Character Creation Challenge: Queen Talason

Evil ruler? Sure why not. I have to admit this sheet jumped out at me for a number of reasons. First, it is a rare evil woman in Grenda's collection. Secondly, she is a Queen, and finally, this sheet looks OLD. I don't know anything about Queen Talason here. She is a fighter, but she also can turn undead and has some spells. She has psionics, like a lot of Grenda's characters. 

Also, I love her character sketch. Grenda was always a good artist, and this one is just fun.

I am not 100% sure what is going on with her. She looks like an anti-paladin but has no thief or assassin abilities. Plus, anti-paladins were all chaotic evil, and she is lawful evil. Her spells are from the Magic-user list and not the Cleric one. I checked the old "Plethora of Paladins" article from Dragon #106. The Lawful Evil "Illrigger" and they do use Magic-user spells, but her spell progression and XP progression do not match our Queen here. 

This sheet is also much older than Dragon #106's Feb 1986 date. This one looks a lot closer to his sheets from the early 1980s; as in 1981-82.

I think re-crafting her as an Anti-Paladin, or at least an evil Divine Warrior, is a fun idea.

Queen Talason

Class: Divine Warrior
Level: 8
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil*
Background: Warrior 

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (0) 
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 17 (+2) P

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: -2
Vitality: 53 
Degeneracy: 5
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (8d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil, Spot Hidden (1-3 on d6).

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Ability: Telekinesis
3rd Level: +1 to melee attacks 
5th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword
7th Level: 1 level of Sorcerer

Spells
First Level: Arcane Dart

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Longsword, Mace, Battle Axe, Spear, Crossbow, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

I imagine that Queen Talason here was a warrior princess, cleaving a bloody path between herself and her goal, the throne. As a Queen, she was no less bloody. In Grenda's games, she worshipped Hades, the god of the Dead. In my revised Wasted Lands games, Hüter is not really the same deadly god. No, in my new campaign, she would worship Helga, the Ghost goddess in her aspect as the Battle Crone. This would also explain her level of Sorcerer as a Heroic/Divine Touchstone. 

I think as a nod to her history and her near miss as an Illrigger, I'll make her birthday February 14th. 

Again, I am loving the Divine Warrior class.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: The Ravenloft Weekend

Back in 1991, Grenda and I ran a weekend-long game of Ravenloft. We ran it as the "Dreams of Barovia" variant that combined adventure modules I6 and I10. He was the DM for I6 Ravenloft and I was the DM for I11 Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill. It was a lot of fun to be honest, the problem was I forgot to tell my roommates and girlfriend where I was! When I crawled back to my apartment at 2D Lewis Park, I got an earful. The game was fun, but kind of a hazy memory to be honest. We played from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening straight. I remember sleeping in my chair and eating a lot of Quatros pizza. 

I am presenting all the characters now to cover my next few days (1/17 to 1/21). But more importantly to me, can I use Wasted Lands with NIGHT SHIFT to play a Ravenloft-style game? 

The answer is, absolutely.

Ravenloft is quasi-Gothic horror. As I have mentioned in the past, it is not true Gothic Horror because the characters are still hero types. They have power, they have agency. The heroes of Gothic Horror typically do not have the same level of power D&D characters do. Out Hunters in Dracula only succeed because they have each other and make use of the "technology" of the time. The PCs can go toe to toe with most Gothic literature monsters.

Wasted Lands is Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Horror. NIGHT SHIFT is Urban survival Horror. BUT that is just what they are on the surface. They are both toolkit games to add or subtract what you want or need from them. 

I would still give the characters some power, but make the setting "Gritty."

That means no Heroic Touchstones. 

Heroic Touchstones are a key feature of the Wasted Lands and will be part of Night Shift 2nd Edition. But for a game like Ravenloft? I would take them out. Well...maybe one at first level. I'll work on the characters to see. Thankfully, none of these characters have psionics or other "kewl powerz," and all the classes are normal ones. 

I would use all the fear and terror effects from NIGHT SHIFT. I'd use Degeneracy and Corruption rules from Wasted Lands. That might feel like I am stacking things against the characters. I am.

Unlike D&D (esp. post 2000+ D&D) Gothic Horror is not about balance, it is exactly the opposite of that. The Big Bad Guy has all the power. 

The Characters

I only have vague recollections of these characters. I was spending a lot of time trying to get into grad school, and my focus then was largely on that. Plus, these are really just one-shot characters. So while they do have some good background attached, they were only used (to my knowledge) for this adventure.

Sir Beyrn Silverhelm

Class: Divine Warrior (from Night Companion)
Level: 13
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 0
Vitality: 98 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +5 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (13d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Field plate armor, Holy symbol

Sir Beyrn is a quintessential Diving Warrior. His stats on his AD&D sheet look like they might have been cribbed from Johan II to be honest! Which makes sense. Looks like Grenda created all these characters in a couple of weeks while working and going to school.

Hile Augarin

Class: Archer (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 12
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Elf (Wasted Lands) 

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 16 (+2) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) N
Intelligence: 11 (0) 
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 12 (0) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 92 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +6 to agility-based saves

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Archer Abilities
Improved Defense, Master Archer, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attack, Improved Range Damage, Eagle Eye, Incapacitating Shot, Multi Attack x4, Careful Aim, Trick Shot

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: hunter

Gear
Longsword, Longbow, elven chain

I have used Renegades and Warriors in the past for Rangers, in this case Archer is the better choice.

