Character Creation Challenge: Sinéad Moonshadow for Wasted Lands

Moving out of my continuity to do something newer, but related today.  Sinéad Moonshadow is a D&D character. She began life as an AD&D 2nd Ed character from a previous Character Creation Challenge. I thought she might be some sort of witch/bard or wizard/bard mix from The Complete Wizard's Handbook.  In fact, I imagined situations where she might later run into such characters as Celene, Heather, or Raven. As the last couple of years moved on, I changed my mind about what I would do with her. Now, she is very much my eyes and voice to visit the Forgotten Realms, which I will do more of later this year. 

And then Baldur's Gate 3 happened. Sinéad was my second full run-through (my fourth starting character or something). I really wanted to see how the Wild Magic Sorcerer worked in the game, and since I was using Sinéad, I also gave her levels of Bard. Honestly it was so great I have dropped the idea of her being a witch at all and instead going full wild Magic Sorcerer and Bard.  

Honestly, the distinction between a "wild magic Sorcerer" and "Natural witch" is largely an academic one. But I am the academic that gets to make those distinctions, and I am cool with it.

So, in my updated backstory, she is a half-elf girl growing up in the Moonshae Isles. She has bursts of magic that she can't control. Even in the magic-rich Realms, this is an oddity. When she accidentally burns down a barn during a bit of uncontrolled magic, she leaves her home.  That much I always had, but where did she go? Well, now I know. Baldur's Gate on the Sword Coast. I only know a little more than that because my Realms lore could be better. 

In many ways, Sinéad is the spiritual god-daughter to Heather, both half-elves, both bards. I might need to try out a Ranger/Bard under 5e or Baldur's Gate sometime in the future.

Sinéad Moonshadow

Class: Sorceress / Sage
Level: 12/8
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Light 
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

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

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Spell Attack: +6
Saves: +6 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer & Elf)

Sorcerers Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (4): Beguile, Detect Thoughts, Enhanced Senses, Shadow Walk

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Beast Speech, Prestidigitation, Sleep
Second Level: Eternal Flame, Invisibility, See Invisible, Unlock
Third Level: Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse
Fourth Level: Control Temperature, Dimensional Travel, Renewal
Fifth Level: Passageway, Restore Life, Telekinesis
Sixth Level: Dispel Evil, Instant Death

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sage Abilities
Languages (18), Lore, Suggestion, Mesmerize Others, Read Languages, Renegade skills at level 4

Sage Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts (yes, twice), Chill Ray, Gout of Flame
Second Level: Conjure Flame, Invoke Fear, Magic Locks
Third: Fly

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: 
2nd Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Longbow, shortsword, leather armor, Dog ("Scratch")

Wasted Lands as D&D 5th Ed / Baldur's Gate 3

Again I am impressed with the levels of customization here. I think this Sinéad fares well against her 5e and BG3 counterparts. I did not pick out any Heroic Touchstones for her, but I would do this to cover any Sorceress or Bard powers she is missing like her meta-magic and Bardic inspiration, though I might be able to get this with Beguile.

This is a really good version of her and really one I could see playing. I am going to obviously spend a lot more time with this character and even try her out in various other versions of D&D. But this one right now is my favorite.

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

Jennell Jaquays (1956 – 2024)

 I was saddened to hear of the passing of RPG industry titan Jennell Jaquays this morning. I had never met with her face to face, though we had spoken together many times online. She was a compassionate, understanding, and wonderfully funny soul.

You can't go through the early days of our hobby and not see her name on something. Whether it was early Judges Guild material, articles in Dragon magazine, or her works, both as a writer and artist, for Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller, The Fantasy Trip, and Runequest.  Her work in the pages of the Judges Guild Journal and the Dungeoneer are still some of my favorites from the dawn age of RPGs.

Her continued work in video games, like Quake, kept her close to RPGs. 

I knew she had been sick since October, and I knew it was not a minor thing, but today we got word from her wife that she had passed.

While her work on Central Casting is justifiably lauded, it was her Dark Tower adventure in which she gained her highest accolades. Though I admit, I am also rather partial to her adventure "Talons of Night."

Her wife, Rebecca "Burger Becky" Heineman, has a GoFundMe started. Initially, it was to cover medical expenses, which sadly she still has.

I know we are getting to a point where the pioneers of our hobby are getting older. I have even lost close friends in the last year. But that does not make it any easier.  Sad thing is I had an idea from earlier in the Fall I wanted to talk to her about. She was the sort to always give very helpful and honest advice. But I saw she was ill, so I figured I would wait. 

Well. I guess I can't now. 

My thoughts are with her family.

Character Creation Challenge: Heather McHael for Wasted Lands

 Going to explore some more magic-inclined characters for a bit to see how they fare. Next is an interesting one, Heather McHael, a half-elf Ranger Bard. She was also the last AD&D 1st Edition character I made before the release of AD&D 2nd Edition. I wanted a bard character for a while but when I finally rolled up Heather, she had the stats needed to do it. 

I thought Heather would be something akin to an Irish girl living in Scotland. When I later redid her for Ghosts of Albion, I did precisely that. She was very religious (I was modeling her beliefs on Catholicism) so this would have made her a somewhat "alien" Catholic girl living in Presbyterian Scotland. In AD&D she was the youngest half-elf daughter to a human lord and elvish mother. The lord already had four human sons who were all older than she was. None were happy with their father's new wife.

