Maahes the Tainted Bast for the WitchCraft RPG

Maahes the Tainted Bast

When a Bast spirit is exposed to large amounts of taint they become Maahes. Their namesake was an outsider God absorbed into the Egyptian New Kingdom pantheon. Maahes had a lions head and was later interpreted to be the son of the Goddess Bast and the God Ptah. He was a god of war and called The Bringer of Destruction.

Maahes is considered to be in Bast (the race) mythology to be the first bringer of Taint to the Bast. Whether Maahes was a willing or unwilling carrier of taint is unknown and lost to time.

When a Bast spirit is exposed to Taint it is compelled to enter a body (if not already in a cat body). Sometimes they discover a human, living or dead, and use it for their purposes. Whatever body the tainted Bast enters they become anchored to it forever. The new creature is called a Maahes (singular and plural forms are the same). Regardless of the source of the body or its nature it transforms due to the taint. The Maahes is effectively immortal since it can regenerate loss of life points at the rate of CON per hour. They no longer age and even disease and poisons are no longer effective. Only attacks of a magical nature or ones that drain Essence or Taint have any effect. To destroy a Maahes one must reduce its Essence or Taint to zero.

The appearance of a Maahes differs wildly. Former High Bast Maahes are often stuck between human and Bast forms, usually a human body with a cats head or sometimes cats paws and claws. High and Low Bast Maahes can also appear to be as sickly, even feral, cats. Sometimes it is even difficult to tell what sort of creature the Maahes original was, all that is evident in its twisted form is some reminder of catlike traits. In all cases and whatever the form they carry about them the same aura of corruption that tainted humans and spirits do. Of course to the Bast they are even more repugnant.

Bast relate to Maahes the same way that humans deal with other tainted humans; extreme revulsion and avoidance. What horrifies Bast the most about the Maahes is not just the taint, but the fact that Maahes can no longer reincarnate. The taint that twists their bodies also twist their spirits and minds. Even their telepathic speech is distorted to other Bast.

Maahes can have Gifted or Taint powers as do humans. Some can even develop disciplines of the flesh as do Mockers, but nothing can change their forms back to pure cat.
There are no Maahes known amongst the Mockers.

Maahes

Strength: 2-5             Intelligence: 3-6
Dexterity: 4-7            Perception: 2-6
Constitution: 4-6        Willpower: 4-7

Life Points: 40-60
Essence Pool: 30-50        Taint: 60-100
                                       Madness: 3-5

Skills: any appropriate for Bast
Powers: Immortality, Increased Life Points, Increased Taint Pool, Regeneration, Taint, Taint Powers,

Maahes have a host of mental derangements. Cruelty is high on list given their cat-natures, but because this is taint with no logic based in our universe there are as many recorded passive Maahes. Eventually, long lasting Maahes have nearly sort of mental imbalance known to man, and some that are not.

Interactions with Maahes
Most covenants know very little about Maahes. While most theorize they are possible, very, very few have actually seen one. Some early reports coming from the Sentinels confused Bast and Maahes and considered them to be the same, evil, creature.
The Wicce, whom the Bast have the best relations with, are mostly in the dark over the nature and even existence of Maahes. It could be that this is by design on part of the Bast. Only the Wicce coven The Daughters of the Flame, acknowledge that they exist and even have records of their existence dating back to their earliest days as a coven (150 CE). They speculate that the Irish Ciat Sith or Cat headed demon (more properly, faerie cat) were in fact Maahes. This could also be the reason why the Daughters have had a falling out with many of the larger Bast covens.
There are rumors that the Rosicrucians have been researching and working on a means to remove the taint fully from Maahes and return them to normal Bast. As with all secrets of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, they are not too forthcoming with the information.

Maahes in Armageddon
Most Maahes flocked to Leviathan as their savoir, equating him with the snakes that the Goddess Bast was presumed to have destroyed. Of course once the disaster in Munich struck many were destroyed outright due to overexposure to taint. While not members in any standing with CoR or AoR, Maahes work to achieve Leviathans will as they perceive it.