Finneous Sevinhand

Class: Renegade (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 12
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Elf (Wasted Lands) 

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 17 (+2) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) N
Intelligence: 13 (+1) 
Wits: 11 (0) 
Persona: 10 (0) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Death effects

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-4 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x4, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Thief

Gear
Shortsword, dagger, throwing knife, crossbow

Renegades have a different feel to me than survivors, though both can be used as thieves. 

Meroc Trothgard

Class: Survivor (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 12
Species: Human
Alignment: Night Good
Background: Hunter/Gatherer

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 17 (+2) A
Toughness: 17 (+2) N
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 14 (+1) 
Persona: 13 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 90
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Death effects

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-4 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x4, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter

Gear
Longsword ("Trollslayer"), dagger, longbow

Mechanically, the Renegade and the Survivor are the same. But in this case, I add in the backgrounds to give them a different feel. With Meroc here, I also decided not to go with their multi-class Ranger/Thief and stuck with the Survivor.

Aristobulous Declan

Class: Sorcerer (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 13
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Night Good
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 11 (0) 
Agility: 16 (+2) N
Toughness: 15 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) A
Wits: 10 (0) 
Persona: 13 (+1) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 72
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Magic

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sorcerer Abilities
Beguile, Enhanced Senses, Exorcist, Subtle Influence, Telekinesis

Spells
First Level (5): Arcane Darts, Chill Ray, Gout of Flame, Mystical Senses, Sleep, 
Second Level (4): Conjure Flame, Invisibility, Lesser Renewal, See Invisible
Third Level (4): Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse 
Fourth  Level (4): Conjure Fire, Improved Invisibility, Paralyze Undead, Renewal
Fifth Level (3): Banishment, Shadow Armor, Teleport
Sixth Level (2): Destroy Undead, Dispel Evil
Seventh Level (1): Ball of Sunshine

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Quarterstaff, Dagger, dart

Mages are Sorcerers. This one has a lot spells to help survive Castle Ravenloft.

Father Ercon Valeran

Class: Theosophist (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 12
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 16 (+1) N
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 20 (+4) A 
Persona: 19 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +5 vs Wits 

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead x2, Summon Dead, Channel Dead, Death Knell, Suggestion, Command the Dead

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter of the Dead

Gear
Mace ("Skullcrusher"), Quarterstaff, shortbow, holy symbol.

I can't help but notice that Father Ercon's Patron Deity is St. Werper. Nice touch Grenda!

I should stat up Strahd sometime as well. But I think he deserves his own post really. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Molley Hachit

Oh, have I got a fun one today! First off, this is not one of Grenda's characters, it actually belongs to my old Jr. High DM Jon Cook. Jon played with us for a while, but he was the first of our group to get a job (he made enough to buy a new car in high school) and the first of us to get a steady girlfriend. Secondly, this isn't the original version of Molley. It is a version I found with versions of a few of my own characters (Phygora, Nigel, Rogue, and Retsam). I seem to recall a "Greatest Hits" game we played in a few years into High School where we played different versions of our favorite characters. This one is special as well because this one of the very few women characters I can remember Jon playing. 

Molley Hachit (and yes that is the proper spelling!) is obviously based on the band Molly Hatchet. In particular their first album. Jon's older sister Mary (who sadly we also lost last year) had EXCELLENT taste in music. She was also a "Killer DM" so I would not be surprised if one version of Molley had not died at her hands. 

Molley is a fighter, and a pretty buff one at that. Of course, she wields a big axe. Hmm, I bet she would have gotten along with Karlach or Hervor. I can't help but think that the song "Bounty Hunter" was the inspiration for her. I can see her jumping into battle screaming "Hell Yeah!"

BUT. I am going to stat her up in Wasted Lands as a Renegade. This fits better with Jon's playstyle, really, and a nod to Mary, who was the biggest Styx fan in the world. 

Molley Hachit

Class: Renegade
Level: 3
Species: Neutral
Alignment: Twilight
Background: Barbarian

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2) N
Agility: 11 (0) A
Toughness: 15 (+1) N
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 13 (+1) 
Persona: 7 (-7)

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 15
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base) 
Saves: +3 vs Death effects (Renegade)

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3), Perception, Vital Strike x3, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 25%
Bypass Traps: 20%
Sleight of Hand: 30%
Sneak: 25%

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: +1 to Melee attacks
3rd Level: Luck Benefit 1d6

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Warrior

Gear
Big Axe, Dagger, Chain Armor, thieves tools

Ok, so she is not an optimized Renegade, and this character might be better served as a barbarian-like Warrior. But that is not how Jon used to play characters. The concept was key. And the sacrifice of some combat ability for some "thief skills" was always something he liked to do.

In any case. Damn. It sure was fun to see Molley again.  I should make her a member of the Fearless Five, who would then number seven. The Stalwart Seven, perhaps?

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Briana Highstar

After discovering yesterday's healer, I have to admit I went searching through this large stack of characters looking for a witch. I found one and she was not who I suspected she was going to be. So for this special Witchcraft Wednesday of the Character Creation Challenge, I give you Briana Highstar.

Now that name sticks out. Grenda was very, very careful with his family names. He had (and you have seen here) dynasties of characters. The Addingdales are the prime example. So when he names someone "Highstar" especially at the time when Morgan Highstar was such a prominent character of his, it means something. 

Sadly, there is not much here on Briana Highstar. She is listed as an NPC. She does not show up in our shared timeline, and I have not been able to dig up anything else about her. So, a witch (a class I made) related to his major Riddlemaster (a class he made). There is a story here!