Personality-wise, I wanted to explore a character who was an alien in her own world and was searching for her "true people." Along the way, she joined up with some of my other characters at the time. I decided then that she and Larina were best friends despite (or really because of) their differences.

Interestingly enough, Heather was the cause of death of my first Larina. Heather had become a vampire (long story) and Larina attempted to save her. The only way do this though was for Larina to bind them both magically to the ground and wait for sunrise. This was during my D&D sabbatical between AD&D 2nd Ed and 3rd Ed and I was killing off old characters left and right. While Larina would later be reincarnated, I never got around to doing this for Heather. I tried her out in both 3e and 4e, but nothing I ever cared for. I gave her a run in Ghosts of Albion and rather liked that one. Let's see what Wasted Lands can do for me.

Heather is primarily a Ranger with some Bard levels to boot. Because this is an AD&D 1st Ed Bard she had some levels of thief as well. She dabbled in magic but still had a good amount. To that end the Sage is a good fit for her. I am going to just start with 4 levels of Sage, but in truth 8 or more might be better.

Heather McHael

Class: Archer / Sage
Level: 9/4
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Light 
Background: Barbarian

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

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

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +4 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base), +3
Saves: +7 to Agility Saves, +2 to Spells (Elf), +1 to Persona

Archer Abilities
Improved Defense, Master Archer, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attack, Improved Range Damage, Eagle Eye, Incapictating Shot, Multi Attack x3, Careful Aim, Trick Shot

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sage Abilities
Languages, Lore, Suggestion, Mesmerize Others, Renegade skills at level 2

Sage Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Glamour
Second Level: Invisibility

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: ESP
2nd Level: 
3rd Level: 
4th Level: 
5th Level: 
6th Level:  
7th Level: 
8th Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter

Gear
Longbow, shortsword, leather armor, 

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

So. I like this version, the best one out of the 3e and 4e ones, to be sure. Maybe even more than her Ghosts of Albion version. Her magic ability is a lot less here. I could tweak the character, say, reduce Archer a bit and more Sage. In any case more Sage is good.  Especially if I think of Sage = Bard.

I thought about adding in some more magic using the Heroic Touchstones, but I wanted to go light on those this time.  I will say this: the customization options given to me by Wasted Lands and NIGHT SHIFT continue to impress me. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Raven Ebonflame for Wasted Lands

While I am done with the various versions of Johan Werper, I am still working on his family. Today, the girl that Johan Werper III fell in love with and their adventures in "Ravenloft."

Bit of a background first. The period between 1986 and 1989 or so was a transition period for me and for my games. I was leaving High School and headed to University so I wanted to wrap up a lot of different loose ends in my game world. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to merge my world with my DM's world in what would become our Proto-Mystoerth. This was also a time I wanted to do a new world, one that was more horror-focused. Eventually, I would find this with the AD&D Ravenloft campaign setting, but for the time before that we were just calling it "ShadowEarth."  This is where Johan III would end up.

Part of the problem was the girl he was in love with. A girl known as Raven.

Now I will be truthful here, my Raven (full name Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame) began as little more than a copy of the infamous Richard Kirk's "Raven Swordmistress of Chaos," a book I had seen but had never read (yet). So my mind was already primed for this character idea.

Back in 1986, my DM Michael Grenda wrote up a new class he was calling "The Riddle Master," which was essentially a Psychic-powered class that looked like a combination of a fighter and wizard. They were more than that, but that is the overall gist. It was an experiment in class creation. This was the same time I was making my first witch class. While I had made one Riddlemaster already, I wanted another one. Someone that fought undead (sorta my thing then) and in particular, vampires (very much my thing then). Combine all of these together, and 1987 Raven Ebonflame was born.  She was the daughter of my assassin character and, what I said then, an angel. Though he did not know the woman he was with was an angel. Raven then was a supernaturally strong girl with blond hair, who's task was to destroy vampires.

Look. I am not going to sit here and tell you I invented the idea of the Vampire Slayer. 

I am going to sit here and tell you the idea was not as original as some Vampire Slayer creators might want you to believe. Hey, maybe if my father and grandfather had been big-name Hollywood writers, I could make this claim. Plus, I also know at least two other creatives who did similar things and, in one case, had published their work before the Buffy movie and series.

So Raven was a slayer hmm hunter of vampires. I used the Riddle Master class for her as a test bed for what would later become the Shadow Master class. NOTE: Don't expect to see the Riddle Master, Shadow Master, or Beast Master classes anytime soon. They were grossly overpowered even if the XP per Level were excessive. 

Fast forward to the early 2000s. I would revisit my Raven using the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. She would even be a part of my Buffy "Season" The Dragon and the Phoenix. 

I did a version of the Richard Kirk Raven (her "Godmother") for Wasted Lands last year, I figure I should do my Raven now.  There is no Riddle Master analog in the Wasted Lands, so what is she? I thought maybe I could build her out XP for abilities like I did her namesake. It would be fitting given how the Riddle Master class came to be. But the more I thought about it the more I kept coming back to the same conclusion.

Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame is a Chosen One from NIGHT SHIFT.

Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame

Class: Chosen One (NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 8
Species: Human*
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

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

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base), +3
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Chosen One Abilities
Brutal Warrior, Melle Combat, Stunning Blow, Killing Blow, Supernatural Attack, Difficult to Surprise, Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Survivor Skills (Level 2), Mental Resistance, Regeneration

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense Evil
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword
3rd Level: 
4th Level: Smite
5th Level: 
6th Level:  Great Smite
7th Level: 
8th Level: Destroy Undead
9th Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, leather armor, vampire hunting kit

Wasted Lands as D&D and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ok. THIS is Raven. At least this is the Raven I imagined she was when I made the character so long ago. Wasted Lands + NIGHT SHIFT gives my the perfect combination of Fantasy plus Horror that I really enjoy in my games.  Here stats are high because her mother was a freaking angel after all. 

Of course, now I am a little sad I don't get to share this one with Grenda. He would have loved it. In fact I can hear him now saying "Oh shit! That IS her!"

I am going to have to go through my various folders of characters and see who else I have in this Dark Fantasy Horror theme and see if they are as equally improved by this conversion. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper VI for Wasted Lands

 Today I give you the last of the Johan Werpers and my "current" one. This is a D&D 5th Edition character and one I have been using as a DMPC for my Come Endless Darkness campaign with the Order of the Platinum Dragon.  This one also brings me full circle since last year at this time I was talking bout how to move away from D&D 5 and more into other RPGs.

Johan VI is the son of Johan V.  He is largely the same as his father since I abandoned my 4e plans and moved them all over to 5e (with a brief stop as a 1st Edition character the summer before 5e was out). He is also a Paladin/Cleric, though less of a cleric and again for the Cleric's abilities as an occult scholar.  Johan VI made a study of demons in his life, which is good since he is the Johan that I am now taking through the GDQ modules. 

The trouble with converting the Johans is that original system aside they are largely the same with minor tweaks here and there. I mean, that is what I want, much like how I use Larina in other games as well. The difference is one set is a line of father-son and the other is multiple universe "Variants," which is the current en vogue term, we used to use "Cats."

This Johan was able to recover the legendary sword, Demonbane.

Since I wanted to focus this character completely within the Wasted Lands rules, I am sticking with the Warrior and Sage character classes.

This is also the same Johan, more or less, I am playing in Baldur's Gate 3.

Johan Werper VI

Class: Warrior / Sage
Level: 12/4
Species: Human
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 20 (+4) N
Persona: 20 (+4) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 114 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +6 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +6 (base)
Saves: +4 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (x4), Extra Damage

Spells (Sage)
First: Bless, Restore Vitality
Second: Lesser Renewal

Renegade Skills: Level 2

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense Evil
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword
3rd Level: Turn Undead
4th Level: Zone of Protection vs Evil
5th Level: 
6th Level:  Smite
7th Level: 
8th Level: 
9th Level: Great Smite
10th Level:  
11th Level: Destroy Undead
12th Level:
13th Level: Spell: Ball of Sunshine
14th Level: 
15th Level:
16th Level

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 5th Ed

Like new D&D since 3.0, 5e introduced a new skill system. Wasted Lands has skills, but takes an old-school approach to using them. Also like 3.x and 4e, the Heroic Touchstones are great ways to fill in some the powers characters have and feats.

This one feels right. I would use the this character. After doing all six I think my preferred mix is Wasted Lands Warrior with NIGHT SHIFT Theosophist.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper V for Wasted Lands

 Moving into very interesting territory now, Dungeons & Dragons 4e.  My 4e days were not long-lived. I liked the game, but I never got much chance to play 4e, though I did rather enjoy it in principle. There were some really neat ideas and I liked a lot of the design elements. Thankfully, emulating the best parts of 4e while keeping the best parts of old-school D&D can be done here.

Johan V was one of a set of twins along with sister Celene. They were the children of Johan IV and his wife Reychel, aka "Rey." (yes that is how I wanted to spell it.)  Rey has a very convoluted history in my D&D 3.x games (3.5) and was a fun character to play. I might detail her later if I have the time.  

This Johan was also a Paladin, while his sister was the Cleric. Gave me the chance to try out both. To be honest, I was pretty happy with the 4e Paladin. Lots of fun things to do. I wish I had gotten to play him longer. Like his father, he was searching for the sword Demonbane, and like his father, he was unsuccessful.

Johan Werper V

Class: Warrior
Level: 5
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

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

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 37
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

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

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Extra Attacks

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
2nd Level: +1 to saves 
3rd Level: Favored Enemy Undead
5th Level: Smite

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 4th Ed

If you want to give Wasted Lands a more "4e feel" you get really liberal with the Heroic Touchstones. I hate to reduce the differences to just that, but it does work. This is also why Johan V is also just a warrior so I could compare him to Johan III who was also a warrior. V already feels like he is more powerful than his great-uncle Johan III.

This will be even more useful when we get more Heroic Touchstones with Thirteen Parsecs. 

