a bonus to AC?

I understand wanted to create a purely cursed object with no benefits whatsoever, but once the players get over the shock and surmount the curse, then the item is pretty much done. If the item has some sweet benefits they may keep that bad boy and that makes the game and the item’s story more layered.

With that in mind I’ve created a bunch of cursed magic item properties which can be added to any existing magic items (homebrew or published). Of course, if you prefer to have a purely cursed item for your game, go ahead and simply add a cursed property or three to an existing item.

Cursed Item Properties

When giving a magic item (or a non-magical item) to your players, you may choose to add a cursed property to the item. These cursed properties are in addition to any other properties the item may already have. To give an item a cursed property, first determine if the item is a weapon, armor, spellcasting implement, consumable magic item, or non-armor wearable item (such as rings, cloaks, boots, etc.). Then roll or pick a cursed property for the item on the appropriate table.

Cursed Weapon Properties

d20	Property
1	When you score a critical hit with this weapon, it deals 1d12 psychic damage to you. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.
2	After attacking with this weapon for this first time it becomes grafted to one of your hands. While the weapon is grafted to you, you cannot drop or sheathe it and you cannot be disarmed. In addition any ability checks you make which require the use of both hands are made with disadvantage. Only a remove curse spell or similar magic can undo the grafting.
3	When you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with this weapon, roll the weapon’s damage as if you had hit. Instead of the creature you attacked taking the damage, it heals for the damage amount you rolled.
4	When you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with this weapon, you become poisoned until the end of your next turn.
5	When you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with this weapon, you become blinded until the end of your next turn.
6	When you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with this weapon, you become frightened of the creature you attack until the end of your next turn.
7	When you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with this weapon, you become incapacitated until the end of your next turn.
8	This weapon only deals half damage to creatures of a certain type (chosen by the DM).
9	You have disadvantage on attack rolls made in sunlight with this weapon.
10	Whenever you miss an attack with this weapon, you fall prone.
11	When you draw this weapon it cannot be put away or dropped until it has damaged a creature. While the weapon is drawn and hasn’t dealt any damage yet, you cannot be disarmed. In addition any ability checks you make which require the use of both hands are made with disadvantage.
12	If you carry any other weapons on your person while you wield this weapon, attacks made with this weapon are made with disadvantage.
13	Each time you draw or pickup this weapon you take 1d6 psychic damage. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.
14	When you use this weapon to attack an enemy while you can see another enemy of a higher challenge rating, you have disadvantage on the attack roll.
15	This weapon cannot reduce a creature to 0 hit points. If a damage roll made with the weapon would normally reduce another creature to 0 hit points, that creature is instead reduced to 1 hit point.
16	When you roll a natural 1 with this weapon, you are charmed by the enemy you attacked until the end of your next turn. The creature you are charmed by is aware of this effect.
17	When you attack a creature with a higher Strength score than you with this weapon, the attack roll has disadvantage.
18	Creatures not native to the Material Plane are drawn to your weapon and wish to claim it for themselves.
19	In a combat encounter when all of your enemies are defeated, if you are carrying this weapon, you must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or see all conscious allies as hostile enemies for one minute. You can repeat this saving throw at the end of your turn, ending the effect on a success.
20	Roll twice on this table.

More to Come

You’ve probably noticed the four other four categories of curses are missing. Stay tuned for those on Thursday! It’s Labor Day weekend here in the US so the blog post is a little shorter than usual as I’m spending time with friends and family.

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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C’mon! Go to a Gaming Convention!

General / conventions, D&D, DnD, dungeons and dragons, Gen Con, Mike Shea, podcast, RPG Blog Carnival / 0 comments

August 11, 2015

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival‘s theme is “Convention Gaming” chosen by Mark over at Creative Mountain Games. This is a great topic considering Gen Con kicked off the beginning of August. If you missed Gen Con, fear not! The Tome Show has you covered. This awesome Dungeons and Dragons news, reviews, and interviews podcast network features many a fine show (including three hosted by yours truly) and shows up at Gen Con every year to record interviews and seminars. Even if you were at Gen Con you should check it out because we may have caught some stuff you missed (like press interviews with fifth edition D&D lead designers Jeremy Crawford and Mike Mearls).

Moving on from that shameless plug, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say about convention gaming. I love going to gaming conventions and have plenty of advice to give, but many have already covered the topic in-depth far better than I ever could. Mike Shea has the best Gaming Convention Survival Guide over on Sly Flourish. And the host of this month’s carnival, Mark, has already written some great advice about running a game at conventions. I’m sure more advice on how to be a great player or get the most out of a gaming convention are sure to come. So what can I do?

I’m going to tell you why you should go to a gaming convention.

Why Gaming Conventions are Awesome

Here’s some reasons gaming conventions are great!

These Are Your People!

If you’re like me then you’re a gamer who grew up in a community of folks who mainly did not play tabletop games. Sure, I am lucky enough to be close to my brother Andrew, who introduced me to D&D and still enjoys great board games to this day. I imagine if you’re playing tabletop games then you must know at least a few folks who are also gamers and those are the people you play with. Still, we live in an age where many who love Marvel movies and the Batman Arkham games still think of tabletop games a bridge too nerdy. No one who thinks that attends a gaming convention.

Gaming conventions are full of people who get all your critical hit jokes, appreciate your T-shirt no one else laughs at, and understand what you mean when you use the phrase d20-based game. Most gamers, especially the kind who travel to a convention to be social with other gamers, are not sexist internet trolls. We’re cool people who want to hang out and talk to you about the things you love and play the games that thrill you. You will love the people you meet there and for many it feels like nerd heaven because you can finally talk games with new people without having to answer the question, “How do you win at D&D?”

You Can Play New Games

Ever want to try Pathfinder? 13th Age? Call of Cthulhu? Night’s Black Agents? BattleTech? Warhammer? Love Letter? Boggle? Well at gaming conventions you can sit down at a table having read no rules and play almost any game for hours with very little or no cost. There’s always someone at every table dedicated to teaching the game and providing the supplies needed. Imagine getting to play Warhammer without having to buy a single miniature or paint a darn thing. Imagine sitting down to play 13th Age without having to read a giant rulebook or take the time to make a character. The people running these games are always happy to see new players trying out the game because it means more support for what they love.

You Can Play Weird Games

Do you have a copy of Car Wars you’ve read 1000 times, but never found anyone who would play with you? Do you think OD&D is the best edition of the game and can’t find players who agree with you? Are you looking for a game that has the edge of Cards Against Humanity, but has the complexity of Risk? Gaming conventions are the place where you can find folks who want to play older, out-of-print games, rare games, or just games that don’t have a large audience. If you’re looking for weird and don’t know what, just take a look at the list of games offered and you’re sure to find something that will light your fancy.

There’s Always Convention Exclusives

Even the smallest conventions usually have some exclusive adventures or games that can only be played at conventions. For instance the D&D Adventurers League Epics are adventurers that can only be played at conventions. True Dungeon is an experience one can only be played at Gen Con. Other companies might be doing exclusive playtesting of new games only at conventions. It seems almost every gaming company has some experience like this which can only be found at conventions.