I know she is one of my witches, largely due to the spells. I mean, yeah, he could have been using another witch class and my spells. 1993 is about the time I finished my first big "publication" draft that combined all my notes and handwritten playtest documents. I still have it here, I just printed it out on a "new" type of printer, an inkjet. 

So what can I speculate about Briana Highstar?

Her sheet says that she is a diabolic witch and her patron devil is Mephistopheles. She is Lawful Evil. That's about it.

Given Grenda's frame of mind at the time (2/11/1993) I'll make the following assumptions.

She is the younger half-sister of Morgan Highstar; they share the same father but different mothers.  I'll tear a page from Arthurian legends and have their relationship (at least the antagonism) be the same as Arthur and Morgan le Fey's. The attitude would likely be Briana feels wronged by Morgan and Morgan doesn't even know who she is.

To amp up this antagonism, I'd have Briana look a lot like Morgan; black hair, gray eyes. Hell, she might look a bit like Katie McGrath's Morgana from Merlin. I'll admit it, I am a fan of her's. 

Maybe her motivation is to destroy his School of Riddlemasters. Or maybe she just wants to avenge herself on him. I don't know yet. She is Lawful Evil to his True Neutral, so maybe her plans are more complicated. Maybe "her" plans are not her's but Mephistopheles' instead. Who knows, I would have to put her into play and see what she does.

Briana Highstar

Class: Witch
Level: 8
Species: Human
Alignment: Evil Dark
Background: Cultist

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 16 (+2) 
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 15 (+1) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 26
Degeneracy: 32
Corruption: 1 (eyes glow an unnatural way, like a cats)

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +4 vs spells and magical effects

Arcane Abilities
Beguile, Precognition, Shadow Walking

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Additional 1st level Spell
3rd Level: Favored Weapon, Whip
5th Level: Spirit Guide: Cat Familiar 
7th Level: Magical Recovery

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Domination

Spells
First Level (4+1): Armor of Earth, Black Flames, Chill Ray, Phantom Lights, Read Languages
Second Level (3): Eternal Flame, Invisibility, See Invisible
Third Level (3): Animal Summoning 2, Dark Lightning, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level (2): Black Tentacles, Kiss of the Succubus

Gear
Whip

Briana has a vendetta against all Riddlemasters. She wants to kill them all, but that is an impossible task, so she will settle on doing as much damage to them as she can. Her Patron, Mephistopheles, is using her to strike a blow to Balance, the force that Riddlemasters represent. 

I will certainly be using Briana more in adventures. Don't worry Grenda, I'll take care of her.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Aura the Elf Healer

 One of the things I have been looking forward to seeing in this group of characters are the various classes Grenda and I created. You have already seen the various Riddlemasters, but we have not seen a witch at all or one of my classes. Well, today, I change that. Not a witch, but almost as good. Meet Aura, the Elf Healer.

Aura is interesting for a few reasons. First off, her class is "Healer," not a cleric. More on that in a bit. She has no creation date on her sheet, something we always did and I still often do. There is, in fact, very little writing on her sheet at all. This leads me to the conclusion that she was an NPC. 

She is also an elf. Not a half-elf, but a full elf, something Grenda rarely played. He was all about playing humans and maybe the occasional half-elf.  No shock, really, all his characters were part of a large extended family. He later added Cheysuli and Deryni. 

So Aura here is a healer. 

There is not enough detail on this sheet to determine which healer she was. I had made a couple of different attempts at this class. The big clue here is Undead Turning. I went back and forth a lot on whether or not healers could turn undead like a cleric. While I argued that healers could see undead as something like a disease, it is also a key feature of the cleric class. This one is from the time when they could still turn undead. 

OR

Grenda didn't have all my healer class notes (which is possible) and he rolled her up as a cleric and played her like a healer. In any case she also has some of the early weapons choices. I was inspired by the early Dragon magazine article about healers and had healers use only non-damage causing weapons. It made for a difficult class to play in combat.

In any case, it is nice to see one of "my" character classes here. I am still holding out for a proper witch, though.  

How do I know she is one of my healers and not another one? Well, she is from "Glantri," that is the biggest clue. And she is a Lawful Good character who worships Apollo. Most of my healers from this era were followers of Apollo.

Aura

Class: Necromancer (Light)
Level: 15
Species: Elf
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Elf

Abilities
Strength: 13 (0)
Agility: 16 (+2) N
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) N
Wits: 19 (+3) A
Persona: 15 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 6
Vitality: 110
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +5 to Persona

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead x4, Summon the Dead, Vampiric Augmentation*, Suggestion x4, Command, Vampiric Touch*, Beguile Spirit x2, Call the Reaper.

Heroic Touchstones

1st Level: Psychic Power: Bio-feedback
3rd Level: Light
5th Level: Cure Light Wounds
7th Level:  Psychic Power: Domination
9th Level: Psychic Power: Supernatural Senses
11th Level: Conjure Flame
13th Level: Immunity to disease
15th Level: Cure Disease

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Healer

Gear
Holy symbol, healer's kit

There is not much to Aura's character on her sheets, but this version of her for the Wasted Lands has a lot of potential. What would an elf, with psychic powers, be doing as a healer trained in the temple of Apollo? In my combined mythos she would likely be a follower of Jäger and most likely a wood elf of some type.

