Why Celebrate Thanksgiving Early: Reason #5

In case there was any confusion as to why Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier than Americans, I give you "Snow in Early October".

I've already shovelled twice. According to the news, there were 400 car accidents yesterday, due to the icy driving conditions.

Could be worse. Could be snow in August.

No, that is not my boat. Yes, you can use it whenever you want, just don't mention my name to the police.

Old School Monsters: Beholder

There is a select list of "original" D&D monsters. That list includes the Purple Worm, Umber Hulk, Displacer Beast, Rust Monster, Owl Bear, Blink Dog, Carrion Crawler and Stirge. If what I have read on other blogs and boards is correct, many of those original D&D monsters were inspired by miniature monster figures, that one of the early D&D players bought and supplied to Arneson's Blackmoor campaign.

I suspect that the Beholder (above, from the WOTC Deathknell set) was not one of those figures, and was likely the creation of Gygax. The Beholder first appears on the cover of Greyhawk (OD&D Supplement I), and receives one paragraph of description, and a table listing the functions of each of the Beholder's eleven eyes.

The beholder began as a 3-foot diameter monsterous globe with a central eye, mouth and 10 eye-stalks. Each of the eyes had different powers, for example, anti-magic ray, charm person, disintegrate, telekinesis, and so on. Over the years, the Beholder has been re-envisioned (at least in size), with the Beholder miniature shown above being roughly 10 feet tall, not including the added height of the eye-stalks.

This is one of the older WOTC versions of the Beholder. The most recently WOTC-produced Beholder figure is easily twice this size.

Fantasy Character Archetypes: Updated

I have updated my fantasy character archetypes list. In comments to an earlier post, mention was made of a Fencer needing Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. In the moment, it did not occur to me that the comment might be in reference to the "Fence" archetype. I have added Fencer to the list, but wanted to clarify that by Fence, I meant someone who deals in stolen or illicit goods. They would have some ability to circulate with people from different social circles, and would know who was interested in buying what, in addition to knowing what things were worth and being adept at negotiating.

Perhaps I have the wrong word, what would you call those sorts of people?

Any other categories of character archetypes I have missed?

EDIT: I have updated the list, incorporating several suggestions, including Diplomat, Inquisitor, Squire, Jester, Champion, and several others.

Fantasy Character Archetypes: Purpose

I should probably explain my purpose behind creating a list of character archetypes.

The purpose is not necessarily to pidgeonhole those archetypes into a static prime attribute, although some of those archetypes may make the most sense being that narrowly defined, such as "Fighter". Other archetypes might use one of several prime attributes (for example, the "Captain" might use Strength or Wisdom as a prime attribute).

This exercize is mostly to provide new Players with a source of inspiration. For example, if a new Player has a character with a high dexerity, they might look at the list for some ideas of what kind of archetype she could play. And sometimes a single word can be inspiration for the development of a character. In my previous post, The Rusty Battle Axe mentioned "Blackguard" in his comments ... the term Blackguard might inspire someone to play a mercenary, perhaps on the run from his former comrades.

Of course, during the game, the character will evolve and come alive, becoming less of a fantasy trope, but this initial list will give PLayers a reference point when first starting out.

Fantasy Character Archetypes

Here is the beginnings of my draft fantasy character archetypes class listing, based on the related prime attribute for each class.

Curious, do the characters appear under the correct prime attribute? Am I missing any archetypes?

Resource Cards: Gems and Coins

Still working on my resource card project.

This particular sheet is comprised of coin cards, treasure chests and precious gems.

While I have placed values on the precious gems, the remaining cards are left blank, in order that the actual value of the coins can be written down as the cards are distributed to the players.

Staying with the traditional 1 gp = 1 xp model of OD&D, my thinking is that the players can either spend the coins on equipment and goods, or can turn the cards back in for the experience instead.

I should have my second equipment sheet done shortly, which will include several backpacks, 10' poles, torches, and other common adventuring gear.

Additional Psionic Talents

Psionicists use the same experience table as Magic Users. So, in order to achieve 2nd Level, a Psionicist must obtain 2,500 experience points, and so on.

At each level, after first level, a Psionicist may aquire up to two additional levels of psionic talent mastery. In order to obtain each additional psionic talent, the Player rolls a d20, twice. If both rolls are less than the character's Charisma, the character obtains two new talents. If one roll is less than the character's Charisma, the character obtains one new talent. If neither roll is less than the character's Charisma, the character obtains another level in their wild talent.

Once you have determined how many new talents you have obtained, you a d10 and consult the talent table. 3rd Level Psionicists can roll on the first or second column. 5th Level Psionicists can roll on the first, second or third column, and 7th Level Psionicists can roll on any of the 4 columns. If you obtain a result, but you do not have a talent in an earlier column, you must take the earliest talent in that talent tree, that you do not yet possess.

For example, at 5th Level, the Player rolls on column 3, and gets a result of 3, "Mass Invisibility". Since her character does not have "limited invisibility" or "invisibility" she must take "limited invisibility" instead.

Psionicist Class: Draft

Psionicists

Psionicists are ordinary people who have been blessed (or cursed) with innate powers of the mind. They may have possessed this ability since birth, or may have developed their power more recently, as a result of an accident or other traumatic event. As a result, Psionicists tend to be loners, afraid of revealing their psionic abilities to others.

The prime attribute for Psionicists is Charisma. In order to play a Psionicist, a character must have a minimum Charisma score of 9. If Psionicists have a Charisma of 13+, they receive two +5% experience point bonuses (one for having a high Charisma, and another for having a 13+ in their prime attribute).

Psionicists are otherwise ordinary people. Therefore, they use a d6 for hit points.

They may use any armor, shields and weapons.

Psionicists begin with one "wild talent" at first level. After you have created your character, roll a d10 to determine what your wild talent is, by consulting the following table. However, for every point of Charisma above 9, you may eliminate one wild talent from the following table. If you roll an eliminated result, simply roll again, until you roll a wild talent that you have not already eliminated. Of course, this means that if you have a Charisma of 18, you may pick your beginning wild talent.

Wild Talents
1. Affect Normal Fires
2. Body Weaponry
3. ESP
4. Limited Invisibility
5. Precognition
6. Psionic Blast
7. Shocking Grasp
8. Suggestion
9. Telekinesis
10. Limited Teleport

0e Classes - Starting Lineup

For some time, I have been mulling over re-writing the 0e classes. I have narrowed my initial set of classes down to six, corresponding to the six attributes. My 0e class list consists of the following classes, and the related prime attributes. I am starting with three fighting classes, and three casting classes.

Fighting-man - Strength (includes Mercenaries, Valkyries and Soldiers)
Rogue - Dexterity (includes Catburglars, Swashbucklers, Pirates)
Barbarian - Constitution (includes Amazons, Gladiators, Berserkers)

Magic-User - Intelligence (includes Wizards, Magicians and Witches)
Cleric - Wisdom (includes Pigrims, Paladins and Druidesses)
Psionicist - Charisma (includes Oracles, Pyromancers and Hypnotists)

As I posted earlier, I am intending to tackle the Psionicist class first, simply because it deserves better treatment than it received in the 0e and 1e materials.

Psionicist: Serenity

I missed both the Firefly TV show and the Serenity movie when they originally aired. At the time, I probably believed the critics that panned the show. I greatly regret that, as it was a wonderful fusion of the western and science fiction genres.

One of the characters is River Tam, who is gifted with telepathy, precognition, and several other abilities.

Those other abilities include some pretty spectacular combat abilities. I will have to go back to Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry, but I recall there being some physical abilities tied to psionics, in addition to the psychological ones.