If it’s not an adventure or game, many vendors are selling or giving away freebies that can only be snagged during a convention. Special dice, books, miniatures and more are given away all the time to those who visit booths, wait in the right lines, or play certain games.

Then there’s the talent who shows up to conventions. Again even small conventions are sure to have at least ONE of your favorite designers, artists, actors, comedians, authors, bloggers, or podcasters. If you see someone you recognize and want to go thank them for their work go ahead and do it! People are always happy to have some praise for their hard work and talk games with others who love them.

Seminars, Parties, Pickup Games, and More

It’s not all about playing organized games. Most conventions have parties, concerts, contests, scavenger hunts, demonstrations, seminars about game design, seminars about creative writing, seminars about what’s coming next from your favorite gaming company, and way, way, WAY more. You can meet lots of people, go out for fun meals with friends, and plays loads of pickup games with anyone who happens to be walking by. It is gamer heaven.

Find Your Con

Last year was my first Gen Con. I went with my pal and fellow podcaster, Rudy Basso. We’ve been friends since college and play tabletop games with a whole bunch of friends from our alma mater. Last year we sort of decided last-minute we’d go to the convention, but we thought that this year since we planned ahead and had a sweet deal on an amazing hotel room that at least some of our friends would decide to go with us.

We were wrong. Our friends could not make the trek to Indianapolis, stay for four days, and pay all the money required for a lot of really good, really valid reasons. Some have families they can’t leave, others had work commitments, others were low on funds, and others didn’t have the vacation days. Totally understandable.

Here’s the thing. I’m not saying you have to go to Gen Con. I’m saying you should go to ANY gaming convention for the experience. If time and money are a factor, try to find some place close and go just for the day. There’s tons of gaming conventions out there. They’re all run a little differently. Some have you wait in lines for games… others make it so you can register beforehand.

Rudy and I are still working on our friends. Maybe we’ll get them to attend a more local con with us… and if not that… we’ll create one! Stay tuned.

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Downtime at the Table

Brass Tacks / D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, downtime, dungeons and dragons, RPG Blog Carnival, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

June 23, 2015

It’s time for part three of my entry concerning June’s RPG Blog Carnival. This month the carnival topic was picked by Phil over at Tales of a GM and the theme is “Summerland.” Summertime is all about vacation for many of us and that can include adventurers! In my first two posts, Summertime Downtime and Summertime Downtime 2, I provided some new downtime options in addition to the ones in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons. You can now grab those options in a PDF on the Free Game Resources section of this site along with plenty of other resources for your game like monsters, D&D fifth edition rules modules, backgrounds, spells, magic items, and more.

In this post I’m continuing the downtime theme, but instead of providing more downtime options I’m going to give you some advice for running downtime between adventures at the table.

The Problem with Downtime

Many GMs want to tell stories about world-shaking events with villains and forces who are not off the clock, so the PCs can’t be either. If the adventurers take a year to build a castle, evil takes over the land or worse yet, evil chills out for a second because the DM wants the PCs to be able to build their fort and the story’s sense of urgency is gone. So there is no space between adventures for the PCs to pursue downtime activities. The bard never gets to start his college and the fighter never gets to spend nights gambling with hard won treasure.

To many it may seem fine to ignore downtime activities, but finding a way to fit them into your game will allow each player more role-playing time and create a richer story within your world. It’s worth going through the trouble of fitting in occasional non-adventure time for your players to explore their characters’ everyday lives and it allows the players to interact with the world they’re trying to save.

There are ways to have your cake and eat it too. Downtime activities and an urgent, world-shaking campaign story arch can go together.

Fitting in Downtime

Here are a few times the DM can allow more downtime into a game, especially if that game is one with a fast-paced overarching story.

Travel

Sometimes PCs spend days, weeks, or even months traveling from one area to the next with the occasional random encounter thrown in. All that time is often glossed over at the table, especially if that world is as big as Toril, Eberron, or Canus. These travel opportunities are the perfect place for downtime activities, especially if the PCs are part of a larger caravan or ship. Suddenly a boring ride through the plains is a chance for a PC to learn to play an instrument, sow rumors amongst the caravan, go carousing, craft an item, or recruit members of an organization.

Part of the Plot

A PC may want to take time to do some research into the name of the demon lord the party has been hearing on the lips of every cultist they’ve come across. A wizard may have to build an item, magic or mundane, that will aid the party against a threat looming over the land. The bard may want to stop and sow rumors about a villainous overlord to his people or gather supporters to form an army to takedown a dragon. If there’s a piece of the main story only one character can tackle during downtime, the rest of the party is free to do whatever they like. Be sure that this burden doesn’t always fall on the same PC so that everyone gets a turn affecting the main story and likewise a turn doing whatever they want.

Of course there are other instances of downtime being part of the plot. Perhaps a villain fakes death and lets the PCs think they’ve won the day for a time, allowing the PCs a break before the villain comes back stronger! The villain’s trail could just go cold and the PCs have downtime to kill until signs show evil has returned. Maybe the PCs have to lay low in a city or town and wait for a messenger or patron until they can continue their quest. Even Batman takes breaks when there is no crime to fight.

Death of a Fellow PC

If a character dies, the other PCs might need to spend some time looking for a new adventurer to take the deceased’s place or find a diamond and spellcaster powerful enough to bring their comrade back from the dead. This might require the full party’s efforts, but in most cases it does not. While someone works on filling the gap in the party, the rest of the team is free to spend downtime however they like.

Slow Down the Events

Some world-shaking events take years. A campaign driven by an overarching story does not need to be so urgent. Perhaps a campaign’s villain is only active during certain seasons or parts of the lunar cycle. Maybe the villain bides time between schemes, lying low until the heat dies down, or spending evil-won spoils during evil downtime. What? Evil has to build castles and carouse too, ya know.

Perhaps the evil scheme the adventurers are trying to thwart takes time. It’s not easy to construct a doomsday device, build an undead army, unravel the mysteries of a complex tome, or become a lich. While the baddies are doing their thing, the adventurers have some time to do as they please without sacrificing the importance of your main story’s events.

The Downtime Round

During downtime it can be easy to get caught up in what one PC is doing while ignoring the rest of the characters for a long time. If this kind of thing is happening at your table, think about instituting the downtime round. This rule makes sure everyone gets a fair shake when they’re chilling betwixt adventures.

Before discussing how each PC spends downtime all players roll initiative. Then in initiative order downtime turns are resolved. Each player has 3 to 5 timed minutes (determined by the DM) to explain what they did during the downtime and resolve it using the appropriate rules for the downtime activity. Usually only one downtime round is needed. If some PCs need more time to resolve their actions, their turn still ends when the timer goes off and then there is a second downtime round which they can use to complete their downtime activity. There are only two downtime rounds total so PCs need to wrap up their activities by the end of round two.

