Character Creation Challenge: Magnus Ulslime for Wasted Lands

 Heroes are often measured by the bad guys they have to face. If that is the case then Johan Werper and his line are true heroes indeed because their long time foe is a semi-immortal necromancer of the darkest dye. And you have seen him before.

Magnus Ulslime had several origin points for me that all seemed to collide at once. First there was Len Lakofka's Death Master class I saw in Best of Dragon Vol. III, a reprint of his class from Dragon #76. There was Ulslime the Chaosar (terrible name) from Module CM2 Death's Ride. And finally what I *thought* Module X6 Quagmire was about. All of these mixed in the same vat I was building classes in; my Healer, Sun-Priest, Witch, and Necromancer.  I saw my Necromancer as the moral opposite of the Healer and the Sun Priest.  Eventually, I would go to get my Profane Necromancer and Death Pact Warlocks out into the world along with my Witch.

Much like Larina is my test character for anything witchy, Magnus is my test for any sort of necromancer. Though I do not have as many versions of him as I do her.  I have featured him, though, as Necromancer for Spellcraft & Swordplay and as a Death Pact Warlock. I have also done his adopted children Runu and Urnu for both Spellcraft and Swordplay and Wasted Lands in the past. 

Magnus Ulslime

Class: Necromancer
Level: 13
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 10 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 19 (+3) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 19 (+3) Z

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 33
Corruption: 7

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Magical Attack: +2
Saves: +8 to Persona saves, -2 vs Corruption

Cult Powers
Commune with Deeper Dark (1/week), Familiar (small demon), Forbidden Knowledge 38%, Mystical Senses

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead x5, Summon the Dead, Vampiric Augmentation, Suggestion x2, Command, Vampiric Touch, Beguile Spirit

Arcane Powers
Detect Thoughts, Polymath (Sage Abilities: Level 1), Incubus (touchstone), Shadow Walk (touchstone)

Spells
First level: Black Flames, Night Vision, Glamour
Second level: Invoke Fear, Paralyze Poison

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Arcane Power: Incubus (1d6)
2nd Level: Arcane Power: Shadow Walk
3rd Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 1
4th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 2
5th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 3
6th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 4
7th Level: Character ceases to age

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Death staff

Magnus in the Wasted Lands

These are great stats and I am amazed with how flexible and customizable this game actually is. There is just so much going on here. It is also the first time in a character write-up I was able to really capture his childhood in a Death Cult. The only thing I did not do here is capture his early adulthood as a druid. Maybe a couple of levels of Theosophist would cover that.

Magnus in NIGHT SHIFT

If the Dark Druid can make it to the modern age, then Magnus could as well. I can see a cult trying to bring him back. I see it as sort of like a cheesy 80s movie where a bunch of teens play some record backward and summons Magnus, though I think to be true to his roots AND the 80s, he would have to be called "The Death Master."  Hmm. Maybe this is the missing piece of this 80s adventure I have been wanting to do.

Magnus in Thirteen Parsecs

I honestly have no idea if he will live this long. But maybe I will come up with something. The universe is a big and really weird place.  Though I will admit the name "Magnus" came to me while watching the Doctor Who serial "Talons of Weng-Chiang."  The bad guy in this one, Magnus Greel, was from the 51st Century. He even had a familiar of sorts, Mr. Sin.  I might have to name his quasit familiar Mr. Sin.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Boudica for Wasted Lands

 Last week I heard of the passing of James Herbert "Herbie" Brennan, the prolific author of fiction and non-fiction as well as the RPG "Man, Myth & Magic." I don't have a lot to say on the matter. I have not read any of his books and my knowledge of him comes solely through my interaction with MM&M. But I did not want his death to go unremarked here.

While I have done other MM&M characters for myself, I thought for today I might revisit one I did a while back and fit both his game and Wasted Lands: Boudica, Queen of the Icini Celts.

I have a long relationship with Boudica. She was a figure I always found fascinating, especially during my time of reading an absolute ton of Celtic history, myth, and legends. Then I wrote the Ghosts of Albion RPG, and she was a central character of that franchise, though by then, she was a ghost.  So, given Herbie Brennan's fix of history and fantasy of his Man, Myth & Magic game, doing stats for Boudica was a no-brainer.  That is also true today.