Roleplaying Maahes
As creatures of Taint, Maahes are most often to be pitied. Removed from the world of the Bast, death is often their only, if final, solution. Only the strongest willed Maahes survive long enough to actually enter into the Casts lives, let alone be a threat. The ones that do survive represent not only a powerful enemy (only the powerful ones survive), but one that can infect with taint in addition to whatever powers and skills it had before.

Adventure Hooks
A Low Bast has become a tainted Maahes and has sought the aid of the Cast to help it return to normal. The Cast must choose whether to aid or kill the infected creature.

A former High Bast Maahes and powerful sorcerer has decided that the future evolution of the Bast species is integration with Maahes. His plan, as much of it that can make logical sense, is to kill off as many Gifted humans as he can, infect as many Bast as he can, and then with his army of Maahes, take over the world. Of course his plan is grandiose, but he is still powerful enough to do a lot of damage to the Gifted and Bast in the mean time.

October Movie Reviews: The Haunting in Connecticut

Switch of pace tonight.

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

I am not really sure what to say about this one.  Typical haunted house centered around some kid movie that was better when it was called "Poltergeist" or "Ammityville Horror".  Based on a True Story no less.
Honestly I had high hopes for this one, but fought falling asleep to it all night.  Might mine it for a Ghosts of Albion episode.  Or see if I can sell it back to Half-Priced Books tomorrow without making my wife upset (she got it for me for my birthday last year).  You all won't tell her right?

Instead of another flick tonight I watched The Haunted History of Halloween on the History Channel. Not bad, I knew 90% of it already though.  Beat. Gotta go to bed.  Guy Fawkes was scarier than the Haunting movie.

Jim Shipman (content thief) is at it again

The industry's biggest art thief and all around douche-bag Jame Shipman is trying to take his stolen wares to a smaller-yet-still niche.

Ed and Joe over at Esoteric Murmurs posted this:
http://esotericmurmurs.blogspot.com/2010/10/spam-from-tunnels-trollss-favorite.html

Basically Shipman is now using his email list as a way to sell his stolen content.
If you need some more info on who Jim Shipman is and why he is a thief then read these:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=483885
http://eposic.net/blog/archives/298
http://falckart.blogspot.com/2009/12/stolen-art.html
http://mxyzplk.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/outlaw-press-aka-jim-shipman-is-a-big-crook/
http://mxyzplk.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/outlaw-pressjim-shipman-sinks-to-demented-pathetic-new-lows-in-art-theft-scandal/
http://mxyzplk.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/outlaw-press-thieving-update/
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-from-outlaw-press.html
http://unclebear.com/2009/12/putting-the-outlaw-in-outlaw-press/
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/269217-outlaw-press-stolen-artwork-accusations.html
http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=11324399&postcount=843
http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=1998

But  most of all, read this one:
http://eposic.net/blog/archives/298

If you want to buy Tunnels & Trolls then only support the company that makes Tunnels & Trolls, Flying Buffalo:
DriveThruRPG http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=2238&affiliate_id=10748
Website: http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/

October Movie Reviews: Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires

Back to Hammer for this one in the LAST true Dracula films from the House of Hammer.

Though there is not a lot of Dracula in it and no Christopher Lee.

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974)

Dracula is visited by a Chinese monk who needs him to resurrect the Seven Golden Vampires, the most powerful vampires in China.  Dracula initially refuses, but decides he needs to get out of his castle for a bit. We learn here that Dracula can speak Chinese/Mandarin or at least understand it.  This scene featured Dracula rising from his coffin in one motion that we would later see in "Fright Night" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula".   Dracula takes over the body of the monk and heads off to China.

