20 Questions

The latest OSR Blogger meme is making it's rounds.
This one comes from Untimately, http://untimately.blogspot.com/2012/02/20-quick-questions-rules.html

Here are mine.

1. Ability scores generation method?
4d6, drop the lowest arrange as desired.  I am not interested in average people, I want heroes in my games.


2. How are death and dying handled?
Dying at 0hp, death at -CON


3. What about raising the dead?
Only clerics can do it.  Elves and Witches can't be raised, only reincarnated.


4. How are replacement PCs handled?
I keep a stack of sheets handy.  I can always work a new PC into the ongoing story.


5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
Individual


6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
Yes.  Critical hits on natural 20s, double damage.  Fumbles on a 1 and attack is lost and "something bad" happens.


7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
For AC, no.  For role-playing effects yes.  So if a character is wearing a helmet and a shot misses I'll say it glanced off their helmet.


8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
I give players the benefit of the doubt that they have worked together and know what works and what doesn't.  I am more interested in drama and story than whether or not they hit each other.


9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
Oh, HELL YES.  Sometimes the only recourse is to run away.


10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Not really.  Undead drain abilities like STR, CON, CHA or WIS as needed.  Trust me, my undead are plenty scary even with no draining ability.


11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
No.  Bad rolls should NEVER dictate a game's outcome. Yes bad things happen, but we have that, it's called "Real Life".  The game is about heroes and their struggle, not a bad roll or a bone-headed DM that can't see past that.  Besides, there is enough to kill you in my games that I don't have to resort to passive/aggressive ways to kill characters.


12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
Eh.  If I think the players have too much then I mention it.  With magic anything is possible.


13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
No new levels until the characters can get trained, and that means in between adventures.  Spells have to learned.  Most wizards have schools as sources. Which means I get to limit which spells they have access too.


14. What do I get experience for?
Good role-playing, defeating (which is not the same as "killing") monsters, treasure, completing an adventure.


15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
Traps are left where traps would be located.  NO random death traps.


16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
I use old D&D Basic morale (1-12).  Retainers are group NPCs and have to paid and taken care of.


17. How do I identify magic items?
Wizards have a basic chance based on level.  Otherwise a spell.


18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
There is exactly ONE place where you can in my world and it is very famous.


19. Can I create magic items? When and how?
Yes. Of course. Where do all the magic items in the world come from.  It takes research and craft and years of work though.


20. What about splitting the party?
No.  That's suicide in my dungeons.  Former party members tend to come back as flesh eating undead.

Here are some others:
http://untimately.blogspot.com/2012/02/20-quick-questions-rules.html
http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2012/02/20-quick-questions.html
http://lasgunpacker.blogspot.com/2012/02/utimately-20-questions.html
http://backtothekeep.blogspot.com/2012/02/another-20-questions.html
http://daddygrognard.blogspot.com/2012/02/untimatelys-20-questions-and-my-answers.html
http://the-city-of-iron.blogspot.com/2012/02/20-quick-questions.html
http://d20dialectic.blogspot.com/2012/02/untimate-quiz.html

Others to be posted I am sure.

Prestige Class: Witch Priestess

Continuing with my new witch Prestige Classes for d20/3.x/Patherfinder.
Earlier I posted the Queen of Witches, today I want to post something I feel lacking in the Patherfinder witch; A connection to the divine.

One thing I felt the early batch of witch books for the d20 game did well was the inclusion of a good amount of Prestige Classes.  There were all sorts really, but the ones I liked the best allowed the witch to take an aspect of what made her a witch and explore it in detail.  The Witch Priestess is one such class.    I suppose to fill out the mix I would also include an Arcane Witch, an Occult Witch, maybe some sort of expert on Charms and another on Potions.  But that would be for another day.

Here is the Witch Priestess.  All content below this point is consider Open.

Section 15:  Witch Priestess, Copyright 2012, Timothy. S. Brannan.
OGC Declaration: The following text content is considered Open Content for term of the OGL.

Witch Priestess

To a witch religion and witchcraft are the same thing and worship is a fairly private affair; it is something she does with (or even without) her Patron in her own way.  To the Witch Priestess though, religion, witchcraft and worship are far more important and she is considered to be a leader in the witch’s religious community and life. Not all witches are called to become a Witch Priestess and the sacrifice is great one.  The witch becomes more like a cleric in many respects.  She gives up advancing in her arcane spellcasting and begins divine spell casting as a cleric of the same level.  The Witch Priestess does have healing powers, but she cannot convert spell energy into healing energy as a cleric can.

Hit Dice: d6

Requirements To qualify to become a Witch Priestess, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:
Knowledge (Religion) 8 Ranks
Knowledge (Witchcraft): 10 Ranks
Feats: At least one Witch feat.
Special: A Witch Priestess must belong to a coven.
 A Witch Priestess typically has a high wisdom.