Boudica for the Wasted Lands could have gone a number of different ways. Obviously, Warrior is a great choice (and what I went with in MM&M), but she didn't start out as one; she was forced into it by the Romans, who murdered her husband and raped her daughters. From NIGHT SHIFT, I could also say Survivor is good, but then again, so is Chosen One. In the end, though, the only real choice for me was to make her a Spirit Rider from the NIGHT SHIFT Night Companion and adapt that to Wasted Lands. Something the O.G.R.E.S. makes very, very easy. Trivial even.

The Spirit Rider is a person charged with the power of a particular place. Our archetype of this is Marie Laveau who is given magic by the "Spirit of New Orleans." Cú Chulainn is the Spirit Rider of mytho-historical Ulster as Fionn Mac Cumhail is the Spirit Rider of Éire. We have debated whether Merlin or King Arthur is the Spirit Rider of ancient Britain. 

Note: As an aside it never dawned on me until this moment that I *could* have Boudica as one of my Witch Queens. I mean she is not really a witch, but her Wasted Lands and Ghosts of Albion versions both have some magic.  Thoughts for another day.

Queen Boudica

Class: Spirit Rider (Briton) (from NIGHT SHIFT's Night Companion)
Level: 10
Species: Human
Alignment: Light* (*while she killed people and burned villages to the ground she was doing what she felt was right and correct. Removing an invading force from her home.)
Background: Barbarian

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) N 
Intelligence: 12 (+0) 
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 17 (+2) N 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 70
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)  +1 (Heroic Touchstone)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base) 
Saves: +4 to Wits and Persona saves (class), +2 to Toughness saves (barbarian).

Spirit Rider Abilities
Innate Magic (10), Arcane Powers (5), Commune with Spirit of the Land, Limited Power (outside of Briton), Magic Battery

Barbarian Background Skills
Perception, Danger Sense, Scale surfaces, Nature Lore, Any Weapons

Arcane Powers (used like powers)
Beguile, Shadow Walk, Detect Thoughts, Enhanced Senses, Subtle Influence

Innate Magic (used like spells)
First Level: Armor of Earth, Mystical Senses, Command, Sense Death
Second Level: Animal Summoning (usually large war dogs), Invoke Fear
Third Level: Curse, Impassible Thicket
Fourth Level: Forest Metamorphosis
Fifth Level: Shadow Armor

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: +1 Melee Combat: Spear
2nd Level: Luck Benefit
3rd Level: Powerful Defence
4th Level: Favored Enemy: Rome
5th Level: Divine Smite

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Vengence

Gear
Spear, armor, sword

Wasted Lands Spirit Riders

Spirit Riders might not fit well thematically with Wasted Lands RAW, but in Wasted Lands as D&D, it works great. I might tweak it a bit working with Boudica here for slightly less magic and more options for combat prowess. Given that I am saying that Cú Chulainn was also one then something like his Ríastrad or Battle Frenzy would be an option. Maybe call it something like "Caomhnóir" or Guardian.

It would be fun to try out that is for sure. 

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

Review: Xanathar's Guide to Everything (D&D 5e)

Less of a full review but more along the lines of reveiw/my thoughts on what was essentially the Unearthed Arcana of D&D 5th Edition.

Why this particular book now?  There are a few of the classes that I am considering back-porting over to B/X era D&D that my kids have expressed an interest in playing.  I may or may not post those.  They are not OGC and I have no plans to even "file the serial numbers off" to try an post them.  Sometime I do things just for me or for fun.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything

2017, Hardcover. 192 pages. Full-color covers and interior art. 

I called this book the "Unearthed Arcana" of D&D 5 and that is more or less on point. Much of the material here appeared in the pages of the online version of Unearthed Arcana.

The book has a wide variety of tools for Players and the DM and all are listed as being optional. This was published in 2017 so there is no hint here of anything that might be "5.5" or "5r" related.

The book is divided into an introduction, three chapters and two appendices.

Introduction

This covers what the book is about, and its origins from the online Unearthed Arcana. Wizards of the Coast has worked to get the layout of their D&D 5th ed books to be one of clean efficiency.  Maybe not as much as say Necrotic Gnome has with OSE, but still really nice.  For example their Table of Contents fits on a single page.