There Prof. Lawrence Van Helsing (unknown if it is the same Lawrence Van Helsing from Dracula AD 1972, but it is safe to assume it is) is lecturing to a Chinese university about vampires.  His son, Leyland is also there.  The other professors scoff at him, but one student takes him seriously.  He is the grandson of the man that killed one of the seven Golden Vampires and want's Van Helsing's help to kill the others.  They travel along with his son, another woman paying for everything, and the seven siblings (6 brothers and 1 sister).  Of course the Chinese siblings are all Kung-Fu masters.

There are lots of kung-fu fights which is as unexpected as it gets in a Hammer film and then there is the final confrontation with the last of the Golden Vampires and Dracula himself.

All in all a very interesting tale.  I like how even Van Helsing was stumped on the differences between West and East vampires.  He even postulates, given China's rich history of the supernatural, that the vampire my have originated there and moved west.
This is a period piece to be sure.  Not the 1804 period from the movies, but rather the mid 70's.  Kung-fu was where the money was.
It was not a great movie, and for the last Dracula film, pretty lacking in the Dracula department.  It features John Forbes-Robertson as Dracula looking exactly like he did in Hammer's "Vampire Lovers" (where he was supposed to be Dracula, sort of), but he is only seen at the beginning and end and he dies like punk.

Enjoyable as a Kung-fu movie with Vampires, but lacking as a Hammer film or a Dracula one.

Druthers for Ghosts of Albion, Witch Girls Adventures and d20

Druthers

For Ghosts of Albion, d20 (3.x) and Witch Girls Adventures.

Druthers are special sort of magical construct often associated with witches and witchcraft. Their kind has not been seen on Albion's shores in many centuries, but they were known to have existed and are referenced in many rarer occult tomes. It is believed that the secret is still known to some witches and to encounter one is a sure sign of witchcraft.

The name comes from an old piece of doggerel scribbled inside a witch's Book of Shadows

"If I really had my druthers,
I'd have my wooden druthers too."

A wooden druther is a corrupt form of "wouldn't I'd rathers", or something the witch doesn't want. So the wooden druther performs tasks that the witch would rather not do herself. The druther can understand simple command phrases of about 15 words each. Typically druthers are used for menial labor or to perform a task that the witch can not do or won't do herself, like killing or scaring an enemy. Often a witch will have a few druthers protecting her home while disguised as trees, requiring a Perception + Notice check of 3 or SL to detect.
A druther cannot communicate at all. Some witches have used woody reeds in the construction of their druthers. When the wind blows across the druther it sounds like a deep bassoon.
Druthers can appear in any form. Usually they are biped and always made of wood. The wood can be carved or a collection of sticks tied together. The appendages need to be attached separately if the druther is to move at all. They can be precisely carved to appear as anything the witch wants, but they typically look like walking bunches of sticks.
Legend has it that there was a witch that had such beautifully carved druthers that they were often mistaken for wood nymphs.

For Ghosts of Albion
Druther
Motivation: To follow orders
Creature Type: Magical Construct
Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 2, Constitution 6, Intelligence 1, Perception 1, Willpower 1
Ability Scores: Muscle 20, Combat 7, Brains 2
Life Points: 67
Drama Points: 1
Armor Value: 4
Powers: Hard to Kill 3, Immune to cold, fear, poisons, sleep, water, and any mind effecting spell, Natural Toughness, Vulnerability to fire.

Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Punch 7 14 Bash
Slam tackle 7 14 Bash
Stake 8 14 If equipped with stakes
Takedown 12 7
Dodge 7 Defence action
Grapple 9 Resisted by Dodge

Combat
A druther is mindless in combat. It instinctively strikes with its wooden fists with almost no regard to what else is going on. One thing druthers excel at is killing vampires. The druther is equipped with built in stakes in the form of fingers if the witch so chooses. The druthers biggest weakness is fire, something a vampire is not likely to use and they have no blood to drink.
Immunities: A druther is immune to cold and water. Stabing weapons only do 1 point of damage per hit. Fire damage against a druther is treated the same as against a vampire.