What does this mean for games? You can set the "power level" from gritty dungeon or hex crawl to super-powered heroics as you all see fit.  This is not even taking into consideration the levels built into the system itself.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper IV for Wasted Lands

 When D&D 3.0 hit the game stores in 2000, I was ready for it. I had been away from D&D for a number of years and was really wanting to get back into it. So, D&D 3.0 was the right game for me at the right time. In truth, there is a lot I still love about D&D 3.x, and there were some significant advances made in terms of game design and lore. So, of course, I had to make a new Johan and try out the new Paladin class.

Johan IV is the son of Celene, not Johan III, for a lot of in-game reasons that don't really matter here now. At this point, Celene is much older and retired. Johan IV has begun a quest to recover the sword Demonbane. He didn't find it, but that is another tale for another character.

For this version of Johan, I am opting to try out the Divine Warrior from the Night Companion for NIGHT SHIFT.  Thematically the Divine Warrior doesn't work with the Wasted Lands, everyone has a bit of the divine in them. But mechanically, it works great. Plus this isn't a pure Wasted Lands game, this is "O.G.R.E.S. D&D using the Wasted Lands rules."  

This version of Johan works quite well and helps differentiate him from his forefathers. In my games at this point I was playing around with the ideas of characters marked by the gods. Forgotten Realms has their "Chosen" and I had been working a lot on the Buffy RPG at this point (more on that later) so I liked the idea. Johan IV is not the chosen one (and thus I did not use that class) but he is special. In my Game he was called "The Fist of Pelor" a title for various paladins. My son had a character in 5e who is the "Fist of Bahamut." In this case the Divine Warrior class fits well.

Johan Werper IV

Class: Divine Warrior
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 12 (0) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 19 (+3) A
Persona: 18 (+3) N

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

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +7 (base), +3 (STR), +1 Divine Touchstones
Ranged Bonus: +7 (base)
Saves: +7 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (20d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil, Turn Undead (level 15), Spot Hidden (1-3 on d4).

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
2nd Level: Cure Light Wounds Spell
3rd Level: Zone of Protection vs Evil
4th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword
5th Level: 
6th Level: Zone of Protection vs. Undead
7th Level: 
8th Level: Paralyze Undead
9th Level: Restore Life
10th Level: Extra Attack
11th Level: Destroy Undead
12th Level:
13th Level: 
14th Level: Spell: Ball of Sunshine

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 3rd Ed

D&D 3.0 introduced a new skill system and the idea of feats to the game. Wasted Lands has skill, but takes an old-school approach to using them. Feats though have a good roleplaying (but not mechanical) analog in the Heroic Touchstones.  The Divine/Heroic Touchstones, though do tend to be more powerful than feats.

Speaking of which. The "Divine Touchstones" of Wasted Lands are being used in NIGHT SHIFT and the upcoming Thirteen Parsecs as "Heroic Touchstones." If I can, I might share some of those ideas here later on.

Unless crunching numbers for skills is your thing, I found that Wasted Lands/O.G.R.E.S. is a superior D&D feel than D&D 3.x. Character creation for a 20th-level paladin is also far simpler. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Celene Werper for Wasted Lands

 You have followed the exploits of the Werper family, so you might be asking who this is. Celene Werper was/is a very interesting character for me. During play, Johan III got trapped in Ravenloft. Celene was his little sister. She was adopted by the group to come along in their search for Johann III (they did not know he was in Ravenloft). Celene was my first AD&D 2nd Edition character. She was also a test character for a number of things I was trying out.  She was one of my tests for a Healer Class, this time as a Priest of specific mythoi. She was also a pacifist, so I also tried to have her do non-lethal damage whenever I could. She was a healer, an exorcist of sorts later on, and to top everything off, I made her afraid of the dark. So she always had a light source on her, and yes, my DM rolled for extra wandering monsters.  But it was part of who she was.

From very, very humble beginnings game-wise, she would become a very important character. So important that the line of the Wepers now goes through her and not her brother. 

Celene Werper

Class: Necromancer (Light)
Level: 10
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+1)
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 14 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 76 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) +1
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +5 to Persona, +2 to Intelligence (Scholar background).

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead x4, Summon the Dead, Vampiric Augmentation*, Suggestion x3, Command, Vampiric Touch*, Beguile Spirit, Call the Reaper.

Heroic Touchstones

1st Level: Cure Light Wounds
2nd Level: Light
3rd Level: Eternal Flame
4th Level: Conjure Flame 
5th Level: Cure Disease

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 2nd Ed

AD&D Second Edition introduced some power creep in terms of some of the classes and kits. For that reason I am adding more DivineHeroic Touchstones. Also, I wanted to replicate her healer abilities a bit more. This also begs the question, Why isn't she a Theosophist?  In truth I wanted to try her out as a Light Necromancer. Some one who naturally sees dead people and spirits and wants to help move them on. Her "vampiric" powers work in reverse; she saps her own life strength to heal others. Much like the Star Trek Original Series episode, The Empath.

In AD&D, we did this with our Spell Points system. But in truth it was way overpowered. I would not come up with a good "spell point" system until Ghosts of Albion came along. Wasted Lands already does a much better job of this, but these powers give her a neat set of role-playing hooks as well. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper III for Wasted Lands

 Moving ahead to the magical year of 1986 a few things were going on in my games. For starters, I was fully converted over to AD&D 1st ed. I was playing rather regularly with my High School DM, Michael Grenda, and we were looking to merge our worlds to be something more cohesive. To this end we thought we needed a "New Generation" of characters. This was the generation into which Larina was born, but today is not her story. 