We get a (tiny) bit of background on who Xanathar is. Not being a huge FR fan I did not know but figured it had to be the same beholder from the 1st Edition AD&D Waterdeep and the North.

There is a page on "The Core Rules" which is really nice to have. There are ten rules that cover most situations.  These are all from the PHB and DMG, but nice to have them repeated here.

Chapter 1: Character Options

We start with a listing of the 31 new subclasses for the twelve base character classes.  Now before someone start screaming "rules bloat" these are not subclasses in the way that AD&D 1st Ed meant them.  These are archetypes of the main twelve classes. So for example the Cleric has the Life and War domains (among others) in the PHB now gains the Forge and Grave domains here.  Each subclass is tailored to the main class. So with Clerics they are "Domains" for Bards they are "Colleges" and Warlocks have "Pacts."   So they are more like the AD&D 2nd Edition Kits.  Both in good and bad ways. There is not much power creep yet. 

This chapter covers about 65 or so pages, so a third of the book. Each main class gets some details that worked for any subclass of that class (Bards get more instruments, clerics have more details on their temples for example). There are a lot of classes in this book. I am not going to get into every subclass here. But I would like to point out a few.

The Bard College of Swords is the spiritual descendent of the AD&D 2nd Bard kit known as the Blade; aka the moment I knew 2nd Ed Power Creep was happening.  The Blade Kit sucked. The fiction for it sucked and the NPC they used as their iconic Blade REALLY sucked. The College of Swords Bards are also called Blades. Their AD&D 2nd ed origins are very plain, BUT there is none of the power creep and thankfully the edgy NPC "Dark" is also gone.

Grave Domain Clerics are the other side of the coin of the Life Domain Clerics.  Where the Life Cleric (PHB) tries to preserve life, the Grave Domain Clerics make sure the dead stay at rest. They are the "good" option of the Death Domain Clerics (DMG).  Cleric Domains have their origin in 2nd Ed and were expanded greatly in 3rd Ed.

Fighters now have an Arcane Archer subclass (known as a Martial Archetype here). This is the 5e update of the 3rd Edition Prestige Class.   Monks (Monastic Traditions) get a Way of the Drunken Master and a Way of the Kensei. Paladins get new Oaths. Rangers get new Archetypes including the Gloom Stalker, a Ranger adept at working in dark places but my favorite is the Monster Slayer.  Rogues get the Mastermind and Scout Archetypes.

The Sorcerers are next.  Their subclasses are known as Arcane Origins, or essentially how you became a sorcerer. In addition to these are some tables on various supernatural marks (think witch mark) and other weirdness due to your bloodline. The one I wanted to convert is the Divine Soul. You have a bit of divinity in your blood.  I would convert these as a B/X Magic-user and allow them to have some free cleric spells based on their divine blood. Cure Light Wounds and Bless for Lawful for example.  Their Charisma would need to be high, like 14 and that would be their Prime Requisite ability too.  While they get the spell for free, they can only still cast it once per day. At the 14th level, they gain their Otherworldly Wings.  There is also the Shadow Magic Sorcerer. This feel like it is from the Shadowfell Player's book from 4e. 

Warlocks also get new marks and new invocations. There is a Celestial Pact for people that want to play "good" warlocks.  Before anyone dismisses this idea remember that Aleister Crowley had a pact with an angel he called Aiwass and believed was his personal guardian angel to who he made invocations to every day. 

Wizards have Arcane Traditions that more or less equated to "Schools of Magic."

The next section of this chapter covers a variety of character background ideas such as origins and life events with lots of random tables. Like an Old-School collection of random tables.  ALL of them are also perfectly adaptable for use in ANY version of D&D.  They remind me a lot of the tables from the 1st Ed AD&D Unearthed Arcana.  

There are some new racial feats, but unlike 3e or even 4e, 5e is not feat centric. You can even have a character that never takes a feat at all.  These are largely mechanical rule manifestations of possible background ideas.  Have weird eyes? Ok, you have weird eyes, jot it down on your sheet. Do these weird eyes do something special? Well, you might need to take a feat for that then.