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Summertime Downtime 2

Brass Tacks / D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, downtime, dungeons and dragons, pdf, RPG Blog Carnival, world building, worldbuilding / 4 comments

June 18, 2015

It’s time for part two of my entry concerning June’s RPG Blog Carnival. This month the carnival topic was picked by Phil over at Tales of a GM and the theme is “Summerland.” Great topic! Since summertime is all about vacation for many of us, I decided to provide some new downtime options in addition to the ones in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons.

In my previous post I showed off the downtime activities of creating a cover identity, making contacts, and committing a petty crime spree. In this post I’ll be giving you a look at building an organization and buying a magic item.

Note – maybe downtime isn’t for you… Or it just seems boring! We’re supposed to be adventuring after all! Well in another post next week I’m going to give you a few ways to make downtime more exciting and run smoothly at the table. For now, check out the options below.

New Downtime Options

These new downtime options can be added to any campaign at the DM’s discretion.

Build an Organization

A character can spend downtime between adventures creating and building the membership of an organization. The organization could be a guild of thieves or mercenaries, a church, a collective of magic users, a group of activists, or anything group of people with a common cause. Work with the player to come up with a mission statement for the organization. This statement should begin with the word “to” followed by a verb. “To kill dragons for gold,” “To uncover political corruption,” and “To spread the light of Apollo,” are all examples of organization mission statements.

To start the organization, the character must have a place for members to meet and spend at least thirty days and 100 gp recruiting new members. This time need not be spent consecutively. At the end of the thirty days the organization is established and the character has recruited ten members to the organization and makes a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. For every 1 the check succeeds the DC, another recruit is added to the organization.

Once the organization is established, the PC can spend downtime recruiting new members. Every day of downtime and 5 gp the PC dedicates to recruiting members adds another member to the organization. At the end of a period of downtime spent recruiting members, the PC makes a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. For every 1 the check succeeds the DC, another recruit is added to the organization.

Once the organization is established, the PC can spend downtime assigning jobs to recruits to gain money for the organization. Every day of downtime the PC dedicates to assigning work (such as collecting donations, dues, contract fees, etc.) the PC earns 1 gp per recruit in the organization. The rest of the funds collected go to upkeep the organization.

While the PC is away from the organization the PC can order the organization to recruit new members, earn money, or both. The organization is less effective without the PC actively leading it, so it only recruits two recruits a week if ordered to focus on recruiting, only earns 1 sp per member per day if ordered to focus on earning money, or recruits one recruit a week and 1 cp per member per day if ordered to focus on both.

It is up to you as the DM if the organization can be of further help to a PC. Think about the organization’s mission statement. A network of spies can provide the PC with intel, while a mercenary guild could provide soldiers for storming an enemy castle.

Buy a Magic Item

In most worlds few people have magic items and even fewer are willing to sell them, but there are those out there who occasionally come an item for which they have no use.

A character looking for a magic item can spend downtime searching for a buyer. This downtime activity can only be performed in an area where the character can find lots of other adventurers or wealthy folk like a city or guild hall. Legendary magic items and artifacts cannot be bought during downtime, since these items are so rare and priceless.

The character must make a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find a seller of an item with a generic description, such as “a magic sword.” If a specific magic item, such as “a sword of wounding,” or an item with a specific ability, such as “a staff which lets the wielder cast fireball,” is desired, the character must make a DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find a seller for the item. On a failed check, no seller of the item is found after a search which lasts 10 days. On a successful check, a seller of the item is found after a number of days based on the item’s rarity as shown in the Purchasable Magic Items table. If the character wishing to buy a magic item provides a generic description, you decide which specific item is available for sale. Because of the research and investigation required, a character can only look for one magic item at a time.

If the PC finds an item for sale, the player rolls on the Buying a Magic Item table, applying a modifier based on the item’s rarity, as shown in the Purchasable Magic Items table. The PC also makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check and adds that check’s total to the result. The subsequent total determines the seller’s final sale price of the item.

You determine the seller’s identity. Sellers can be adventurers, wealthy collectors, or a more nefarious individual like a fence or thief. A seller could be someone trying to swindle the character by selling a mundane or cursed item. If the seller is shady, it’s up to you what the consequences of the sale are.

Purchasable Magic Items

Rarity	Base Price	Days to Find a Seller	d100 Roll Modifier*
Common	100 gp	1d4	+10
Uncommon	500 gp	1d6	+0
Rare	5,000 gp	1d8	-10
Very Rare	50,000 gp	1d10	-20

*Apply this modifier to rolls on the Buying a Magic Item table.

d100 + Mod.	You Find…
20 or lower	A seller offering ten times the base price.
21 – 40	A seller offering four times the base price.
41 – 80	A seller offering twice the base price, and a shady seller offering the full base price.
81 – 90	A seller offering the full base price.
91 or higher	A seller offering half the base price, no questions asked.

Time for a PDF

Hey do you want these downtime activities to have and hold forever and ever? Well you can grab them in a PDF if the link below.

Downtime Activities

If you want to grab it later you can head on over to the Free Game Resources section of the site where it will live forever alongside plenty of other resources for your game like monsters, D&D fifth edition rules modules, backgrounds, spells, magic items, and more.

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Summer Downtime

Brass Tacks / D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, downtime, dungeons and dragons, RPG Blog Carnival, world building, worldbuilding / 5 comments

June 16, 2015

I know I just finished up May’s RPG Blog Carnival but it’s time for June’s! This month the carnival topic was picked by Phil over at Tales of a GM and the theme is “Summerland.” Great topic!

When I think about Summer I think beaches, barbecues, sitting in the sun, relaxing a hammock, going camping, seeing a blockbuster movie, the end of the school year, and fun. In a word I think vacation. So that’s exactly what I’m going to write about – downtime between adventures in RPGs, specifically adding options to the downtime mechanics already found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons. I’ll be presenting three today and two more on Thursday.

New Downtime Options

These new downtime options can be added to any campaign at the DM’s discretion.

Create Cover Identity

It doesn’t hurt to have an identity to fall back on. At anytime an angry cult, government, former lover, or mob of monsters could be trying to track a character down. A PC can spend time establishing a new identity for when things go bad by forging documents, creating a disguise, and presenting the public with an alter ego.

Creating a false identity requires a character to stay in a specific area for a time to help spread the word of this new identity. The more populated an area is, the easier it is for that PC to create a new identity since there is less of a chance the PC will recognized. Likewise the more famous a PC is the more difficult it becomes to create or maintain a false identity, as the PC might be recognizable to even those who have yet to meet the character.

For every day spent creating a cover identity the PC must spend 1d6 gp.

Village (Population under 1,000) 60 days

Town (Population between 1,001 – 10,000) 30 days

City (Population 10,000 or more) 10 days

For every level above 1st the PC has attained +10 days

Maintaining a Cover Identity

Once a cover identity is established, that cover must be maintained as a character’s fame and notoriety grows. For every level the character attains after establishing a cover identity, that character must spend ten days of downtime and 1d6 x 10 gp maintaining the cover identity before it can be used.