Some magicians value the wood from an inanimate druther to use to make magical fires.

Animating a Druther
The only know spell came from an ancient tome called the Manual of Druthers. The spell has been copied, but it is still very rare to find. Only an Occult Library of Amazing has a chance of having the spell and even then it must specialize in the tomes of Witchcraft. It is also known to be used very rarely among Shamans, but since Shamans do not write their spells down the chances of acquiring that version is even rarer still.

Construction
Witches can construct a druther if she can learn how.
The witch will need at least 200 pounds of wood, either as sticks, planks or individually carved pieces. She must gather and form these pieces herself. The witch will need her consecrated witch tools, special oils and fine incense. After creating the body for the druther, the witch will have to cast the animating spell, then sprinkle the ashes from the burned incense on the wood.

Animate Druther (Ghosts of Albion)
Quick Cast: No
Power Level: 3
Philosophy: Witchcraft, Shamanism
Requirements: The manual creation of a druthers body and an hour long ritual in which the spell components are burned and poured over the druther.
Components: Rare oils rubbed into the wood of the druther, incense to be burned. Price at least £100.
Effect: The witch must prepare the druthers body out of wood and/or sticks. This should take at least a day to gather materials and make the body. Longer times are needed for more complex druthers. The oil is then rubbed into the wood while muttering the spell. Incense is burned and the ashes are sprinkled on to the druthers body. Successful casting means the druther is animated and will respond to the witchs commands.
Spell failure results in a druther that can never be animated. The witch will need to burn the wood and start over. Spell Backfire can result in a Rogue Druther.
Creation: Alteration (+5), Casting Time (-2), Touch (-1), Permanent (+6), Unusual materials (-2), Philosophy ().

Drudges
Sometimes druthers are referred to as "Drudges", mostly due to their ability to menial work, usually around the home. While a druther may be used to do the witch's dirty work, a drudge will do the witch's dirty laundry. Adventurers have reported of a witch with intricately carved wood drudges as her household staff. A drudge butler was so well made that they could not tell it was a magical construct at all.

Rogue Druthers
The druther has a strong tie to its animating elemental force. Sometimes though, a druther will break free of the witch's control, but not of its wooden body. These druthers are known as rogues and take out their frustration the only way know, to throw themselves into any combative situation it can.
A rogue druther will enter into any situation where its goal is to get itself destroyed, preferably by fire, to free its spirit.

For d20

Druther

Medium Construct

Hit Dice: 9d10+20 (69 hp)

Initiative: -1

Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)

Armor Class: 17 (-1 Dex, +8 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 17

Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+11

Attack: Slam +11 melee (2d6+5)

Full Attack: 2 slams +11 melee (2d6+5)

Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.

Special Attacks:

Special Qualities: Construct traits, damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, immunities, fire vulnerability

Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3

Abilities: Str 20, Dex 9, Con , Int , Wis 11, Cha 3

Skills:

Feats:

Environment: Any

Organization: Solitary

Challenge Rating: 6

Treasure: None

Alignment: Always neutral

Advancement: 10-15 (Large); 15-20 (Huge)

Level Advancement: None

The druther can understand simple command phrases of about 15 words each. Typically druthers are used for menial labor or to perform a task that the witch can not do or won't do herself, like killing or scaring an enemy. Often a witch will have a few druthers protecting her home while disguised as trees, requiring a DC 25 Spot check to notice.

A druther cannot communicate at all. Some witches have used woody reeds in the construction of their druthers. When the wind blows across the druther it sounds like a deep bassoon.

Druthers can appear in any form. Usually they are biped and always made of wood. The wood can be carved or a collection of sticks tied together. The appendages need to be attached separately if the druther is to move at all. They can be precisely carved to appear as anything the witch wants, but they typically look like walking bunches of sticks.

Combat

A druther is mindless in combat. It instinctively strikes with its wooden fists with almost no regard to what else is going on.

Immunities: A druther is immune to cold and water. Piercing weapons only do 1 point of damage per hit.