Honestly, I did not see anything in this chapter that I could not easily convert to an earlier edition of and D&D. 

Chapter 2: Dungeon Master's Tools

This chapter covers a wide variety of topics but mostly expands on material already in the DMG. Topics like Falling, Sleep, Tying Knots, Adamantine Weapons, and Tool Proficiencies are all discussed. Lots of tools. 

Spellcasting gets a bit of special treatment here. The area of effects on a grid is detailed. d6s are used as visual aids to show how to set up on a grid. 

Some more detail on building monster encounters is also discussed, including single and multiple different types of monsters. There is an eye towards balance, but there is no requirement to do so. The only real advice is "avoid monsters that can drop a character in a single hit."  I have seen more than a few TPKs in D&D 5e. 

Again we are treated to what I can only describe as pages of old-school-style random encounter tables. 

There is also a section on Traps that while not quite as gleeful as a Grimtooth product, will still make that Chaotic Evil DM smile. How much?  One trap has a save DC of 20 and does 24d10 damage.

There is a discussion on downtime and the reason why my youngest bought this book, magic item creation rules. More magic items are also detailed.

Chapter 3: Spells

This last full chapter covers new spells. About 30 pages worth. The spell economy of 5e is different. There are no Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, and Cure Serious Wounds spells for example. There is only Cure Wounds and it is a low-level spell for Bards, Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers.  IF you want a more powerful version you cast it at a higher spell level. So instead of a 1st level spell, it is treated as a 5th level spell for example. This means less print space is needed for spells. 

Appendix A: Shared Campaign

This covers working on interlinked campaigns and working details out.  Not everything you need to know is here, some more could have been written, but it is a great start.

Appendix B: Character Names

This section is just tables and tables of names. Various cultures (English, French, Egyptian, and more) as well as other nonhuman ones ( Elf, Dwarf, Dragonborn, and more).  The nonhuman includes a personal name and a family or clan name as well.  I did notice that two Tieflings from "Brimstone Angels," Farideh and Havilar, are listed under the Dragonborn names.  Why? Well their adoptive father Mehen (51-52 on a d100) was a Dragonborn so he gave them Dragonborn names. 

So. I picked up this book for the various subclasses, but found a wealth here for many of my other D&D games.

I would say that most of this book is easily adaptable to any version of D&D you choose to try it with.  The exception might be 4e. There are some seriously interlinked mechanics there.

Xanathar's did quite well for a splat book and was even listed as one of Publisher's Weekly best-selling books for December of 2017. 

Despite his name and picture on the cover there is not a lot of material on Xanathar himself outside of the sidebars.  Wizards would later do a much better job with Tasha in her book.

The art is amazing as to be expected.  The layout is a step up from the Core Rules and shows what the design team has learned in the last few years.

You can see bits and pieces of D&D's DNA from all editions here, though this is largely true for 5th edition in general. 

Character Creation Challenge: Fear Dorich for Wasted Lands

 I got to thinking about these experiments, and I realized that I had yet to try converting a druid. I am a huge fan of druids, both as a concept and as a character class, with the 1st Ed AD&D one near the top of my list. I have done more than a few Bards, but no druid yet.

This also got me thinking about which Druid to use. I have plenty, including a few that have never seen "print" on these pages. But in the end, I am opting for an atypical druid. I am going to build Fear Dorich, the Dark Druid. 

Fear Dorich has a history in my games. I stated him up once for Castles & Crusades for a previous Character Creation Challenge, and he was the main antagonist of the Buffy adventure The Dark Druid. He is a great character with quite a lot of history with me. 

Fear Dorich, and that is not his name, It means "Dark Man," is or was a normal Druid. But in my games he is fighting the rising tide of Christianity. So he has taken it upon himself to keep the worship of the new God to a minimum by killing all the new worshipers. It is a losing battle, we all know, but that is the character I am playing here.  So he is not about grabbing what power he can to achieve those ends.