Today I am going to talk about Johan Werper III. This Johan was the son of Johan II and grandson of Johan I. But this Johan was not a Cleric or a Paladin. He was one of the new Cavaliers from the new Unearthed Arcana. 

I wanted this Johan to be a bit different, he was the son of a King, not something I had done before. Johan II was the son of a cleric, and Johan I was the son of a fisherman. So I wanted him to be a bit arrogant, and he didn't have the frame of mind to be a holy warrior. He eventually became something else, a key figure in my giant "War of the Dragons" to end my high school games, and start my college ones.

For this build I want to stick to a rather solid Warrior build. That was his thing. He was a "Knight in Shinning Armor" but not necessarily "nice." His alignment was Lawful Neutral as opposed to the more common (for me) Lawful Good.

Johan Werper III

Class: Warrior
Level: 9
Species: Human
Alignment: Light (fits here)
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 16 (0) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) N
Intelligence: 17 (+2) 
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 87 (9d8+1d10)
Degeneracy: 1
Corruption: 1

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +7 (base) +1 Divine Touchstones
Ranged Bonus: +7 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background), +1 Divine Touchstones

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (3), Extra Damage

Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
3rd Level: +1 to saves 
5th Level: Smite
7th Level: Favored Enemy Undead
9th Level: Blind Fighting

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: War

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

Like previously, the conversion between AD&D and Wasted Lands is rather easy thanks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.). While the Wasted Lands Warrior covers a lot of what would have been AD&D Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Barbarians, and Cavaliers. To split them up there are skills, powers, multiclassing and divine touchstones. All to make for some very unique characters.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper II for Wasted Lands

 While I had other Basic (B/X) era D&D characters I could discuss (and still will), I want to skip ahead a bit and talk about another character in Johan's family tree, his son, Johan Weper II.

Johan II was the son of Johan and another character of mine Luna Mondgott, a cleric "of the old ways" who converted over to still rather unspecified faith of Johan I. She was a prototype witch for me.

Johan II differs from Johan I in that he was a Paladin and my very first Paladin to be truthful. I always imagined he had some clerical training first before moving on to Paladin, thus the dual-classed Cleric/Paladin.  I would revisit this later on in D&D 3.x.

While I have a LOT of options here, I am going for something fairly straightforward. Johan II is a warrior with some clerical, or in this case, Theosophist training. I'll use some divine touchstones to help smooth out his paladin powers.  Since this is the first "Advanced" conversion, I'll also make use of the optional backgrounds in the Wasted Lands.

Johan Werper II

Class: Warrior (from Wasted Lands) / Theosophist (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 8/4
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 11 (0) 
Toughness: 17 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 18 (+3) N
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 66 (8d8, 4d6, +1d10)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

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

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (3), Extra Damage

Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Bless, Cure Light Wounds
3rd Level: Cure Disease

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

Like previously, the conversion between AD&D and Wasted Lands is rather easy thankks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.). Play style is also quite similar. Given when I was playing Johan (High School) my Roman-Norse Pantheon would be a perfect choice with the Werpers all paying homage to Unser Vater and Luna Werper originally worshiping Ôstara. 

This Johan was the one who first fought Strahd von Zarovich back in 1986. So I would want to play up his general attitude vs. Undead over what is written for the Warrior class. The rest of playing a Paladin is largely going to be one of role-playing and me sticking to a prescribed set of ideals I think a Paladin, an AD&D Paladin, should follow. 

Looking at the Goldenrod character sheet, I see Johan will be 40 years old at the end of this month. He was, for the longest time, my central character. At the end of my high school games, he became a King and started a dynasty that I still use to this very day. I think I could be quite happy with this version.

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

2024 The Enchanted World

 2024 is not just the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, it is the 40th Anniversary of the Time-Life series The Enchanted World.  A series that really owes its own existence to D&D and the rise of Fantasy in the 1980s.

I spent a few years acquiring a full set of these wonderful books, and I will spend the year covering them. I am not going to go in order because really, there is no order required to read them. I will likely choose relevant ones for the day or week I post them (Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas).

Here are all the books I am covering. This is the publication order. 

• Wizards and Witches (1984, ISBN 0809452049, 0809452057)  
• Dragons (1984, ISBN 0809452081, 080945209X)  
• Fairies and Elves (1984, ISBN 080945212X, 0809452138) 
• Ghosts (1984, ISBN 0809452162, 0809452170)  
• Legends of Valor (1984, ISBN 0809452200, 0809452219)  
• Night Creatures (1985, ISBN 0809452332, 0809452340)
• Water Spirits (1985, ISBN 0809452456, 0809452464)
• Magical Beasts (1985, ISBN 0809452294, 0809452308)
• Dwarfs (1985, ISBN 0809452243, 0809452251) 
• Spells and Bindings (1985, ISBN 0809452413, 0809452421)
• Giants and Ogres (1985, ISBN 0809452375, 0809452383)
• Seekers and Saviors (1986, ISBN 0809452499, 0809452502)
• Fabled Lands (1986, ISBN 0809452537, 0809452545)
• Book of Christmas (1986, ISBN 0809452618, 0809452626)
• Fall of Camelot (1986, ISBN 080945257X, 0809452588)
• Magical Justice (1986, ISBN 0809452693, 0809452707)
• Lore of Love (1987, ISBN 0809452812, 0809452820)
• The Book of Beginnings (1986, ISBN 0809452650, 0809452669)
• Tales of Terror (1987, ISBN 0809452774, 0809452782)
• The Secret Arts (1987, ISBN 0809452855, 0809452863)
• Gods and Goddesses (1987, ISBN 0809452731, 080945274X)