Make Contacts

Establishing contacts in a settlement allow a character to gain information in that specific settlement. When a character is establishing contacts in a settlement, that character spends time in public places buying people meals and drinks, socializing, and perform in various favors for people. After a predetermined amount of time spent establishing contacts based on the size of the population of the settlement, that character gains advantage on any Charisma (Streetwise) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks when trying to learn more about events happening within that settlement.

For every day spent in an area gaining contacts a PC must spend 2d6 gp on drinks, meals, and gifts with potential contacts.

Village (Population under 1,000) 10 days

Town (Population between 1,001 – 10,000) 30 days

City (Population 10,000 or more) 90 days

If settlement is extremely closed or isolationist +20 days

If community generally looks down upon the race, class, or background of the PC +10 days

For every two levels the PC has attained -1 day (it takes a minimum of 1 day to establish contacts)

Petty Crime Spree

Sometimes crime does pay. In large cities and settlements with limited law enforcement characters might be able to spend their time committing small crimes – shoplifting, smash and grabs, shake downs, pick pocketing, burglaries, and collecting protection fees for the local thieves guild are all ways a PC might choose to earn cash during downtime.

The specific nature of these criminal activities are up to the player and DM. This downtime activity only works with smaller crimes which keep physical violence limited to theft and minimal property damage. More heinous or risky crimes should be played out as normal.

At the end of a time period spent committing a crime spree, the character must roll on the Crime Spree Downtime Table. If the character has training in a specific skill that would aid in the crimes they choose to commit (e.g. A PC trained in Stealth committing burglaries or in Intimidation shaking down shopkeepers for protection fees), the DM can allow the character to roll twice on the table and use the higher result.

Crime Spree Downtime Table

d100 + Level	Result
1 – 30	The authorities catch you and you are jailed for 1d10 days. You can avoid jail by paying a fine of 10 gp per day you are jailed.
31 – 40	You unwittingly commit a crime against a fellow criminal attached to an organized crime ring of the DM’s choice. This organization is now an enemy and seeks retribution.
41 – 60	You earn enough money to recuperate all your lifestyle expenses for the time spent committing crime.
61 – 80	Crime does pay! You recuperate all your lifestyle expenses for the time spent committing crime and gain 4d6 x 10 gp.
81 – 100	Crime does pay! Surprisingly well! You recuperate all your lifestyle expenses for the time spent committing crime and gain 5d10 x 10 gp.

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Game of the Week Formats

Collaboration / game of the week, new game format, rotating GMs, RPG Blog Carnival, time saving, world building, worldbuilding / 3 comments

March 17, 2015

This month’s RPG blog carnival theme is Best GM Ever, chosen by Mark over at Creative Mountain Games. Of all the blog carnival themes, I’ve struggled with this one the most. I’ve had the privilege of playing with some of the best game masters in the business, including Mike Shea of slyflourish.com. I’ve had GMs like Ray Fallon, Vegas Lancaster, and Rudy Basso who are among the best actors and storytellers I’ve ever known. That’s just GMs I’ve been in games with. We’ve all seen the LeBron James of DMing Chris Perkins take the stage at PAX and run a game with some large personalities while maintaining the flow of his narrative with entertaining grace.

So how does one choose the best GM ever from amongst a pool of the planet’s best humans ever? The answer is simple. I’m not writing about any of them. In fact today I’m writing about a group of GMs I haven’t played with in years. I’m going to write about the guys I went to high school with – some of the best GMs ever.

A Rotating Crew

There were five of us and we each ran our own Dungeons and Dragons games. We played in each other’s games. There were sometimes two or three sessions a week or marathon sessions that would last entire weekends.

We learned from each other. When one guy threw out the rulebooks for the first time and made his own ruling, we saw it made the storytelling flow faster and more smoothly and followed suit. Likewise we saw from another guy that you could improv your way through an entire session and suddenly we were all spending a few less hours preparing our games. I learned how to weave a player character’s backstory into a campaign, how fun a combat-free session can be, and more from my fellow GMs. I’d like to think they learned from me too. Our successes and our mistakes made us the gamers we are today. I would not be half the GM I am now if not for those individuals.

Our Game of the Week

In addition to all the valuable lessons I learned from my compadres, high school was also a glorious time of experimentation with non-D&D TRPGs. It seemed like in addition to our rotating D&D games we played another different RPG every week. d20 Modern, d20 Future, Star Wars: The Role-Playing Game, The Fantasy Trip, Mutants and Masterminds, and more were all on the menu. We playtested each other’s systems including a d6-based modern spy RPG, a d20 vampire hunting RPG set in the Legacy of Kain universe, a d10-based gritty realistic medieval fantasy game, and a d6-based Mega Man RPG. Ah, to be in high school and have that kind of free time again!

Well in honor of some of the greatest GMs ever I’m going to present a game of the week format that works people with less free time than a group of high school nerds, but still allows a group to play a bunch of different games and learn new stuff.

Why Game of the Week?

Game of the week – a format for playing tabletop role-playing games which allows for the switching of rulesets, game masters, characters, worlds, and stories from one session to another.

If you’re short on time, a game of the week format can seem daunting and only for people with more time in their schedules. So many different rules to learn and characters to create. Why not just have one person run a weekly D&D game?

I’m hear to tell you, that’s not necessarily true. There are advantages to the game of the week format that make it perfect for groups low on time.

Advantages of Game of the Week Formats

Game of the week is a misnomer. Now you could meet weekly. Or monthly. Or biweekly. Or sporadically whenever your schedules allow. In this format you’ll only play one game for at most a few sessions. There’s not that much to keep track of. Game of the week formats are perfect for groups that have long gaps between sessions.
The GM load is shared. Game of the week allows for rotating GMs, which means one person doesn’t shoulder all the preparation and management for every session.
You get to try new things. Want to trying being a cartoon for one session? Have a bunch of books from Kickstarters sitting on your shelf you’ve never cracked open? Want to see if the Indiana Jones RPG is as bad as everyone says? Game of the week formats allow your group to try a whole bunch of new games since you need only commit one session per game. Keep playing the ones you love, sell the ones you don’t.
Everyone is happy. Sometimes you have players who prefer different styles of gameplay. One person hates d20-based systems, the other loves them. One person wants to play high magic fantasy RPGs, everyone else prefers a gritty 1920s horror and gangsters game. With rotating games there’s never too much time spent in one person’s campaign too long, so everyone gets a shot at playing their ideal game while other players learn something new.
More people can play. In my experience it has always been tough finding enough people to form a gaming group, but once the game gets underway, another ten people want in. Those people who are late to the party are left out in the cold since games get unwieldy with too many players. Well game of the week allows new players to rotate in and gives you a chance to introduce new people to the world of tabletop role-playing games and thus grow the hobby. Dave can’t make it tonight to be the barbarian? No problem. Alice has always wanted to try Pathfinder.
Shallower worldbuilding for each game. Since a campaign will only last a few sessions, that means you need not go overboard with your worldbuilding. My method of one-hour worldbuilding is perfect for a game of the week format.
Number of sessions per campaign is variable. If one person has more free time and the others are swamped, that person can be GM for more than a session or two. You can have the occasional longer campaign when everyone’s schedule calls for it.
There are ways to save even more time. Running published adventures, keeping the PCs at lower levels, and replaying a game system everyone knows and enjoys are great ways to save even more prep time for a game of the week format. Keep that in mind when getting ready for another session before deciding what game to play.