OH. And many people have mentioned I should preserve these sheets, I zoomed out when taking a picture of Aura's sheet here so you all can see that she is in a protective sheet for a three-ring binder. All the characters are going into sheets like this.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Morgan Highstar

Ah. Now, here was a character. Mogan Highstar was more than Grenda's favorite character, he was in a sense his self-insert. His way of experiencing the world of Dungeons & Dragons as himself. He was more than his version of my Johan. He was Johan, Larina, and "Retsam" all rolled into one for him. 

Finn Danis may have been the first "Starmaster" and eventual head of the school of Riddle Masters, but everything Finn learned, he learned first from Morgan.

Morgan Highstar was born CY 637. He was the first Riddlemaster. His first student, Finn, did not join his school until 659 when finn was only 8. 

Morgan was an accomplished card player and a firm supporter of the Cosmic Balance (in the Michael Moorcock sense). Going over the sheets I have here, he had been a worshiper of  Uller (more examples of our blending of Greek and Norse myths), but when he began his Riddlemaster training, he converted to the worship Xan Yae. 

Riddlemasters, as I have mentioned off and on, were psychic characters who masked their psychic powers by disguising them as magic. They were influenced by "The Chronicles of the Deryni" by Katherine Kurtz and a lot of B-Grade movies about psychic phenomena. They were a cloistered sect that (retconned) had existed for centuries. Morgan was the first Riddlemaster.

Like Finn, I am happy to make Morgan a Psychic, though I will eventually need to post more about Riddlemasters. 

Morgan Highstar 

Class: Psychic
Level: 14
Species: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 17 (+2) 
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) N
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 95
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +5 vs Persona (Psychic)

Background
Additional languages.

Psychic Abilities
Psychic powers: 5, Supernatural attacks, Supernatural power: Astral Projection

Psychic Powers
Bio-feedback
Body Control
Empathy
Telepathy
Temporal Sense

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
3rd Level: Psychic power: Pyrokinesis
5th Level: Level 1 of Renegade (use of stealth skills)
7th Level: Level 2 of Renegade (increased stealth skills)
9th Level: +1/+5% to all attacks, saves, checks and skills
11th Level: Spell resistance 20%
13th Level: Character ceases to age

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Balance

Gear
Sword ("Balancer")

Again, while I am very happy replicating any D&D class in Wasted Lands, Riddlemasters, by their very nature, are a little more difficult. Should I do a "Riddlemaster" class for Wasted Lands/NIGHT SHIFT/13 Parsecs? Well...there is a desire, but I am not sure how practical it would be.  The classes were not very practical for D&D to be honest! I would need to distill them to their essence and build them up from that.

Something other than "how crazy can we get with this?"

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Vale Warmark

 Here is another character I do not know. He looks like he was part of a campaign of all evil characters called The Black Sun, but that is all I know. This is from his time period of 1988 to 1990 when he made a lot of characters. 

Vale Warmark is a Cheysuli, like Finn Danis. In *D&D a different species is harder to detail since bonuses and penalties need to be considered. Wasted Lands, NIGHT SHIFT, and Thirteen Parsecs new species are all baked into the rules and covered by our "Supernatural" type (from NIGHT SHIFT). Also, like many of Grenda's characters, he has psionics.

His class is listed as "Fighter (Special)." I wonder if this was some sort of play-test character. He has fighter abilities as well as cleric spells and undead turning, but he is not a Paladin.

When I originally pulled this sheet I was going to make him a point-buy character using the Night Companion rules for NIGHT SHIFT. But the results were not satisfactory. Especially since the Divine Warrior seems to do the trick very well. But, given his Lawful bent and the fact that he worships Xan Yae from the World of Greyhawk, he has led me down a different path. I think he works best as a Mystic Martial Artist.

While the Mystic Martial Artist is great for monks (AD&D) or say ninjas, or wuxia like warriors, it is also great for any sort of character that makes combat a way of life. 

Vale Warmark

Class: Mystic Martial Artist
Level: 1
Species: Cheysuli (using the Supernatural type from NIGHT SHIFT and other species rules from Wasted Lands)
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 18 (+) A 
Toughness: 17 (+2) N
Intelligence: 16 (+2)  
Wits: 17 (+2) 
Persona: 15 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 0
Vitality: 5 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 3

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) +3 (MMA)
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base) +3 (MMA)
Saves: +1 vs AGL and TOU saves.

Mystic Martial Arts Abilities
+3 to Agility, Add AGL bonus to attacks, Martial Arts: Sword (like Kendo)

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Order

Gear
Sword (Mailbite), Dagger, Mace, splint mail armor

Ok. He is only first level here, but looking over his AD&D sheet and the abilities that Mystic Martial Artists get as they level up, I see that this is a great fit.  I am not sure how important the cleric abilities were to this character, so I may add them later on as a Heroic Touchstone or not. 

I do wonder what class Vale was supposed to have been.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG, the NIGHT SHIFT RPG, and Thirteen Parsecs RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Rogar Addingdale

 Rogar is not the first character Grenda ever created. The earliest one I can find is still Torvak, but he was a very important one. Rogar is the progenitor and patriarch of the Addingdale line.

According to my notes Rogar was born in CY 613. He is Chaotic Neutral (as a lot of Grenda's characters were), he worships Loki (makes sense), he is the son of Zeus...come again??