I will talk about the books, some of their background, and the stories they have. I'll also talk about how to use these in your Fantasy RPG games, whether that game is D&D, Castles & Crusades, Chivalry & Sorcery, or Wasted Lands.

So, just like 1984, here are some ads to get you excited for these books!

A lot of us remember these best from the ads in Dragon Magazine.

And the TV ads!

Litney Burns, the clairvoyant from ads is still around!

There were also some great TV spots with horror icon Vincent Price.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFQ4Hz8GiiU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmgMOXSap50 

Really looking forward to this series. Hope you are too.

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper I for Wasted Lands

 Today I want to go back in time. All the way back to the dawn of Dungeons & Dragons...well at least my dawn. One of the first (if not the first) characters I ever made for D&D was a cleric named Johan. I wanted a sage, someone who knew a lot about things, I also wanted a Van Helsing-like character. A cleric dedicated to destroying undead, and vampires in particular. 

I have talked about Johan a lot in the past and his connection to Darlessa, the Vampire Queen. 

Johan the First was a quintessential Basic D&D character for me. He was a great character to be honest, exploring the Keep on the Borderlands, the Isle of Dread, and more. We walked the streets of Glantri together and fought horrible undead. 

In the Wasted Lands, he would be more of a Sage and Theosophist. These are, as it turns out, NIGHT SHIFT classes. But these are NIGHT SHIFT classes, not Wasted Lands ones. But one of the best features of the O.G.R.E.S. games is they are completely interchangeable. So swapping out the classes is easy.

Basic, B/X, D&D is an easier if even simpler game to play and run, so Wasted Lands can handle this well. The concepts central to D&D are at its core design. 

Johan Werper I

Class: Theosophist/Sage (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 5/3
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Scholarly

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2) 
Agility: 15 (+1) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 18 (+3) 
Persona: 15 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 66 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

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

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

Sage Abilities
Languages (16), Lore, Mesmerize Others, Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Spells
1st Level: Bless, Cure Light Wounds

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Mace, Armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D B/X

Thanks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.) the conversion between D&D B/X and Wasted Lands is rather easy. Play style is also quite similar. For this "new" campaign I would drop a lot of the campaign setting from the Wasted Lands. The setting is great, but I need some gods for my games. I guess this would be a great place to bring in my Roman-Norse Pantheon.  

To emulate this sort of D&D experience, I would likely not use a lot of Divine Touchstones. Granted, stripped of the setting the divine touchstones are not as central either, but mechanically they still have their use. I might later use some to help work out the differences between the spells of a D&D Cleric and O.G.R.E.S. Theosophist. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Larina Nix for Wasted Lands

 To start out my 2024 Character Creation Challenge with a character near and dear to me. So near and and dear that I have already stated her up for both the Wasted Lands and NIGHT SHIFT. 

The Witch from NIGHT SHIFT and the Sorceress from the Wasted Lands are very nearly the same class, so both work well here. They are also both designed with my witches in mind. So this class is by design perfect for her in a D&D like game.

Larina Nix

Class: Witch (Sorceress - Persona Aspect)
Level: 16 
XP: 2,741,986
Species: Human
Alignment: Neutral-Light
Background: Sage

Abilities
Strength: 9 (+0) 
Agility: 11 (+0) 
Toughness: 12 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: 7
Vitality: 33 (d4)
Degeneracy: 14
Corruption: 3

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +6 vs magical effect

Arcane Abilities
Arcana, Spellcasting (140% base + bonus)

Sage Abilities

Languages (17), Lore (37%), Mesmerize Others (20%), Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Renegade Skills

Hide in Shadows: 20%
Open Locks: 15%
Bypass Traps: 10%
Sleight of Hand: 20%

Spells
1st Level: Black Flames, Arcane Darts, Mystical Senses, Night Vision, Chill Ray, Read Languages (Sage)
2nd Level: Beguile Person, See Invisible, Locator Spell: Objects, Magic Lock, Levitate
3rd Level: Clairvoyance, Globe of Darkness, Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning
4th Level: All-seeing Invisible Eye, Befuddlement, Protection against the Deeper Dark, Hop and Skip
5th Level: Convert Stone to Mud, Passageway, Shadow Armor, Dominate Other
6th Level: Dispel Evil, Invisible Servant, Enchant Item
7th Level: Ball of Sunshine, Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance
8th Level: Animosity/Affinity, Wail of the Banshee

Arcane Powers
Level 1: Telekinesis 
Level 4: Beguile 
Level 7: Empathy
Level 10: Precognition
Level 13: Psychic Power: ESP
Level 16: Shadow Walking