Themed Game of the Week

The sheer number options can be overwhelming when beginning to play in a game of the week format. One way to focus everyone is to provide a story theme for your games. Story themes shouldn’t restrict systems or time periods. They should give GMs and players a frame of reference and a starting point for ideas.Coming of age stories, romance, swashbuckling, and dungeon delving are all great themes. You can even give your game of the week a name as I have in the Band of Bandits example I typed up as part of a proposal below.

The unifying theme of Band of Bandits is that the PCs will always be a group of criminals (good or bad) looking to pull off some sort of heist. This structure provides a flexible, unifying theme for each story arc and allows players to create archetypal characters without getting stuck in a rut. Heist stories run the gamut of genres and work well in all systems. Characters could be cowboy outlaws looking to knock off a train in the 1800s, 1930s gangsters looking to assassinate a rival gang’s Don during a funeral, modern-day spies implanting a virus in a sinister organization’s computer, rebels in the Star Wars universe looking to steal the Death Star plans, or a band of medieval adventurers hoping to swipe a magic sword from a dragon’s hoard.

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Bioarcane Items

Brass Tacks / D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, dungeons and dragons, magic items, rpg, RPG Blog Carnival, surgery, tabletop, tabletop rpg, treasure, TRPG, world building, worldbuilding / 9 comments

January 27, 2015

Today I’m continuing the Exploration Age magic item preview with a category of items unique to my campaign setting. These items are different from the weapons, armor, rings, rods, staffs, wands, and wondrous items about which I’ve previously posted. Once All of Exploration Age’s magic items have been presented I’ll add them to the Free Game Resources section of this site.

Bioarcane items have their own rules. In order for a PC to use such an item he or she must remove a body part and attach or implant the item in its place. This procedure is risky and done improperly could injure or kill the PC.

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while the concept may sound familiar. I’ve posted about these items before but they had a different name. If you go back and read my post on bioorganic items it will sound similar to what you read here, but a lot of the information has been tweaked or changed to match the fifth edition D&D rules. One of the changes is the name of this item category. A lot of folks took umbrage with the use of the word bioorganic. In fact many believed I made it up. Well I didn’t make it up. It is indeed a real word but the pushback convinced me the word wasn’t right for the item category. I changed it to bioarcane since these are magic items that get grafted to an individual’s body.

Blog Carnival

While this post is a continuation of the Exploration Age magic item preview it also fits into the theme of this month’s RPG Blog Carnival. The theme is one which fits perfectly with World Builder Blog – New Worlds. Since Exploration Age is an original world I’ve created for the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons and bioarcane items are unique to that setting, this seemed like the perfect selection for the theme chosen by Nils Jeppe over at Enderra. Go check out his blog (which is all about worldbuilding) to see the other submissions to this month’s carnival.

Now without further adieu please enjoy this excerpt from the forthcoming Exploration Age Campaign Guide.

Bioarcane Attachment

The strange race of humanoids who lived in The Damned Lands before it became a wasteland, left behind a strange technology compatible with the anatomy of today’s humanoids.

The magic of these items is unlocked only by attaching them to one’s body. This requires a limb or organ be removed before the item is grafted to the owner in its place.

During a short or long rest (specified in the item’s description), another creature can perform the procedure of removing your body part or organ and attaching the item to you with a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you decide to perform the procedure on yourself the DC of the check is 15. If the check succeeds the item is attached and you take 3d6 damage which cannot be reduced in any way. If the check is fails by 4 or less, the item is attached but you take 6d6 damage which cannot be reduced in any way. If the check is failed by 5 or more, you lose the organ or body part, the item is not attached, and you take 9d6 damage which cannot be reduced in any way. In special cases noted in the item’s description failure to attach the bioarcane item results in your death. Once the item is attached, it is activated and you can begin to make use of its properties.

Blade Skin

Bioarcane item, legendary (requires attunement)

A first blush, blade skin appears to be a ragged pile of cloth and metal with strange designs in sapphires and diamonds. When handled, blade skin is warm to the touch and calls to the user the way a shell would to a hermit crab. Once inspected thoroughly the truth is learned; this is a second skin which the wearer can affix to his or her body. With the skin attached, you are intimidating indeed, for it is covered in creative scars incorporated with the gems which tell the tale of a famous tavern brawl over the wearer’s entire body. When the metal weapons are not retracted, the user is covered from head to toe in sharp adamantine blades.

You must remove all the skin on your body and replace it with the blade skin. This can only be done during a long rest. The Wisdom (Medicine) check DC for this attachment procedure increases by 5 and if the check fails by 5 or more, you die. While wearing blade skin, hidden, retractable blades lie in wait for enemies just beneath the skin’s surface. When you take damage from an adjacent creature’s melee attack, you can use your reaction to deal 1d6+3 piercing damage to attacker. You may also use your reaction to deal this damage to any creature who is grappling with you on its turn.

With the skin attached your unarmed attacks can be light, finesse, melee attacks in which you are proficient. This attack deals 1d6 piercing damage. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls with this attack.

With the skin attached you have advantage when making a Strength (Athletics) check to climb.

Hawk’s Eye

Bioarcane item, uncommon (requires attunement)

An eye carved of pure jade, the hawk’s eye is true to its name and has the appearance and shape of a bird’s eye. Once installed, the eye gives off a slight green glow. You must remove one of your eyes and replace it with the hawk’s eye. This can be done during a short or long rest. Once attached, you gain advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks when attempting to spot hidden creatures or objects. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to your passive Wisdom (Perception) score.

Jumpers

Bioarcane item, rare (requires attunement)

This pair of mithral legs have knees which bend in a direction opposite that of a human, similar to a bird. The bottoms of the feet each sport a large emerald and the calves and thighs are carved with ancient runes which glow blue when the user walks and green when he or she runs or jumps. You must remove both of your legs and replace them with the jumpers. This can be done only during a long rest. Once attached, you are always considered to have moved 10 feet before any jump you make, even if you have not. In addition, whenever you jump, you leap four times the normal distance.

Mage’s Eye

Bioarcane item, legendary (requires attunement)

This is an eye carved of a fiery opal, and a disembodied mage’s eye seems to follow onlookers as they walk. When attached, the eye glows red in the socket and gives off a slight physical heat. You must remove one of your eyes and replace it with the mage’s eye. This can be done during a short or long rest. Once attached, you gain true sight out to 120 feet.