Ok. I have no issues at all with the "son of Zeus" bit. Zeus notoriously could not keep it in his pants. The Son of Zeus worshipping Loki though? Well...it was the 1980s, and I remember Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes making the rounds at my school back then, and yes, everyone was doing exactly what Gary and Tim Kask had explicitly told us not to do; fight gods as monsters. So, really...my groups were doing something else with gods, and it also started with an F. Mixing the Greek and Norse myths was not uncommon. I did it with my own Black Forest Mythos not that long ago. So, sure, I'll let this one slide.

Now depending on which sheet I look at Rogar is either a Cleric or a Fighter/Magic-user. Unlke others of the Addingdale line he has no psionics. I think I am going to stick with the cleric. Mostly because I want to give him a better tie-in with his offspring and try to work out his whole Zeus and Loki thing. BUT since this is for the Wasted Lands, I'll do him as a Necromancer instead. It's not a perfect fit, but I think it will be a fun one.

Rogar Addingdale

Class: Necromancer
Level: 1
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Neutral
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 16 (+2) 
Toughness: 17 (0) 
Intelligence: 18 (+) 
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 18 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 5 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +0 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +0 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead People, Summon the Dead, Command Spirits, Protection from Undead, Turn Undead

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Cure Light Wounds Spell

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Vengence

Gear
War hammer, Scale armor, Holy symbol

Not bad at all. In this case, he is a necromancer due to his hatred of the undead. So, he uses those powers to fight them.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Yoln Serpeus

 Every so often, there is a character who jumps off of the pages of their character sheet, and they take on a life of their own. They go beyond mere numbers, and listings and references to page numbers. They become a real character. Yoln Serpeus was one such character.

He began life as one of the main antagonists in our Great War/War of the Dragons. He was the head of Hell's Armies and a vassal to Mephistopheles. This was the campaign we were running then ended our worlds and a new combined world (which I would later equate with Mystoerth) was formed in the ashes. 

Honestly, I can still see it now. Yoln, clad in all jet back plate, riding his giant ware chariot being drawn by three dragons.  He had already killed many characters, including Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame and Johan Werper III. Though one of the survivors was Larina. (CY 813-818).

Yoln was defeated and he was pulled into the Hells, with Raven in tow it was believed. My other character, Nigel Blade, seeing his daughter pulled into Hell, vowed to follow him and kill him himself. 

I would not resolve that arc until 2001-2003 when Yoln became the primary big bad for my Buffy campaign, The Dragon and the Phoenix, as the "Hand of Leviathan." Nigel did not kill him, but Buffy did in "No Other Troy." Though I will admit, I forgot his last name and misremembered it as "Shadowreaper." But Yoln would use Worluk's nom de guerre.

Back in 1988, Grenda and I revisited Yoln in his earliest days as a human Paladin just prior to his fall in an adventure, "Where Evil Seeks," we were writing to submit to Dungeon Magazine. I have three different versions of that adventure here now. I might dust it off some day.  Anyway, in that "human" Yoln is only 13th level. That seems more reasonable.

It is not an exaggeration that Yoln and the hunt for Yoln from 1987 to 2003 had a HUGE impact on what would become NIGHT SHIFT. So it only makes sense that I should do his stats for Wasted Lands, the "D&D of NIGHT SHIFT."

I am going to cheat here and give Yoln a heroic touchstone at every level instead of every other level. It's a bit much (every other level is a bit much), but he has earned them.

This Yoln is only slight human now. He is becoming an infernal creature and will soon lead Hell's armies. 

Yes. That is Yoln in 'City of Heroes.'

Yoln Serpeus

Class: Divine Infernal Warrior (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 13
Species: Human (Infernal)
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) A
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 17 (0) N
Intelligence: 19 (+3)  
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 17 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 64
Degeneracy: 33
Corruption: 7

Corruption Effects: His eyes glow, his body is decayed, and he must live inside his armor. Can't enter holy lands or buildings. 

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +5 to all Wits and Persona Saves

Infernal Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Cause Injury and Illness, Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Good, Command Undead (level 8), Spot Hidden (1-3 on d4).

Infernal Abilities
Takes x2 damage from Chosen Ones and Celestials. 
Arcane Powers: Beguile, Domination, Enhanced Senses, Incubus, Shadow Walking, 

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Ability: ESP
2nd Level:+1 to melee attacks
3rd Level: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback
4th Level: Unique Mode of Attack: Soul Sever (Persona)
5th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword
4th Level: +1 to hit with Soul Sever attack
7th Level: Extra Attack
8th Level: Favored Enemy: Chosen Ones
9th Level: Special Attack
10th Level: Smite
11th Level: Great Attack (Toughness added to Soul Sever)
12th Level: Great Smite
13th Level: Spell Resistance 20%

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Longsword ("Pillager"), Full plate armor.

He is a monster. I mean, yeah, all these characters are charmingly Munchkin, but Yoln here is just plain scary. 

Yoln in the Wasted Lands

This is the starting point for Yoln, my D&D stand-in. This is the Yoln I stated above and one that Grenda and I created. Yoln belongs in the Wasted Lands, but he won't stay there for long.

Yoln in NIGHT SHIFT

In truth, Yoln is my first-ever NIGHT SHIFT Big Bad. Yeah, I ran him under the Buffy/Unisystem rules, but that game informed and shaped me to a point where NIGHT SHIFT became an inevitability.  Maybe one day I'll rerun "The Dragon and the Phoenix" as a NIGHT SHIFT adventure, but it has been 20+ years now.