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Sense Magic
Level 2: 
Level 3: Bonus to Spellcasting (+10%)
Level 4: 
Level 5: 
Level 6: Level 1 of Sage
Level 7: 
Level 8: 
Level 9: Spirit Guide (Nightbird) 
Level 10: 
Level 11: Glamour
Level 12: 
Level 13: Magical Recovery
Level 14: Level 2 of Sage
Level 15: 
Level 16: 2 Level Ones: Arcane Power: Astral Projection. Psychic Power: Bio-feedback

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Witchcraft, Occultism

Gear
Staff, dagger, ring of protection

Wasted Lands as D&D

I have used Larina in various forms of D&D, so using her in a Wasted Lands as a D&D game is largely a matter of role-playing options. The Night Shift version is closest to say, classic style D&D, and Wasted Lands adds a few more options, mostly due to the Divine Touchstones.  Those will be the key to all sorts of great customizations. 

She is an easy sell for me since by design she is a flexible character. The others will be my true tests.

You can get your copies of the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG.

TARDIS Captain's 31 Day Character Creation Challenge 2024

 Tomorrow is New Year's Day and the start of 2024!

I am also participating in TARDIS Captain's 31 Day Character Creation Challenge. This is always a lot of fun.

This year, my theme is "Wasted Lands as my Dungeons & Dragons Replacement."

And to put my money where my mouth is, I am going to make Wasted Lands versions of 31 of my past D&D characters from the last 45 years. Now I understand that most people will have no interest at all in *my* characters. So this will be less about how to convert that character on a one-to-one basis and more about how to get the proper feel for the character, and the particular version of Dungeons & Dragons being used.

I am also going to bring in bits from NIGHT SHIFT to show how flexible O.G.R.E.S. is and talk about Thirteen Parsecs a bit too.

But the real goal here is to show how you can have fun with a great fantasy RPG and support the small publishers out there at the same time. 

Yes, yes. D&D is a fine game. We would not be here 50 years later if it wasn't. But there are also other great, games that offer the D&D "experience" and none of the D&D overhead.

Join me all month long!

Buy Wasted Lands & NIGHT SHIFT

• Wasted Lands Print, Complete
• Wasted Lands PDF
• NIGHT SHIFT, Print
• NIGHT SHIFT, PDF

Don't forget, Thirteen Parsecs is coming soon!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 31

 The center open leads to a long tunnel going down. At the end of this tunnel is an alcove. Stepping into the alcove activates the portal. The portal leads back to the surface.

Through the portal, the surface world can be seen.

The portal is one way, once through the characters can not go back.

--

That's it! 12 levels, 365 rooms. Undead, goblins, spaceships, and more. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 30

 The room on the right-hand side is of a similar configuration to the library. This one has all the Queen's treasures.

This room is large and contains a lot of treasure.

The following can be found here: A x3, B x4, E x3, G, x4, H x3, I x2, M x2, N x5, and O x5.

Additionally, there are magic arms and armor here:

• Nightbane, +2 Sword, +3 against werewolves, vampires, and witches. Stored here to keep it away from the Queen herself.
• Mace of St. Werper, +3, +4 vs undead. An item of conquest taken from Father Werper himself. 
• Armor of Shadows, this black leather armor casts both Mage Armor and Intangible Cloak of Shadows. The Queen doesn't wear this armor due her other protection magics.
• Helm of Telepathy
• Helm of Darkness. As a Helm of Brilliance, but only darkness.
• Cauldron of potions
• Amulet of Protection
• 5x Bags of holding

There are no traps here. The Queen honestly did not expect anyone to get this far.

Friday Night Videos: Songs of Thirteen Parsecs

Nothing puts me in the mood for working on a campaign or writing new material quite like a good playlist.

So while we are working on Thirteen Parsecs, Jason has put together a new sci-fi themed playlist for your enjoyment.

Don't forget to sign up to learn more about this project.

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Enjoy!

Kickstart your Future! Thirteen Parsecs

It's the end of the week, the end of the month and the end of the year. So lets look to the future!

Thirteen Parsecs

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Thirteen Parsecs: Adventures Beyond the Solar Frontier is the latest tabletop role-playing game project from Elf Lair Games, producers of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars and Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. It forms the third of our trilogy of core games - we've given you modern and fantasy, and now we bring sci-fi to the forefront with the same rules, completely customizable and ready for you to build exactly the type of science fiction gaming you want. As always, it's your game your way when it's Powered by O.G.R.E.S.!

I am so excited for this.  I have been dying to work on a solid sci-fi game since forever.

What is Thirteen Parsecs?

Like our other games, NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands, Thirteen Parsecs is an O.G.R.E.S.-powered game. So if you have played a classic RPG then you know how to play this one already.

Also like NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs will be a "toolbox game."  We are going to give you the basic rules and structure for all sorts of Science Fiction style role-playing. So whether you want to play heroic characters in an epic space opera, explore strange new world with a group of explorers, battle alien threats, deal with a post-apocalyptic hellscape, or tackle humankind's first leap to the stars, then this game is for you.

BUT that is not all. Like NIGHT SHIFT we will encourage you to make your own worlds and setting to make it the sci-fi game YOU want. 