Construction

Witches can construct a druther. If the witch has access to a manual of druthers, then she can create a druther from that work. Otherwise a witch may opt to create one from scratch. The witch will need at least 200 pounds of wood, either as sticks, planks or individually carved pieces. She must gather these herself. The witch will need her consecrated witch tools and fine incense. After creating the body for the druther, the witch will have to cast spells, then sprinkle the ashes from the burned incense on the wood.

CL 10th; Craft Construct, air walk, bless growth, feral spirit, lesser strengthening rite, minor creation, caster must be at least 10th level; Price 3,600 gp; Cost 2,000 gp + 1,000 XP.

Legend has it that there was a witch that had such beautifully carved druthers that they were often mistaken for wood nymphs.

Treants, dryads, and wood nymphs view a druther in the same manner a human views the undead or a flesh golem. Most will attempt to destroy them when they can. Some witches and wizards value the wood from an inanimate druther to use to make magical fires.

For Witch Girls Adventures

Druthers

In the world of Witch Girls, Druthers are a fairly common sight.  Often charged with doing all sorts of repetitive minimal tasks, in fact self respecting witch family would do without a couple in their homes.   While such tasks as making diners is beyond them, setting tables or doing dishes are common enough tasks.

Rank 1 Monster

Druther

Body: D8 Mind: D2 Senses: D2

Will: D4 Social: D2 Magic: D2

Life Points 16

Skills: Fighting +1

Magic: Druthers are immune to many magical effects especially ones that affect the mind.  They do however take double damage from any fire based attack.

Cryptozoology fact: Druthers (and Drudges) are near mindless constructs made of wood.

Cryptozoology fact: Druthers take extra damage from fire.

Animate Druther

Elementalism Rank 4

The Witch can bind an elemental spirit to the form of a Druther she has built.   Often it is customary to only compel the elemental spirit to service for a year and a day then the Druther falls apart.  

October Movie Reviews: Quick Round Up

Round-up of a bunch of movies I saw over the last couple of weeks that I have not had the time for full write-ups on.  All of these are new views.

.

Daughters of Satan (1972)
Tom Selleck is an art dealer who finds a bad painting of some witches being burned at the stake.  The center witch looks just like his wife.  His wife become possessed with the spirit of the dead witch and the other two show up.  Selleck is the reincarnation of the man that set them on fire.  Murder and mayhem ensues.  OR something like that.  I nearly fell asleep while watching.

The Uninvited (2009)
A pretty cool film about a girl that is sent to a mental hospital for 10 months following the accidental death of her mother.  The girl has blocks in her memory and is certain that her fathers new girl friend is some how to blame.  It is a remake of a 2003 Korean film.  While more psychological thriller than actual horror, it has all the trappings of a horror film.  I won't say more because I don't want to spoil the ending.

Sharktopus (2010)
Half shark, half octopus.  Yeah.   You know how sometimes a movie can be so bad it is actually good?  Of course you do.  Well this one went past that point to where it is just bad again.  I have this love-hate relationship with Roger Corman.  While he is only the Producer here (and has some screen time) this is clearly in his realm.  Sometimes Corman can be campy fun, other times you get, well Sharktopus.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
I also struggled with whether or not this was horror enough.  Yes there is a mystery and there are very horrific things going on in this movie.   I choose to include it because of those horrific elements (murder, torture, rapes, all multiple times) and because the movie was so good.  If you don't know the story yet, well you were not one of the millions of people that read the book.  Basically a man on his way to prison for perjury gets a case where he must investigate a missing woman from 40 years ago.  The case is very cold and all he has to go on is a few scribbled notes and a few old photos.  He gets help from a hacker Lisabeth (who also has issues of her own like being brutally raped by her guardian) who discovers the notes are bible references.  The case then explodes to something much larger than one missing girl.  Again, no spoilers.