Yoln in Thirteen Parsecs

Yoln was killed once by Morgan. He was killed again by Buffy. Could he still be around somewhere out near the Solar Frontier? Never say never I guess! Could his lifeless appearing armor be out there, floating in space, waiting on some happless ship passing by to bring it into their cargo hold? What happens when an ancient hell knight awakens and attack a crew armed with plasma rifles? I don't know.

Interestingly enough. While digging through my archives on this guy I found his Buffy/The Dragon and the Phoenix stats!

Yoln, The Pillager, The Pit Fiend, The Hand of Leviathan, The Shadowreaper

Yoln: So Slayer. You brought an army to defeat me? (another swing)
Buffy: No. (a parry. Then, wielding the spear with both hands, she swings and knocks Yoln back.) I brought two.
The army of demons continues running while a legion of angels flies up and over them to join in the attack.

Character Type: Human/Demon Big Bad

Attributes
Strength 9
Dexterity 8
Constitution 10
Intelligence 4
Perception 4
Willpower 12 

Ability Scores: Muscle 14, Combat 17, Brains 13
Life Points: 64
Drama Points: 10

Qualities: Fast Reaction Time, Hard to Kill 6, Honorable (Rigid), Nerves of Steel
Drawbacks: Adversary (just about everyone) 6, 

Combat Maneuvers

Name	Score	Damage	Notes
Dodge	17	-	Defense action
Grapple	19	-	Resisted by Dodge
Kick	16	14	Bash
Punch	17	13	Bash
Big Ass Sword	19	31	Stab/slash; two-handed

Damn. He was even a beast here.

Thank you, Grenda, for developing such a memorable character with me. Gods, this was a lot of fun to do this one. I'm listening to RUSH, Krokus, BÖC, and Ronnie James Dio in your memory tonight.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Tali Earlingstar II and Tyl Addigndale III

 Two more characters from the same campaign as Pathon and Torr Addingdale III, I am doing two again because I want to show off the flexibility of the classes in Wasted Lands / NIGHT SHIFT. How can I use the same class to achieve different results. 

I don't know much about Tyl III, but I know Tali. Tali was a Ranger in my games back in the late 1980s, she was Grenda's character when I ran him through the Ravenloft elements of our Great War / The Dragon War. She became trapped in Ravenloft with a bunch of other characters and had to find a way out. Tali, like her daughter Tali II, was a ranger, but more than that she was a Swanmay; a Swan Maiden. Kind of nice to see her again. A bit like running into an old friend from College and discovering she is happy and has a grown daughter now going to the same school you both went too. Swan Maidens have been a lot on my mind recently too, having just reread "Three Hearts and Three Lions" for the first time in decades.

Tyl II died as a child, so this Tyl III is not his son. I'll have to dig up a family tree somewhere to figure out where he fits. 

Tali is a Ranger with some magic. Tyl is a Theif-Acrobat/Illusionist. Both are going to be Renegades. Also, we are dealing with another New Human in Tyl, but I am going to ignore that for now.

Tali Earlingstar II

Class: Renegade/Warrior
Level: 8/8
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 16 (+2) A
Toughness: 15 (+1) 
Intelligence: 14 (+1) 
Wits: 17 (+2) N 
Persona: 17 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 80 (d4/d8)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +3 vs Death effects (Renegade)

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x3, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (x2), Extra Damage

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Favored Weapon: Sword (+1 to hit, +2 Damage)
Level 3: Luck Benefit
Level 5: Level 1 of Sorcerer
Level 7: Favored Enemy: Undead
Level 9: Level 2 of Sorcerer
Level 11: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
Level 13: Level 3 of Sorcerer
Level 15: Bestow Blessing

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Sword ("Shadowbane"), leather armor

Tyl Addingdale III

Class: Renegade/Sorcerer
Level: 10/10
Species: New Human
Alignment: Twilight (Evil)
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 18 (+1) N
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 60 (d4/d4)
Degeneracy: 4
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +3 vs Death effects (Renegade)

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x3, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Arcane Powers
Detect Thoughts, Enhanced Senses, Psychic Power Suggestion, Subtle Influence

Sorcerer Spells
First Level: Chill Ray, Night Vision, Command, Extinguish Light, Summon Familiar
Second Level: Invoke Fear, Invisibility, See Invisible, ESP, Beguile Person
Third Level: Blinding Speed, Clairvoyance, Dispel Magic, Oily Cloud of the Deeper Dark
Fourth Level: Black Tentacles, Improved Invisibility, Protection Against Death, Serpent Arrow
Fifth Level: Shadow Armor, Injure, Commune with Deeper Dark

Familiar: Bald Parrot "Jubilex"

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Psychokinesis
Level 3: Luck Benefit
Level 5: Favored Weapon: Short sword (+1 to hit, +2 Damage)
Level 7: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback
Level 9: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
Level 11: Additional 1st level spell
Level 13: Additional 2nd level spell
Level 15: Additional 3rd level spell
Level 17: Additional 4th level spell
Level 19: Additional 5th level spell

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Short sword ("Shadewalk"), leather armor

All the characters from this campaign appear to be cousins, some twice or more removed, and all descended from the Addingdale lines.

It appears, reading over the notes with the characters that Tali and Tyl were once close but are growing apart as Tali becaomes more good and following in her mother's footsteps to become a Swanmay (maybe she has been gifted her mother's cloak?) and Tyl went from trickster rogue to more evil in his intent. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Pathon Addingdale III and Torr Addingdale III

 Two for one today, mostly because I know so little about these two. Their creation dates are 2/18/1988 and 10/16/1988, respectively. This was a time when Grenda had left the Air Force and before he came down to Carbondale. We were not gaming together at this point; I was in the back half of my Freshman year and moving into my Sophomore year. But looking over the characters he has here, it was a prolific time of gaming for him. 