I have been talking for years, decades even, on how there has not been a sci-fi game that connects with me. Thirteen Parsecs will change that for me. Here are the worlds I am planning to bring you as my contribution in one form or another.

Space Truckers

This one began as a bit of joke and I have tried in different systems. It is "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "Blake's 7" with a dash of "Red Dwarf" and "Quark."  It is supposed to be silly fun about the lives of long-haul "truckers" on the edge of the Solar Frontier. The Colonies need their light beer too. I am planning on designing this to work with any of the other settings we have.

Dark Star (formerly BlackStar)

I have talked about this one a lot, my "Star Trek meets Cthulhu." The deal here is that Jason also has one he wants to do and so does our other member Derek. So it is very likely they will all get combined somehow into something new and better.  The basic idea here is "In Space, the stars are always right."

Völlig Losgelöst

My love letter to 80s sci-fi horror. This one might appear later due to space (heh) issues. If you enjoyed movies like "Lifeforce," "Galaxy of Terror," and "Xtro" then you will find a lot to love here. This one is explicitly a NIGHT SHIFT/Thirteen Parsecs crossover game, so I might wait until after the core rules are published. Essentially I want to create the future as we saw it from the mid-1980s. 

I have more ideas and these are only mine. Jason and Derek have a ton as well. 

So please sign up and watch for more details!

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Want to know more? Just ask!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 29

 This crypt has three openings opposite the entrance: straight ahead, to the right, and near left.

The opening to the left leads to the Queen's vast occult library.

This room is filled with scrolls, books, and other volumes of learning.

Spending a week here would allow a character to gain a level of experience. These books can be taken, but the entire collection of these books (225 total) must be accounted for. 

In addition, there are several spellbooks.

There are 6d12 1st level spells, 5d20 2nd level spells, 4d12 3rd level spells, 4d10 4th level spells, 5d8 5th level spells, 6d6 6th level spells, and 4d4 7th level spells.

There are also several thousand books on a variety of topics. The total value of this library is worth at least 1,000,000 gp.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 28

The large double door to the the next room is triple locks (needing three separate rolls to open) and each lock is trapped with a fatal poison. Getting past these will take an expert thief. 

This large circular room is the goal of your quest. This is the crypt of Darlessa, the Vampire Queen.

Her sarcophagus is located in the middle of this room. A combined strength of 35 is needed to lift of the stone lid. Once open the PCs will have one round to attack her before she is revived. They have +2 on their initiative rolls.

The Vampire Queen is dead but far from helpless. She is shocked you made it this far, but she is prepared all the same. 

Darlessa, The Queen of Vampires

Female Vampire Witch, Demonic Tradition
No. Enc.: 1 (Unique)
Alignment: Chaotic (evil)
Movement: 120’ (40’)
   Fly: 180’ (60’)
Armor Class: -5 (bracers of defense, amulet of protection, ring of protection)
Hit Dice: 13
Attacks: 1 (touch, see below) or spell
Damage: 1d10, drain 2 points of Constitution, Witch Spells
Save: W13
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XXII
XP: 11,400

Str: 18 Int: 15 Wis: 14 Dex: 18 Con: (18) Cha: 22

In addition to the powers of a vampire, Darlessa has the following witch spells and Occult Powers.  She casts spells as a 13th-level witch.

Spells by Level
Cantrip (3+5): Alarm Ward, Black Flame, Daze, Knot, Mend, Mote of Light, Object Reading, Spark
1^st (4+3): Burning Hands, Cause Fear, Everlasting Candle, Hecate's Spiritual Dog, Minor Curse, Read Languages
2^nd (4+3): Agony, Bewitch II, Burning Gaze, Enthrall, Ghost Touch, Produce Flame, Rite of Remote Seeing
3^rd (3+2): Astral Sense, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Danse Macabre, Toad Mind, Tongues
4^th (3+2): Arcane Eye, Bewitch IV, Elemental Armor, Moonlit Way, Phantom Lacerations
5^th (2): Death Curse, Greater Command
6^th (2): Death Blade
7^th (1): Wave of Mutilation

Occult Powers
Familiar (Undead Raven)
Evil’s Touch
Devil’s Tongue

Magic Items
Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Amulet of Protection* (also prevents cleric turning), bracers of defense, ring of protection, ring spell storing (3 stored Magic Missile spells).

Her coffin can be destroyed after she is dead. There is a spare coffin underneath this one. Even if her body is burned, she can come back due to the dark necromancies she has practiced for centuries. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 27

 This appears to be a long hallway with mirrors on both sides. Light from torches that ignite as you enter scatters in all directions.

The mirrors are in fact portals from the astral plane. There are 16 in total. As the PCs walk past an Astral Ghoul is released. 

Astral Ghoul

Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 8+16* (52 hp)
Attacks: 2 × claw (1d4 x2 + paralysis), 1 × bite (1d8 + paralysis)
THAC0: 12 [+7]
Movement: 90’ (30’) fly 90' (30')
Saving Throws: D8 W93 P10 B11 S12 (2)
Morale: 12
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 650
Number Appearing: 1
Treasure Type None

These creatures look like ghouls but are partially in substantial. They have the same paralyzing touch of all ghouls.

I dreamed about these guys last night.