Class Skills The Witch Priestess class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Alchemy) (Int), Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), (Int), Knowledge (witchcraft) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features All of the following are class features of The Witch Priestess prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Witch Priestess gains no proficiency with weapons or armor.
  Special: The Witch Priestess gains special powers at each level of her progression.

  Spells per Day: The Witch Priestess begins gaining Divine spells as a cleric of the same level.  The Witch Priestess can though add her levels to levels of witch for determination of DCs or level based effects.  Levels of witch do not however add to her levels of Witch Priestess when casting divine Witch Priestess spells.  For example a character with 10 levels of Witch and 3 levels of Witch Priestess will cast witch spells as a 13^th level witch, but Witch Priestess spells as a 3^rd level caster. NOTE: A Witch Priestess with levels in a divine spellcasting class may opt to continue to progress with those spell levels, they will not however add to her casting of witch spells.  So a character with 10 levels of Witch, 3 levels of cleric and 3 levels of Witch Priestess can cast as a 10^th level witch and as a 6^th level divine spell caster.

  Divine Spells: The witch may cast spells as a cleric of the same level. She uses the same list of spells as does the cleric.  She still cannot use spells that are contrary to her alignment or beliefs; that is  no Raise Dead spells. Domain: The Witch Priestess gains access to a clerical domain of the appropriate type.  They gain the spells and associated powers as a cleric with this domain.  At 8^th level the Witch Priestess gains a 2^nd domain.
   Occult Powers (Su): At 3^rd level the Witch Priestess gains additional occult powers as if she were a witch of that Tradition.  The Witch Priestess will choose occult powers form her own Tradition first always at 3^rd  level, then branching out to the other Traditions for her next Occult power. Note: Some witches call their Occult Powers “Hexes”.  These witches may choose a new Witch Hex at these levels.  The first Hex must be of the Minor sort. The second Hex may be Major or Grand as appropriate.
  Bonus Feat: The Witch Priestess gains an additional feat.  She may choose from Witch or Cleric/Divine feats if she meets the requirements.
  Form Coven: The Witch Priestess can form a new coven. If she is part of a coven now she will leave, with no ill will, to form her own coven.  The number of witches she gathers is equal to 1d6+ her Charisma modifier.  These witches will be under 6^th level for a total number of levels equal to the Witch Priestess level + her level as a Witch.  For example a witch with a 17 Charisma can have a maximum of 9 (3 + 6) witches.  If she is a 10^th level witch and a 5^th level Witch Priestess the she can have a maximum of 15 levels of witches in her coven. So possibly 8 1^st level and 1 7^th level or any combination thereof.
  Drawing Down the Moon (Su): Once per day the witch priestess can recall a number of spell levels equal to half her level (witch and witch priestess combined) rounded down.  The witch must complete a ritual to regain her spell levels that takes a full round.  Once complete the witch regains the knowledge of the spells lost.
   Charge of the Goddess (Su): The witch at this point is such a force for her Patron that she can summon the Goddess’ own power into herself.  The witch radiates an aura of Fear at 15’ to all her enemies.  She gains a bonus of +2 to all her saves and AC.  She also gains +3 to all offensive attack forms, spells (spellcasting and DCs) or weapons.  This charge lasts for a number of rounds equal to the witch’s Wisdom score. It may be performed only once per day and takes one full round to perform.

Level	BAB	Fort.	Ref.	Will	Special	Divine Spellcasting*
		Save	Save	Save		1	2	3	4	5
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Divine Spells, Healing	1
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Domain (1st Domain)	1+1
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Occult Power / Hex	1+1	1
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat	2+1	1+1
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Form Coven	2+1	1+1	1
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Drawing Down the Moon	3+1	2+1	1+1
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Occult Power / Hex	3+1	2+1	1+1	1
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Domain (2nd Domain)	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Bonus Feat	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	1
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Charge of the Goddess	5+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1

*A Witch Priestess may choose to continue advancing as any divine spellcasting class she also has.

New Releases Thursday

So each year I let everyone know about the new releases of some of my favorite women in Urban Horror from two of my favorite authors.
Here are the previous posts, 2010 and 2011.  Here I am only a couple days late.

First up is the new Calliope Reaper-Jones book from Amber Benson, How to Be Death.

When we last left CRJ she was assuming the role as the new Death.  Don't pretend that just because she has the power and station means she has anything figured out yet.  I think this is my favorite cover of all the books so far.  Out on Feb 28.

Also new is Rachel Morgan's latest adventure from author Kim Harrison, A Perfect Blood.

If Calliope is Death, then Rachel is Dead.  Or at least that is what they keep telling her.  She was declared dead at the end of the last book and now no one from the FIB, to her Demon teacher Al or even the DMV can do anything about it.  Maybe Callie could help her...