He had also settled on a format for his character sheets: a standard "golden rod" AD&D first edition sheet with notebook paper for proficiencies, spells, and then named magic items. He was mass-producing characters at this point. 

Here is what I do know about these two characters. They were cousins, descended from the original Pathon Addingdale and Torrin "Worluk" Addingdale, respectively. The original Torr Addingdale (who I have not found yet) was the father of the first Pathon and Worluk. Given what I know about Grenda, these two likely emulated their namesakes to a degree and allowed him to play out their adventures again. 

From what I can find out in my own campaign notes (sparse for this time) is that Pathon II was born in CY 744. For those of you at home, the current CY for the World of Greyhawk is 591. So, a little over 150 years into the future, as it were, and a little over 100 years from Pathon and Worluk's birth.

Again, we see these characters are part of his "Rivendell" era, and Torr is a "New Human." Honestly, I had no idea he was still using our "New Humans" this late in his gaming. They are also repeating a common trope he liked to use, two characters related by blood on opposite ends of the alignment chart. Pathon was Lawful Neutral and Torr Chaotic Neutral. I do admit I am a little surprised Torr is not a Shadowmaster.

The only other bit I remember about Pathon III is that he married a girl named "Brandy." Maybe an ode to the Looking Glass song "Brandy" but more likely a nod to Brandi Brandt, Playboy's Miss October 1987.

Pathon Addingdale III

Class: Theosophist
Level: 19
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 22 (+5) N
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 16 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 20 (+4) A 
Persona: 19 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 110 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +6 vs Wits 

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead x2, Summon Dead, Channel Dead, Death Knell, Suggestion, Command the Dead, Life Drain, Slay the Unliving, Call the Reaper

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: ESP
Level 3: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback 
Level 5: Level 1 of Witch/Sorcerer
Level 7: Speak with Animals
Level 9: Level 2 of Witch/Sorcerer
Level 11: Smite
Level 13: Level 3 of Witch/Sorcerer
Level 15: Great Smite
Level 17: Immunity to Poison
Level 19: Aura of Power

Spells
1st Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Divine Warrior

Gear
Mace (Stormshadow), Plate Armor, Holy symbol (crossed lightning bolts)

Torr Addingdale III

Class: Renegade
Level: 19
Species: New Human
Alignment: Twilight
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 21 (+4) N
Agility: 23 (+5) A
Toughness: 20 (+4) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 19 (+3) 
Persona: 20 (+4) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 120 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +5 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +7 vs Death effects (Renegade)

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-7 d8), Perception, Vital Strike x7, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (x2), Extra Damage

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 95%
Bypass Traps: 95%
Sleight of Hand: 95%
Sneak: 95%
Climbing: 95%
Perception: 95%

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Bonus Melee Attack +1
Level 3:  Favored Weapon: Sword (+1 to hit, +2 Damage)
Level 5: Level 1 of Warrior
Level 7: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
Level 9: Level 2 of Warrior
Level 11: evel 3 of Warrior
Level 13: Down but not Out
Level 15: Level 4 of Warrior
Level 17: Level 5 of Warrior
Level 19: Aura of Power

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: War

Gear
Sword ("Soulshadow"), leather armor

Again not bad.

I am not sure how these compare to the characters in play, but comparing them to the AD&D sheets they are pretty good. Obviously not as "muchnkiny" but still good.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Deathstroke Shadowreaper

 Today's character is another Starmaster, with emphasis on his Shadowmaster upbringing, and the chip off of Warluk's old block, his son Deathstroke Shadowreaper.

Now, you might first ask, "Was Grenda a fan of the Teen Titans?" I think the answer is obvious. 

While Deathstroke here is stated as a Starmaster, in play he was pretty much a thief/fighter with some magical abilities. 

While I saw more of Deathstroke than Warluk, I liked Warluk better. Deathstroke had all of Warluk's bad qualities and almost none of his good ones. And like Warluk, he was estranged from his family. Warluks was by accident, and Deathstroke's was by choice.

So, in short. He was an asshole.

I know he was a fun character to play because of how often he showed up, but as a DM he got on my nerves a little. BUT Grenda loved playing him, and I wanted to see how the Starmaster and Shadowmaster classes worked so it was fine. Maybe because the classes were so overpowered, that led to his "assholishness." 

About "New Humans"

New Human, or Homo Sapiens Nova, was from a Star Frontiers game we played that blended some Gamma World elements. During what was our Great Wars (the campaign we played before I went to University and resulted in our worlds getting merged) a few characters got sent forward in time, where they got genetic treatments. These characters had longer life spans (double) and could exceed human norms. A few characters returned to "AD&D" to fight in the Great Wars. Deathstroke here was one of them. I forget what the side effects he had since the treatment always had side effects. Typically it was things like loss of psionic ability or inability to shapeshift or turn invisible. I can see on his sheet that he had his base on Mars for a while. 

Largely, it was an excuse to play some sci-fi and explain why some characters had ability scores above 18. 

The HUGE side effect for me? It was here that I wanted a system to allow me to move between Fantasy, Horror, and SciFi. You can see the result of that in the O.G.R.E.S. system in Wasted Lands, NIGHT SHIFT, and Thirteen Parsecs.