Radiant Heart

Bioarcane item, very rare (requires attunement)

The radiant heart is an expertly carved, heart-shaped ruby placed in a small brass box with windows of glassteel. When attached, the gem can be seen through the window inside the users chest, throbbing and beating with the life of a real heart. You must remove your heart and replace it with the radiant heart. This can only be done during a long rest. The Wisdom (Medicine) check DC for this attachment procedure increases by 5 and if the check fails by 5 or more, you die. Once attached, you can use your action to shoot a beam of radiant light in a line 100 feet long and 5 feet wide from your chest. Creatures in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus). Creatures who fail the save take 8d8 radiant damage, creatures who succeed take half damage. Against fiends and undead, the beam deals 8d10 radiant damage. You must complete a short rest before you can use this ability again.

Silver Fangs

Bioarcane item, rare (requires attunement)

This set of four large, silver canines, has a small sapphire set into the back of each tooth. On the front of the tooth is a small rune, which glows red when the teeth are being used to attack or eat meat. When you attach the fangs, your appetite for meat borders on insatiable. You must remove your canines and replace them with the silver fangs. This can be done during a short or long rest. Once attached, you gain a bite attack which counts as an attack with a light, finesse, silver melee weapon in which you are proficient. This attack deals 1d4 piercing damage. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with this attack. If you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with this attack, you heal 1d4 + 2 hit points.

Sonic Fist

Bioarcane item, very rare (requires attunement)

The sonic fist appears to be a sculpture of an obsidian hand with diamond-studded knuckles curled into a fist. However, when a creature handles the disembodied hand, it flexes its fingers before once again bringing them into the fist. When attached, the hand begins a low chant in combat. This seems to be a sort of hymn in a strange language which grows louder and louder as the fight progresses. You must remove one of your hands and replace it with the sonic fist. This can be done during a short or long rest. Once attached, the fist is a light, finesse melee weapon in which you are proficient. It deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage and 1d6 sonic damage. You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with the sonic fist.

With the sonic fist attached you can use your action to create a 30-foot cone of sound. All creatures in the cone must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus). Creatures who fail the save take 6d8 sonic damage and are deafened for one minute. Creatures who succeed take only half damage and are not deafened. You cannot use this ability again until you have completed a long rest.

Tongue of Contentment

Bioarcane item, rare (requires attunement)

This disembodied black tongue is studded with rubies and warm to the touch. It twitches as if it were still alive. It is believed the tongue of contentment was invented by whatever strange race lived within The Damned Lands to prevent folk from starving on long journeys. You must remove your own tongue and replace it with the tongue of contentment. This process can be done during a short or long rest. Once attached, you don’t need to eat or drink.

Wrist Spider

Bioarcane item, rare (requires attunement)

This small device has the appearance of an adamantine spider with eight onyx eyes. It is inserted into the top of the wrist, with the abdomen of the spider facing the user’s hands. After the item is attached, you feel most comfortable in the darkened corners of rooms. You must remove your wrist bones and replace them with the wrist spider. This can only be done during long rest. Once attached, you can use your action to shoot sticky webs out of your wrists at enemies. To do so make an attack roll using your Dexterity modifier and proficiency bonus. If the attack hits, the target is restrained for one minute. On the target’s turn, it can make a DC 12 Strength or Dexterity saving throw as its move to end the restrained condition. You cannot use this ability again until you complete a short rest.

With the wrist spider attached you can use your action to create a 50-foot length of rope made of the web. The rope is only slightly sticky along its length and extremely sticky at its ends. Because of the stickiness on its ends, the web rope can be attached to any surface and can hold 1,000 pounds before it breaks. Creatures who use the web rope while climbing have advantage on their Strength (Athletics) check to climb. After a half hour, the web rope dissolves. You cannot use this ability again until you complete a short rest.

Feedback Please!

As always your feedback is invaluable. I’ve been getting great comments and feedback on other magic item posts so please keep them coming!

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Iceholes

Brass Tacks, Inspiration / Arctic, D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, DnD, dungeons and dragons, icebreaker, North Pole, rpg, RPG Blog Carnival, shark, tabletop, tabletop rpg, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

June 26, 2014

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is a great one – “What’s in the hole?” This theme is both oddly specific and wonderfully broad. Metaphorically, the inside of a hole could be any place unknown! I’ve already written a few posts about the blank spots in the world of Exploration Age and how some people in the world want to adventure for profit, power, knowledge, or the sake of discovery itself. All those blank spots in Verda, Glacius, the Poles, The Damned Lands, and The Underdark are really just big holes. Heck even portals are holes to other planes.

Too bad I already tackled a lot of these topics before this theme was brought to my attention. Dang! So I decided to go less metaphorical and more literal with this one. What’s in the hole in Exploration Age? An enormous, hungry shark.

Remember the Icebreaker Shark?

Remember me?

Some of you may remember my post on Glacius and the Poles. It was there that I introduced the world to the icebreaker shark. A man-eating, cold water fish with bony protrusions on its head and tail used to break the frozen layer of ocean beneath the feet of unsuspecting prey. Its finely tuned senses allow the shark to feel vibrations of prey moving on the ice above. This allows the shark to weaken areas of the frozen ocean and prepare a killing ground into which unsuspecting victims will walk.

Thus the icebreaker shark of the North Pole has options. It can wait until the moment is right and then break the ice beneath the feet of its prey or it can prepare a trap and when a potential meal arrives break pieces of the frozen ocean around its victims, trapping them in a maze or on an island of ice. Big meals don’t come around for the shark often, so when it can it eats its fill, knowing the next big meal could be a month or longer away in the frozen polar climate.

The icebreaker shark eats mostly seals, polar bears, fish, and any other arctic life which crosses its path. They are solitary hunters, but do meet once every Winter beneath the ice to spawn. A typical icebreaker shark can is 20 – 30 feet long and weigh 2,000 – 3,000lbs. They are characterized not just by their enormous size, but by the bony growths on their faces and tails, which resemble that of Ankylosauruses. These growths are what the creature uses to smash through the ice and prepare it’s killing grounds.

If one listens very carefully, the smashing and ice cracking of the shark can be heard, but often this sound means it is too late for those hearing it. The howling winds of the North Pole often drown out these warnings for all but those with the keenest hearing.

Icebreaker sharks have been known to migrate South as far as Glacius, though such sightings are rare.

As far as holes and the RPG Blog Carnival theme go, icebreaker sharks make their own. Sometimes you don’t chose to go down the hole, rather the hole swallows you instead.

Game Statistics

Here’s what I’m thinking the game statistics for the icebreaker shark will be. The math is subject to change with the release of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

The icebreaker shark is tough and clever. It believes in ambushing its prey in a prepared killing ground. Should its prey manage to get away, the icebreaker shark will stalk it for days or sometimes even weeks on end, waiting beneath the ice for its victims to drop their guard. It is rare to encounter more than one of these beasts at a time, unless an unfortunate victim unwittingly passed over their spawning grounds in the Winter. Woe to any who make this mistake, for they will find themselves the main course in a shark banquet.