I like this cover too.  We get to see more of Rachel.  This one is out now.

Sorry for the interuption

Been kind of a bad week you know.
Thanks to everyone that posted here, G+ and Facebook about my brother Mike.  The world certainly is a poorer place with out him in it.

I have some posts to get back too; I have had the Blog on auto-pilot this week. Well sorta, the post from last night was supposed to post today.

What do I know?

Well. My Basic Era witch book "The Witch" is done.  I just need to get all the art in.

I am doing the A to Z challenge in April.  More on that soon.

The new hotness right now is the new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game from MWP.
I have it, I have read parts of it, but I am no where near ready for a review yet.

Reviews. Books of the Dragonslayers

The great thing about a long game like I have been playing with my boys is I have had the chance to try out a LOT of different things.

Here are some of the books I have used to date.

Children of Wyrms
My oldest son loves dragons.  One of the things he loved the most about D&D4 was the ability to play a Dragonborn.  But we didn't get to play that much D&D4, he does get to play a lot of Pathfinder.  So Children of Wyrms is a great product.

Let's start with the obvious.  You get to play half-dragons, quarter-dragons and dragon-bloodied (not their word) characters.  So dragon plus some other race.  The details for the race creation is detailed.  The bonuses are detailed as expected and follow from the Pathfinder source.  So nothing is unexpected here.  All four "races" are detailed and special attention is give to Draconic Sorcerers.
Plenty of feats are included as are magic items.
For the old-schooler there is even a table of random physical traits varying by generation.
Part 2 deals with the "Birds and the Bees" aspect of dragons and birth.  It is assumed for the most part that the father is dragon and the female is humanoid.  I suppose the reverse does not pose as many problems for a dragon female.

The book is only 30+ pages, but packs it full.

The artwork and layout is top notch, what I have come to expect from FG actually.  And works as good companion piece to Sisters of Rapture.  I am guessing from the point of view of both books the Sisters spend a lot time with dragons.

I am not 100% sure I'll use the entire book.  But I do plan to use the feats next time my son's "3.x Dragonborn" levels up and it really has a lot of potential.

My only con in this book?  No rules for playing 1/2 Chromatic dragons.  Not that I can't figure it out from all of this, but the assumption here is that only good dragons do this.  I get that and I understand where the authors are coming from, but the option would have been nice.
5 out of 5 stars

17 Archer Feats
My youngest son loves to play archers.  So this was a no-brainer really.

This collection of 18 (not just 17!) feats really help highlight what a good archer should be able to do.
What is good?  Well I like the names, feats (and often times spells) don't have evocative names.  Not so here, "Ring the Bell", "Until You see the Whites of their Eyes" are cool sounding and you want to take them as feats!  The sound more like super-powers really.  They are though what feats should be, something extra special you can do that others can't because of your training.

There are several here my son has used including his favorite at lower levels, Instill Arrow.
Obviously there is a bias her towards elves and rangers, but since he is a half-elven Ranger/Bard he is perfect for this book, or it is perfect for him.

The art is above the normal standards of The Le books, which is nice.  Really in a book like this I would prefer to see old woodcuts of archers.  I think it adds to the feel that the feats are adding to the game, no need for "cartoony" art (of which there is only one piece and it is not really that bad).

The feats work, and they work well.  What more do you need?
Printer and screen versions.  Works great with 3.x and Pathfinder.  Some even look like they would work well in D&D4 (but I have not tried).
4 out of 5 stars

Demon Hunter's Handbook
As we moved later in my 3.x/d20 games, Demons became major antagonists for the characters.  This book was one of many I bought on the subject, but one of the better ones.  The book begins with a a couple of new races for PCs based on Monster Manual/SRD races, the Steward Archon and the Aasimar.  Next we go to a discussion on how each of the core classes can be a "Demon Hunter" using what they already have.  I lked this part since it also encourages better role-playing.
We follow up with demon-hunting prestige classes, which are a better sort than other books like this one.  My favorite was the Righteous Sword and his power "A Good Man's Wrath".  Very nice.
Chapter two gives us the options; new feats, new uses for skills and new spells.  As well as new equipment. All of which have had a place in my game at one time or another.
Chapter Three gives up campaign advice and how to keep a demon hunting game going.  I particularly like the Urban adventures parts since I love to play in cities and there is not much in the way of good material out there.
Chapter Four (which thematically could have been just more of Three) gives us the organizations that fight demons.  After years and years of playing horror games this was less useful for me, but good for someone just getting into the demon-hunting RPG biz.
Chapter five gives us the monsters.  Not very many here and other books do have better choices, but I don't think that a huge list of demons was the prime motivator of this book; so that is fine.

