Tale of the tape...er Story of the Stats

Going over my visit stats for April.  Looks like the A to Z blogging deal did pay off.
In general my visits were much higher for April compared to previous months.

Maybe I am just getting better at writing.

All things witchy

Started on the most recent Rachel Morgan book today, Pale Demon.  Just a bit into it and Rachel is already in a mess not of her choosing.  So it was with witches on the mind that All Things Urban Fantasy posted their top 10 favorite witches, http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-10-list-mk-hobsons-favorite-witches.html.

Oddly enough I only agree with some of them.   I liked Howl (of Howl's Moving Castle), Endora (Bewitched) and Angelique (Dark Shadows) but the rest were only ok. Well, Maleficent and Baba Yaga are cool.

Have a lot of work to do tonight, so this is a brief one.

Zatannurday: Mother's Day

Tomorrow is mother's day. And for Zatanna that means dressing weird and finding out her memories had been messed with thanks to dad. She must have learned that trick from him.

Anyway, what do we really know about Zee's mom? Not much. Her name was Sindella and she was one of the Homo Magi race; an offshoot of Humans that can perform magic at will more or less. In DC that means that Zee is a magician (father's side) and a witch (mother's side).  Here is the costume that she showed up in one day when she went to join the Justice League.

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This is from right around 1978-79 I think, Justice League of America #161.  This may be the worse costume I have ever seen Zee in. Normally turning evil makes you hotter, but I think she got it wrong here.  Maybe she was stoned again.  Anyway.

Turns out it was the same costume that her mother wore when Zatara met her.  We find out later (#163-165) what was going on that her mother wasn't really dead, but a super powerful magic battery and being used as such.  Now she really is dying and Zee is a good replacement.

You can tell he is evil by the beard and calling Zee a half-breed.

Zee is only about 20 or so here and spent her life without a mother, her mother does what any mother in this situation would do. She sacrifices herself so that her daughter may live free.

Course she grows up and gets involved with John Constantine a lot, but hey.

This does bring up an interesting idea.  Let's say Zee was in her 20s at the end of the 70s (that would make her a HUGE Ramones fans in my mind) and use the Constantine idea that she ages at the same rate as the real world, then she would be in her early 50s now.  Since she is a member of the Homo Magi race, a notoriously long lived one, then she could still appear to be in her early 30s easy.

Let's hope John Zatara II has better luck with his mom.

Clerics in D&D

There has been a lot of talk of clerics and their value in a D&D game.  This ranges from the the old school of whether or not the Cleric is an appropriate trope for a fantasy game to the new school of whether a cleric is needed in a game that also has healing surges.

Here are some posts to illustrate what I mean,
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20110426
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20110503#74170
http://lawfulindifferent.blogspot.com/2011/04/god-i-hate-clerics.html
http://daegames.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-wants-to-play-cleric_26.html
http://theresdungeonsdownunder.blogspot.com/2011/05/making-cleric-cleric-blank-religion.html

I am firmly in the camp of Clerics are as much a part of D&D as Fighters, Wizards and Thieves.

My first character ever was Father Johan Weper, Cleric of the God of the Sun, Hunter of the Undead. He was a bit of a generic cleric to be honest, and I choose the sun god because I thought that as a quasi-medieval priest  the sun would be a major feature of all the is holy, bright and good.  Plus I had been reading a bunch of Greek Myths and I though Apollo would make for a good god.  But the real reason I choose the cleric; Turning Undead.  That was an AWESOME power in my pre-teen mind.   So that has colored my views of the cleric ever since.

In real life I am an atheist, but I like the play the religious character.  So clerics, witches, druids, all fascinate me.  But clerics are where it all started.

Clerics as Occult Researchers

In nearly every other game I have ever played there have been occult researchers.  There is usually someone that is the pary's muscle, the magic-guy, the sneaky guy and then the smart guy.  Sometime the magic guy and smart guy are the same, sometimes though they are not.  The Cleric takes on the roll of the Smart Guy or the Occult Researcher.  The books, the ill fitting glasses, and the wisdom to know what to do is the roll of the cleric.

It is fairly well known that the idea behind clerical undead turning  came from Peter Cushing's Van Helsing characters in the various Hammer Dracula films.  Why not extend the metaphor to include the rest of Van Helsing's portfolio.  As a class that puts a high value on Wisdom then the cleric should be a font of knowledge. Sure, this can also be done by the Magic-User / Wiazard,  but the cleric's input should not be understated.