Icebreaker Shark

Huge beast

Armor Class 17

Hit Points 158 (16d10 + 70)

Speed 0 ft., swim 60 ft.

Senses blindsight 60ft., darkvision 100 ft., tremorsense 100 ft.

Str 29 (+9)

Dex 14 (+2)

Con 20 (+5)

Int 2 (-4)

Wis 12 (+1)

Cha 4 (-3)

Alignment Unaligned

Languages –

Traits

Aquatic: The icebreaker shark can breathe only while underwater, and being underwater imposes no penalty on its attack rolls or ability checks.

Actions

Multiattack: The icebreaker shark can make a bite and a tail attack, a bite and an ice smash attack, a tail and an ice smash attack, or two weaken ice attacks.

Melee Attack – Bite: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 36 (6d8 + 9) piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the icebreaker shark.

A swallowed creature takes 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage and 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the icebreaker shark’s turns until is escapes. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, but it can use its action to cut its way free by dealing 50 slashing or piercing damage to the gizzard (AC 15). A creature that frees itself falls prone (or more likely finds itself afloat in the ocean) in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the icebreaker shark.

An icebreaker shark can swallow up to four medium or small creatures, and 16 tiny creatures at once.

Melee Attack – Tail: +11 to hit, reach 15 ft., one creature. Hit: 27 (4d8 + 9) bludgeoning damage and the creature is knocked prone.

Ice Smash: The icebreaker shark can smash adjacent ice in a 15-foot cube, creating a hole through which the shark can attack. Any creatures standing on the ice must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or fall through the ice. Any creature who succeeds on the save ends up in an unoccupied space adjacent to the smashed ice.

When the icebreaker shark uses this ability on a cube of ice adjacent to any weakened ice (see below) the weakened ice is also smashed. Any weakened adjacent to the smashed weakened ice is also smashed, and so on for any touching patches of weakened ice.

Weaken Ice: The icebreaker shark can weaken adjacent ice in a 15-foot cube. This ice counts as weakened for the purpose of its Ice Smash ability.

So that’s the icebreaker shark and it’s what’s in the hole. Does it sound terrifying? Would you use it in your game? Did I get the mechanics right? Let me know!

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1,000-Year Digestion

Brass Tacks, Inspiration / Bantha, Blog Carnival, D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, desert, digestion, DnD, dungeons and dragons, gaping maw, Jawa, Rancor, Return of the Jedi, RPG Blog Carnival, RPGBA, sarlacc, Star Wars, Star Wars RPG, Tatooine, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

May 27, 2014

I have to admit, I was stumped. This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme – Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, I love (the original) Star Wars. I’ve played many a Star Wars RPG, read many a Star Wars book, been Luke Skywalker many a time for Halloween… The list goes on. Heck, I even produced Star Wars! The Musical when I was in college.

Still, l just could not come up with a way Star Wars related to what was going on over here at World Builder Blog. I thought and thought and then gave up. Maybe I was just going to be a disappointment to the RPGBA and bow out this month. I felt like a lameo.

Then I realized I had to stop being so literal. Star Wars is in space. Exploration Age is more of a medieval fantasy world (though Space Exploration Age sounds incredible! Hmmm…) So what ? Story is story and fantasy is fantasy. There are so many things in all of our games that could be inspired by Star Wars. The posts I’ve done on mounts, the empires of Bragonay and Parian, airships, and more share aspects with Star Wars. Heck there’s more to come that has yet to be revealed relating to smugglers and ancient orders and who knows what else! Star Wars has all that a bag of chips. So I was a fool.

Well today, I’m going to talk about my favorite Star Warsian beast and how I can fit it into Exploration Age. It’s not the rancor, though he is a close second. This beast is native to Tatooine, one of the greatest places in the Star Wars universe. I’m not speaking of banthas or Jawas. No, no! I’m speaking of the sarlacc.

What are Sarlaccs?

According to Wookiepedia, sarlaccs are essentially large, plant-like omnivores that grow downwards into the earth and outwards forming ever deeper and wider living pits of teeth. They live for 20,000 to 50,000 years, but their Exploration Age equivalent will have immortal lifespans.

The sarlacc has crazy tentacles that can grab a creature and pull it toward it mouth. Since the sarlacc doesn’t move it doesn’t need to eat terribly much, but it can fit a lot into its huge stomach and will eat anything it can which happens to approach because in the desert who knows when your next meal will be?

The beaked, snake-like tongue doubles as its mouth opening. The sarlacc devours pray through its tongue. Once a victim is in the stomach, spines laced with neurotoxins paralyze the victim so it sarlacc can digest in peace over the course of 1,000 years.

Why Sarlaccs Rock

Sarlaccs are ferocious, hungry, and torturous. They slowly digest victims over the course of 1,000 years after devouring them in the grossest and most horrific way possible – via strange snake-y tongue. In terms of tabletop roleplaying, the sarlacc scene in Return of the Jedi is one of the best designed set piece encounters ever! Sarlaccs are like an enormous desert Venus flytrap that eats several people at once. Suck it, Audrey II.

Also, if we look at Expanded Universe lore, sarlaccs can be escaped, but only if you’re a BAMF like (non-canonical spoiler alert!) Boba Fett so sarlacc s are terrifying, but not wholly insurmountable villains.

Sarlaccs in Exploration Age

Ok, so how do I work sarlaccs into Exploration Age’s story? First, they’re going to need a different name, because copyright. How about gaping maws? Get it? Because their mouths are… Of course you get it. It’s painfully simple. For that same copyright reason and for fun and simplification, I’m going to change a few other details here about the sarlacc. The gaping maw is inspired by the sarlacc, not an exact copy.

Well Canus is already a world full of interesting horrors, which includes many an ancient aberrant creature. Gaping maws certainly seem weird enough to be aberrants. There’s plenty of deserts on Canus, so maybe these creatures have taken root in the desert and when their brethren went underground they could not follow as they were too rooted in their pits. They did not represent much threat to the dragons, so they didn’t bother to kill the gaping maws.

The older a gaping maw is the bigger and deeper it is. They are stationary creatures with spiked tentacles that whip around and drag prey into their tongue mouths. They digest their prey very slowly, killing them over a slow and torturous digestive period which can last months.

Gaping maws are tough. The best way to kill a gaping maw is to attack it it from the inside, which is difficult since the noxious gases created by its stomach acids can paralyze a creature. Creatures swallowed by the gaping maw may resist its noxious stomach gas and try to attack it from within. The gaping maw may try and crush the creature using its stomach muscles if it attacks, but this is a last resort. It prefers to digest slowly and conserve its energy.

Gaping maws are asexual and reproduce every 100 years by releasing spores which burrow into the sand and take root, growing into young, then adult, then ancient gaping maws. Not many gaping maws get to mature however, since as babies they can easily be dug from the earth and devoured by various desert animals.

D&D Next Statistics

Using the last public playtest packet, here’s how I’d represent gaping maws in my game.

Gaping Maw, Young

Huge Aberration

Armor Class 14

HP 52 (7d10 + 14)

Speed 0 ft.