The Others (2001)
I also have a love/hate relationship with Nicole Kidman.  She is a fantastic actress, but she can grate on my nerves.  And I am no fan of her (former? present?) goof-ball religion.
But the Others is a fantastic little ghost story set after WWI involving a woman and her children and their haunted house.  There is a mystery here of course, and mists.  It is in fact very much a Ravenloft-esque story. I also don't want to spoil the ending of this one either.  But I have to admit, I really liked this one; Very spooky and moody.

Don't know where this puts me on the roster yet.  23 by my quick count, or 24 if you let me count the BBC Count Dracula as two.  Puts me about 2 behind schedule.  I have two with me now.  So that should be good.

D&D: Back to Basics

So I have spent a lot of time (and money it seems) on "Basic" D&D recently.  I now have every version of "Basic D&D" that has ever been made.  That's a lot of rules for characters 1st-3rd level.

and

I REALLY should be doing something with these rules.

I started out with Holmes Basic, moved to Moldvay/Cook and then AD&D.  I never played Mentzer Basic (or any of the BECMI rules) though I now have that boxed set as well and the Rule Cyclopedia.

And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the Retro-Clones.

Of course my kids and I want to play 4e.  I am in a Pathfinder game, I am running a 3.x game, I played the hell out of 1st and 2nd Ed.  It is getting (or has gotten) insane.

So to help me figure this out I am bouncing some ideas here.

My friend Jason Vey has pointed out (and rightly so) that in 4E the characters already start out as heroes.  There is no growth from a normal, mundane person to powerful hero;  ie like Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins.  This is an important observation.  There is a powerful archetype at work here. So powerful in fact it has it's own name, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Look over the builds I have done for some classic D&D icons ([1][2][3][4]) despite my attempts to "normalize" these characters there is one glaring truth.  For low level characters they are awfully powerful.

Compare that all to this post. http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/10/explaining-d6-damage_21.html
JB makes a good point in here that Normal people are supposed to be weaker.  In Basic D&D a normal person has 1-4 hp (as do Magic-Users) so any weapon that does 1d6 has a pretty good chance of killing them outright, and there is still as chance it will kill any demi-human, cleric or thief too.

Now it depends on what I want my game to "be".  Is this a tale of normal people that become heroes?  Or potential heroes that rise up to a greater challenge?  There is a lot to be said about that farm kid learning to be a hero.  But also the biggest gripe I have about playing those early days of D&D is that characters are often too damn weak.

Take the Wizard/Magic-User for example.  Here we have someone that supposedly has been to magic school.  They have learned spell theory, occult knowledge, and all they know is one spell?
Really?  We don't make archers take just one arrow, so why do this?  Plus outside of XP bonuses the Prime Requisites has little meaning in day to day play in Basic.  AD&D improves this a bit.

So I had this idea.

I am going to figure out the make up of the party.  I am letting my players play two characters each, with the caveat that these two have some past history.

Then I was going to run these characters through one of the D&D Basic sets to build up their powers to what you see in D&D4.  So run them levels 1 through 3 and then move on.

So far my oldest son wants to play a Dragonborn Paladin and a Dragonborn Sorcerer and they are brothers.  My youngest wants to play a ranger and a bard, both are 1/2 elf.  Ok.  Problems already.  These classes or races are not even covered in the D&D basic rules.
I suppose I could go very simple and basically use "Dwarf" as a dragonborn and elf as a half-elf; tweaking as needed.

The idea has some appeal to me, but I am not just the only one playing here.

My kids, whose game this is for, could care less about Basic D&D or anything else Old School.  They like and want to play D&D4.

So despite a lot of good games now in my possession, and a lot of good ideas  I am sticking with the new game.  I'll go with the philosophy that while some heroes are made, others are born to greatness and their challenges need to match up to them.  Plus, just because someone has a lot of "kewl powerz" doesn't mean they know what to do with them.
Maybe I'll pull some "Basic" ideas out every so often.

Or maybe I'll just get a separate Basic D&D game going.