All in all a good book and a very nice collection of demon hunting ideas for any group of characters.
4 out of 5 stars

[PFRPG] Player’s Options: Aasimars, Tieflings, and Elemental Templates
One thing I think Pathfinder players miss out on are the number of races that the 4E players have.   4 Winds Fantasy Gaming though knows how to solve that.  Presented here are various racial templates for new player character races for use with Pathfinder.  Now these are not "copies" of the 4e ones, but they are "influenced" by them.  Taking races from the SRD we have some very interesting new choices for players.  We get 3 types of Aasimars, 12 elemental types and 3 types of Tieflings.  With this there is certainly enough ideas to figure out other Plane-descended races.  What I felt was nice, and glad to see it was not omitted, was how these different racial templates mix with the various types of Sorcerers.
There are also plenty of good feats here for the various bloodlines.

While this is not a long book, it is packed and for the price it is an absolute bargain.
I have come to have a high opinion of the 4 Winds products.  I have not been disappointed and I am glad to have gotten this one.
5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Maps: The Dragon's Lair
Sometimes I don't need a module, all I need is a good map.  "The Dragon's Lair" is a good map.  My kids love to play with minis and while I can scribble on graph paper, a good scale map for minis is more than I want to do.
This product, plus some printer ink and little imagination became "The Lair of the Stinky Dragon" for my kids one rainy afternoon.

Give yourself some time to print, cut and put this together, but in the end it is worth it.
I love the cutaway view of the dungeon to know what is where in three dimensions, after all the mins are.

I'll be honest here.  I grabbed this one over all the others because it had lava in it.
5 out of 5 stars

White Dwarf Wednesday

Hello all.

No White Dwarf Wednesday today.  I am out of town on a family emergency and I am not back yet.

You can read about it here.
http://www.buchanancody.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1399499&fh_id=12328

Back when I can.

Prestige Class: Queen of Witches

While I enjoy the Pathfinder Witch there is a serious lack of good witchy prestige classes.  Here is one based on my own Liber Mysterium witch and was going to appear in the 3.5 update.   Some of the powers and ideas here are actually based on my playtests of my Basic Witch class.

Section 15: Queen of Witches, Copyright 2012, Timothy. S. Brannan.
OGC Declaration: The following content is considered Open Content for term of the OGL.

Queen of Witches
There are witches so dedicated to their path and to their Patron that they become not only the de-facto leaders of many covens, but of their traditions as well. They are considered to be the chief agent of the Patron’s will. Sometimes these witches can claim divine parentage, others are chosen by her peers for her deeds. In all cases the Queen of Witches is imbued with a spark of divine power.
Generally speaking there is only one Queen of Witches per Tradition, so only 13 (or less) in the world at any given time.

Hit Dice: d4

Requirements 
 To qualify as a Queen of Witches, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Knowledge (Religion) or Knowledge (Arcana): 7 Ranks
Knowledge (Witchcraft): 13 Ranks
Feats: At least one Witch feat.
Spell casting: Ability to cast 7th level spells
Special: the Queen of Witches must belong to a coven.

 The Queen of Witches typically has a high wisdom.

Alignment: Any.

Class Skills

The Queen of Witches class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Alchemy) (Int), Craft (any) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), (Int), Knowledge (witchcraft) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of The Queen of Witches prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Queen of Witches gains no proficiency with weapons or armor.

Special: The Queen of Witches gains special powers at each level of her progression.

Spells per Day: The Queen of Witches continues to progress in spell casting as if she had gained another level as a witch. This does not include any special powers or benefits, such as extra feats or occult powers (except as noted below), she would normally receive for progressing as a witch.

    Awesome Presence (Su): At first level, the Queen of Witches is infused with the power of her faith and by the faith her Coven has in her. This supernatural ability has two main effects. First all witches can “see” this presence as a bright aura. All witches will treat her with deference and respect. Secondly enemies can also detect this aura. Any morale checks made by enemies are at a –1 penalty.

    Occult Powers (Su): At 2nd level the Queen of Witches gains additional occult powers as if she were a witch of that Tradition. The Queen of Witches will choose occult powers form her own Tradition first always at 2nd level, then branching out to the other Traditions for her next Occult power.
Note: Some witches call their Occult Powers “Hexes”. These witches may choose a new Witch Hex at these levels. The first Hex must be of the Minor sort. The second Hex may be Major or Grand as appropriate.

     A Thousand Faces (Su): At 3rd level the witch gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the disguise self spell. This affects the witch’s body but not her possessions. It is not an illusory effect, but a minor physical alteration of the witch’s appearance, within the limits described for the spell.

    Timeless Body (Su): At 5th level the witch no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the witch still dies of old age when her time is up.

Class Level	Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Awesome Presence	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Occult Power / Hex	+1 level of existing class
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	A Thousand Faces	+1 level of existing class
4th	+2	+2	+2	+4	Occult Power / Hex	+1 level of existing class
5th	+3	+2	+2	+4	Timeless Body	+1 level of existing class