Str 18 (+4)

Dex 10 (+0)

Con 14 (+2)

Int 3 (-4)

Wis 9 (-1)

Cha 8 (-1)

Alignment unaligned

Languages –

Traits

Damage Resistance: The gaping maw is resistant to all nonmagical weapons.

Grappler: The gaping maw has advantage on attack rolls against a creature grappled by it.

Magic Immunity: The gaping maw is immune to spells of 3rd level or lower, and it makes saving throws against spells of 4th level or higher with advantage.

Regeneration: At the start of each of its turns, the gaping maw regains 5 hit points. If the gaping maw takes damage from a creature it has swallowed, this trait doesn’t function on the gaping maw’s next turn. This trait ceases to function while the gaping maw has 0 hit points.

Actions

Multi-Attack: A gaping maw may make four tentacle attacks or two tentacle attacks and one bite attack.

Melee Attack – Tentacle: +5 to hit (reach 20 ft.; one creature). Hit: 10 (1d10+5) piercing damage and if the target is Large or smaller, the creature is grappled. While using a tentacle to grapple a creature, the gaping maw can make that tentacle’s attack only against the grappled creature.

Melee Attack – Bite: +5 to hit (reach 5 ft.; one creature). Hit: 15 (2d8+6) piercing damage.

Melee Attack – Crush: +5 to hit (all swallowed creatures). Hit: 12 (1d12+6) bludgeoning damage.

Swallow Whole: While grappling a Medium or smaller creature, the gaping maw can make a bite attack against the creature, and if the gaping maw hits, it also swallows the creature. A gaping maw can swallow 16 Tiny, 8 Small, 4 Medium creatures at a time. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained.

Swallowed creatures must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. Failed Save: The target is paralyzed for 24 hours. At the end of this period if the creature is still swallowed by the gaping maw they save again or remained paralyzed for another 24 hours. If the creature does save but remains swallowed it is subject to another saving throw 24 hours after the successful one. A swallowed creature’s maximum HP is reduced by 1 for every day it is swallowed. When it’s max HP is reduced to 0 the creature is completely digested and dies. A swallowed creature may attack the gaping maw. When attacked from the inside the gaping maw loses all resistances and immunities.

Encounter Building

XP: 340

Gaping Maw, Adult

Gargantuan Aberration

Armor Class 15

HP 88 (11d10 + 33)

Speed 0 ft.

Str 20 (+5)

Dex 11 (+0)

Con 16 (+3)

Int 3 (-4)

Wis 10 (+0)

Cha 8 (-1)

Alignment unaligned

Languages –

Traits

Damage Resistance: The gaping maw is resistant to all nonmagical weapons.

Grappler: The gaping maw has advantage on attack rolls against a creature grappled by it.

Magic Immunity: The gaping maw is immune to spells of 5th level or lower, and it makes saving throws against spells of 6th level or higher with advantage.

Regeneration: At the start of each of its turns, the gaping maw regains 10 hit points. If the gaping maw takes damage from a creature it has swallowed, this trait doesn’t function on the gaping maw’s next turn. This trait ceases to function while the gaping maw has 0 hit points.

Actions

Multi-Attack: A gaping maw may make six tentacle attacks, or four tentacle attacks and one bite attack.

Melee Attack – Tentacle: +6 to hit (reach 25 ft.; one creature). Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage and if the target is huge or smaller, the creature is grappled. While using a tentacle to grapple a creature, the gaping maw can make that tentacle’s attack only against the grappled creature.

Melee Attack – Bite: +6 to hit (reach 10 ft.; one creature). Hit: 21 (3d10+6) piercing damage.

Melee Attack – Crush: +6 to hit (all swallowed creatures). Hit: 18 (2d12+6) bludgeoning damage.

Swallow Whole: While grappling a Large or smaller creature, the gaping maw can make a bite attack against the creature, and if the gaping maw hits, it also swallows the creature. A gaping maw can swallow 32 Tiny, 16 Small, 8 Medium, or 4 Large creatures at a time. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained.

Swallowed creatures must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. Failed Save: The target is paralyzed for 24 hours. At the end of this period if the creature is still swallowed by the gaping maw they save again or remained paralyzed for another 24 hours. If the creature does save but remains swallowed it is subject to another saving throw 24 hours after the successful one. A swallowed creature’s maximum HP is reduced by 1 for every day it is swallowed. When it’s max HP is reduced to 0 the creature is completely digested and dies. A swallowed creature may attack the gaping maw. When attacked from the inside the gaping maw loses all resistances and immunities.

Encounter Building

XP: 3,920

Gaping Maw, Ancient

Colossal Aberration

Armor Class 16

HP 142 (15d10 + 60)

Speed 0 ft.

Str 23 (+6)

Dex 13 (+1)

Con 18 (+4)

Int 3 (-4)

Wis 12 (+1)

Cha 8 (-1)

Alignment unaligned

Languages –

Traits

Damage Resistance: The gaping maw is resistant to all nonmagical weapons.

Grappler: The gaping maw has advantage on attack rolls against a creature grappled by it.

Magic Immunity: The gaping maw is immune to spells of 7th level or lower, and it makes saving throws against spells of 8th level or higher with advantage.

Regeneration: At the start of each of its turns, the gaping maw regains 15 hit points. If the gaping maw takes damage from a creature it has swallowed, this trait doesn’t function on the gaping maw’s next turn. This trait ceases to function while the gaping maw has 0 hit points.

Actions

Multi-Attack: A gaping maw may make eight tentacle attacks, or six tentacle attacks and one bite attack.

Melee Attack – Tentacle: +7 to hit (reach 30 ft.; one creature). Hit: 15 (2d8+6) piercing damage and the creature is grappled. While using a tentacle to grapple a creature, the gaping maw can make that tentacle’s attack only against the grappled creature.

Melee Attack – Bite: +7 to hit (reach 15 ft.; one creature). Hit: 32 (4d12+6) piercing damage.

Melee Attack – Crush: +7 to hit (all swallowed creatures). Hit: 24 (3d12+6) bludgeoning damage.

Swallow Whole: While grappling a huge or smaller creature, the gaping maw can make a bite attack against the creature, and if the gaping maw hits, it also swallows the creature. A gaping maw can swallow 64 Tiny, 32 Small, 16 Medium, 8 Large, or 4 Huge creatures at a time. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained.

Swallowed creatures must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. Failed Save: The target is paralyzed for 24 hours. At the end of this period if the creature is still swallowed by the gaping maw they save again or remained paralyzed for another 24 hours. If the creature does save but remains swallowed it is subject to another saving throw 24 hours after the successful one. A swallowed creature’s maximum HP is reduced by 1 for every day it is swallowed. When it’s max HP is reduced to 0 the creature is completely digested and dies. A swallowed creature may attack the gaping maw. When attacked from the inside the gaping maw loses all resistances and immunities.

Encounter Building

XP: 20,010

So let me know what you think! Does it feel sarlacc-y and do you want to use one of these for your game?

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