Deathstroke Shadowreaper

Class: Renegade/Warrior
Level: 9/9
Species: Human (using the Supernatural type from NIGHT SHIFT and other species rules from Wasted Lands)
Alignment: Twilight Evil
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 22 (+4) A
Agility: 19 (+3) N 
Toughness: 18 (+3) N
Intelligence: 18 (+3)  
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 18 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 120 (d4/d10)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 3

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +3 vs Death attacks and area effects

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3), Perception, Vital Strike x3, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Psychokinesis
Level 3: +1 to melee attacks
Level 5: "Luck" befit
Level 7: Psychic Ability: Body Control
Level 9: Reroll
Level 11: Powerful Defense vs. melee
Level 13: +1 to attacks, checks, and saves
Level 15: Psychic Ability: Bio-Feedback
Level 17: Psychic Ability: Temporal Sense

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Sword (Darksheath), Dagger (Silver Thorn), leather armor +4, cloak of night (protection)

Ok. Not bad really. To get past the Starmaster silliness I used the Heroic Touchstones to give him psychic abilities and completely ignored his magic use. NOW I could have taken a younger version of him and stated him up as a Slicer for Thirteen Parsecs. Maybe I still will. 

A lot of those games in the early part of 1987 became the source of my desire to work on Thirteen Parsecs.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG, the NIGHT SHIFT RPG, and Thirteen Parsecs RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Finn Danis

 This is the first Monday of the new year and the first day back to work for many. So it is good that I am starting off the week with this character. 

Finn Danis was a Cheysuli Starmaster.

Ok, that is a sentence I need to parse out a bit. 

Back in 1986 both Grenda and I were heavy into making our own classes. I have detailed that tera here plenty of times with my Witch class. This era also produced my Healer, Necromancer, and Sun Priest classes.

Grenda created the Riddlemaster, Shadowmaster, Beastmaster, and finally the Starmaster classes. I will detail these classes this month as they come up more and more. But suffice to say they were extremely overpowered. This was be design, and they had the XP requirements to match. 

I posted my own Riddlemaster last year. The Starmaster class was essentailly a proto-prestige class similar to the original Bard or Acrobat classes. A potential Starmaster had to advance as Riddlemaster, then a Shadowmaster and then a Beastmaster. Never reaching level 10 (The Black of Mastery; levels had colors) in any. Then you progress as a Starmaster.

Finn was the head of the School of Riddlery in Grenda's game. He was his test character for for all his Riddlemaster classes. He was, in pretty much every aspect, his "Larina."

The notion here was all the Riddlemaster classes were Psionic. Their powers were psionic/psychic based. We decided that the powerful Wizard's Guilds and Priestly Orders had worked together to make psionic powers illegal in our realms. So the Riddlemasters (also called "Adepts") had to disguise their powers to look like magic. They could take wizard spells, had thief skills, turn undead, and had great combat. Did I mention they were overpowered? 

Finn was also a Cheysuli, from Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli. He was a tall dark-skinned, shape-shifting warrior who could also become a large panther. Since Finn was 6'7" we figure he turned into a giant panther.  I was not into Roberson's books as much as Grenda was. But I liked Finn. 

Think of Dean Henry Fogg from The Magicians, but instead of being played by Rick Worthy, he is played by Tony Todd. 

The biggest problem with Finn is how do I represent him in other games?

On the surface he is a Psychic, with enough heroic touchstones to give him some other abilities. But even with a heroic touchstone per level I am not sure I could replicate him well enough.

Finn Danis

Class: Psychic / Scholar
Level: 20
Species: Cheysuli
Alignment: Light Neutral
Background: Cheysuli

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) 
Agility: 19 (+3) 
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 16 (+2) A
Persona: 19 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 140
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base) +1 (touchstone) 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Psychic Attack: +7
Saves: +7 vs Persona (Psychic), +1 to all (touchstone)

Background
Shapeshift to a large panther. Speak with Animals.

Psychic Abilities
Psychic powers: 5, Supernatural attacks, Supernatural power: Astral Projection

Psychic Powers
Bio-feedback
Psychokinesis
ESP
Telepathy
Temporal Sense

Sage Abilities
Languages: 15, Lore 95%, Mesmerize others, suggestion, Renegade Skills: 3rd level, Spells 3/2/1

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 30%
Bypass Traps: 25%
Sleight of Hand: 35%
Sneak: 30%

Spells
First level: Arcane Dart, Light, Mystical Senses, Command
Second level: Lesser Renewal, Unlock
Third level: Concussive Blast

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Glamour
3rd Level: +1 to melee combat
5th Level: First Level Spell: Command
7th Level: Divine Smite
9th Level: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
11th Level: Immunity to Undead Attacks
13th Level: Character ceases to age
15th Level: Persistent Luck
17th Level: Down but not out
19th Level: Overwhelming Aura

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Natural Order

Gear
Sword (Mistweaver)

Ok. There is no way I can do Finn justice and stay within the rules as written for Wasted Lands. Or pretty much any other game really. For amusement sake I started a D&D 4e version of him, but even that was unsatisfying.

No. Finn is really too much for any game and he is even stretching AD&D to point of ridiculousness. 

But, that was the point. He was an experiment who just happened to also be a great character. 

There is a question here though.

Does anyone want to see the Riddlemaster classes? Is there any interest out there for these über-powered classes?

Mind you, I LOVED playing my Riddlemasters. Maybe as much as I did my witches. But I am sure they are a lot more niche than my witches are. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.