In D&D 3 and 4 knowledge of the undead fall within the Knowledge (Religion) or just Religion category.   These characters tend to have more training in this area than other characters.  While wizards are typically the font of magical knowledge, clerics should be the source of knowledge beyond the ken of mortal man and into the realm of the gods.

Clerics as the Party Leader
The cleric also can serve the roll as the leader. While the cleric can run the gamut of influential high priest to crazy street prophet to diabolic cult leader, players typically take on the roll of the cleric of the local church, usually good.  Certainly that is what D&D4 wants you to do and that is fine.  This type of cleric also works as the default leader, whether he/she is or not. So if this is the hand you are dealt, then play it because clerics make great leaders. Under most circumstances they access to power, money, a hierarchy and can expect a modicum of respect from the locals.  All this adds up to instant authority figure.  Even if they are not.

Cleric as the Party Medic

The obvious role.  Clerics have healing magic in earlier editions of the game, have spontaneous healing spells in the 3.x era and can activate healing surges in 4th.  The role of the cleric cannot be overstated.  Parties with out a cleric die.
During my run between 1st and 2nd Ed I created a Healer class.  It shared a number of features that my Witch class did including the ability to heal by touch as she went up in level.  Completely unneeded in 3.x of course, but in 2nd Ed it was quite a game changer.  I also made an NPC healer a pacifist.  She would never raise a weapon to any creature, unless of course it was undead and then she went all Peter Cushing on them.  But running that class and character (she was the only character I ever made for that class) showed me how important the healing aspect was.  There was not just the regaining hit points, there was the player morale.  Also since the character was an NPC it was easy not to have her fight, but the Players really did everything they could to protect her.

BTW. Her name was Celene Weper and she was the youngest daughter of Father Werper above.  Yes clerics in my world get married and have kids, since it is a life affirming thing.
Plus keep in mind that Clerics as Healers has a long tradition even in our own world.  If ever a character decided to become a pure healing cleric and take an oath of non violence then I would give them XP for every hitpoint cured and a share of combat XP.  I would also give them 2x the starting funds (even though they would give what they don't spend back to the church) to represent the investment their churches/hospitals have made in them.  After all, can't send a healer out into the world with shoddy armor. Reflects bad on their organization.

Clerics as Combatants?
It almost seems counter to the above, but clerics are the second best major class when it comes to fighting.  Only fighters (and their related classes) are better.  The get good saves vs. magic due to their high wisdom, or Will saves for the same reason and their saves are pretty decent to start with.   Plus they have one thing fighters don't have, the  ability to use magic.  So what you say, so can Wizards and even your favorite witch.  Yes, but can they do it in field plate armor?  Clerics can.  Sure they do not get the combat spells the wizard gets, but they have a few good ones too.  Creeping Doom is a nasty little spell for Druids.  Finger of Death and reversed Heal spells can also ruin someone's day.
In games without Paladins, Clerics are the "righteous fist of (their) god".  Wizards don't smite.
Clerics can also be one of the few character types that can actually kill monsters with out the moral hnagups.  Even fighters, who get paid, and thieves, that might be working as assassins, don't get the same kind of "get out of jail free card" as do clerics operating within the doctrines of their faith and church.  Think back to the Crusades and the Inquisition, the faithful got away with murder, torture and even more horrible crimes in the name of their God and the law had little to say about it or were in collusion with them.

Clerics might then be one of the more well rounded characters in the group.

Happy Birthday Adam Hughes

Today is Adam Hughes birthday.  I have posted his Zatanna pics before,  but here is an awesome Batwoman.

How cool is that.  I love the pic of The Question/Renee at the bottom.

Noble Knight Games is really Awesome

I love my FLGS. I do.  I would rather buy from them for just about everything.
But every once in a while I find something somewhere else I want and I go with that store.

9 times out of 10, I get what I want.  But sometimes I take a risk and it doesn't pay off.
But then sometime the company I buy from makes it right and everything is great again.

Recently I have been going on about Quest of the Ancients.  I have a 1st Edition but not the 2nd Ed.  I saw Noble Knight Games had one for sale at a great price so I grabbed it.  Normally I wouldn't have, QotA is fun, but it's not great and I have the 1st ed.  Getting the 2nd ed would only be worth the satisfaction of my curiosity.  If I had seen at the store, I would have just spent a couple minutes flipping.
So I bought it anyway, knowing the risk.  And I ended up with a 1st Edition.

I contacted them and they bent over backwards to make it right. They didn't have a 2nd ed in stock, but they were completely awesome with want I did get.

I had ordered from them in the past and ALWAYS got great service and exactly what I wanted.  This aberration did nothing to make me think less of them.  Just the opposite, it made think more highly of them and I am more likely to order from them in the future.

I have a great local game store that can get me anything.  But those are planned purchases or stop in at the store and impulse buys.  Noble Knight is great when I am browsing on the net, come across a game I have never heard of or had forgotten about and then go over and see what it would cost.  If I like the price then I can get it.

So if you are unlike me and don't live within easy distance of a fantastic game store, then please give Noble Knight Games a look.

Hunting trolls should be like this...

Trolls are ubiquitous in FRPGs. Just go to Chapter 2 of The Hobbit and you will see why.
The trouble is they are so ubiquitous that they often get forgotten as a real threat.  Not surprising really.  When you live in a world of dragons, demons and other horrors, the simple troll can seem, well, quaint.

Well they shouldn't be.  Trolls were once the "demons" of the world.  They were the monsters.
To help us remember that there is a new film out of Norway (where Trolls still sleep) called "Troll Hunter"
http://www.trollhunterfilm.com/
http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2011/05/troll-hunter-directed-by-andre-vredal.html

And here is one of the trolls,

That's a troll worthy of your characters.

I have always preferred the the more Scandinavian Troll over the green rubbery one from the Monster Manual.  I like trolls that look like they are made out of rock and earth.  So for that, here is the Troll I have used in Basic Era format.

Earth Troll

Armor Class: -1 [20]
Hit Dice: 10d8* (50 hp)
No. of Attacks: 2 claws / 1 bite
Damage: 1d6 / 1d6 / 1d8+3
Special: Darkvision 90 ft., regeneration, vulnerability to sunlight
Movement: 30 ft., burrow 40 ft.
No. Appearing: 1 (1-3 in lair)
Saves: Fighter 10
Morale: 8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic
XP:

Earth Trolls are relatives of the normal troll and make their lairs deep within the subterranean realms of the earth or in dense forests where the sunlight is easily avoided. Most creatures avoid Earth Trolls, as they are completely malign and evil, attacking any living creature, especially when hungry. They are quite fond of humanoid flesh and usually stage raids upon surface dwellers every month. Because of this, they are often encountered in large surface caves in the sections well outside the reach of sunlight.
Earth Trolls are 10 feet tall and weigh about 1,200 pounds with females being slightly larger. They resemble their smaller relatives in most respects, but some accounts have them appearing as rather large and misshapen gnomes. The Earth Troll’s hide is stone gray or brown, its hair is black or brown, and its eyes are dull brown. Like its counterpart, the Earth Troll’s arms and legs are long and thin. Its arms end in sharpened talons, and its legs sport great three-toed feet. Earth trolls will attempt to dress or adorn themselves in whatever rags, hides and bits of clothing they can find.
Earth trolls are a little smarter that their more common cousins. While they still do not have concept of strategy, they are smart enough to speak and to use some simple weapons.
Earth trolls speak the language of all trolls, some have been known to speak orc or goblin as well.
Earth Trolls attack any living thing that enters their territory, usually doing so for food. They will band together for very simple ambush tactics but that is about the extent of their strategy and planning. Most of the time an earth troll will flail relentlessly at its foes with its powerful claws until either it or its opponent is dead, but some have been known to use a large club and others even a spear or sword.

Regeneration: An earth troll heals only if it is underground and touching dirt or earth. If in contact with the earth it heals  3 hit-points per round.  If contact is lost, say the troll is levitated or flying, then the healing stops.  Trolls turned to stone heal hit points (but not lost limbs).

Vulnerability to Sunlight: An earth troll exposed to natural sunlight (not merely a spell or magical item that replicates sunlight) is instantly turned to stone (as if by the flesh to stone spell) if it fails a Petrify save. This effect is permanent, but can be dispelled if the earth troll is removed from the sunlight and stone to flesh is cast on it.

--
Section 15 Copyright Notice

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks is Copyright ©2003, Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches Team.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008. Chris Gonnerman.

Labyrinth Lord^TM. Copyright © 2007, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Earth Troll" Copyright ©2011, Timothy S. Brannan