Fear Dorich, the Dark Druid

Class: Sorcerer
Level: 5
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark
Background: Animistic

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 16 (+2) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) N
Intelligence: 18 (+3) N
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 18 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 8
Vitality: 25
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 1

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Spell Attack: +3
Saves: +4 (+2) to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer), +2 to Persona saves, -2 to magic saves if far from a source of Radiance

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Wild Form, Shadow Walk

Sorcerer Spells
First Level: Armor of Earth, Bless, Restore Food and Water
Second Level: Beguile Person, Invoke Fear
Third Level: Dark Lightning

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: +1 to combat, Scimitar
2nd Level: Precognition Power

Animistic Background
Animal Summoning 1
Speak with Plants and Animals

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Scimitar

Wasted Lands Druids

This is Fear Dorich early into his career of killing members of the new faith. He already has a 1 point of corruption, and I am expecting a lot more.

Wasted Lands does an excellent job with druids; to be honest, you just have to choose your arcane powers and divine touchstones well.

He also fits in well to something else I am working on, but maybe more on that next week or even later down the line.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Tali Earlingstar II and Tyl Addigndale III

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

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

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

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

Tali Earlingstar II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Sword ("Shadowbane"), leather armor

Tyl Addingdale III

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Familiar: Bald Parrot "Jubilex"

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

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Short sword ("Shadewalk"), leather armor

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

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

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

Character Creation Challenge: Briana Highstar

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

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

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

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

So what can I speculate about Briana Highstar?

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

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

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

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

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

Briana Highstar

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

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

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

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

Arcane Abilities
Beguile, Precognition, Shadow Walking

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

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Domination

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

Gear
Whip

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

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

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

The Church of Lolth Ascendant

In the "Anything worth doing is worth doing in excess" category:  Some fluff for the D&D game.

There is a growing cult found among the elves of the world. Whispered in ears and it’s writings forbidden it is yet still gaining strong standing among elves, surface and drow alike, a simple, but heretical belief.

Lolth was betrayed.

The members of the Church of Lolth Ascendant firmly believe that Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders and Goddess of the Drow was in fact Araushnee, the Elven Goddess of Fate and Destiny. This is not in dispute. What is disputed however, are the events that lead Araushnee to become Lolth and what happened after.

Araushnee was born the same time as all the Elven Gods in the time just After Dawn. She was the most beautiful of all the Seldarine, her ebon skin glistened in the moonlight and looked like carved wood in the sun. Corellon said she was made out of piece of pure midnight and her hair reflected the light of the stars above. For this he gave her domain over the stars and secrets they keep. They say that the other Gods were jealous of her, but she did not see this, for Araushnee was born with the Sight. She could see the complicated strands of fate, understand the webs they could weave and make predictions.
It was these predictions that lead to her downfall.

Araushnee predicted that the peace of the elves would end in violent wars where elf battled “fearsome beasts” (orcs were not yet created), dwarfs and other elves. She was laughed at, but she knew her predictions were true. When the orcs were created and threatened elf territories the others still did not listen to her.

She saw the future Elf/Orc war and tried to warn Corellon. But he ignored her advice and was too busy dallying with the three goddess Sehanine Moonbow, Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya.

When the elves finally did respond Araushnee had another vision. She saw Corellon defeat Grummush and destroy the all of the orcs. But genocide was not enough for the victorious and bloodthirsty god. He attacked the dwarves and destroyed them, and then the gnomes, Halflings and finally humans. Araushnee saw a world in which only the Elves would remain and Corellon ruled all as a bloody tyrant. Arushnee loved Corellon, giving him two children, but did not want him to become a monster. She knew she had to stop him.

She turned to Sehanine Moonbow, the Goddess of Artisans, who she felt was a sister (despite her infidelity with her husband), to ask her for guidance. But Sehanine was jealous of Araushnee and her dominion of the night sky and of her place at Corellon’s side. She told Araushnee that the only way to protect the elves was to let the orcs know of their surprise raid. Araushnee agreed and left alone for Grummush’s lair. Sheanine remained behind in Arushnee’s home to wait out the battle.

Araushnee went to Grummush and told him of the surprise attack to happen and the strength of the elven forces. He commanded that she remain with him, she said no that it was her fate to die in the battle in the elvish fortress. This she had seen.

Araushnee returned saddened, but knowing that she had prevented Corellon from becoming an even greater monster than Grummush. She stood in readiness for battle with her kin and her children. She did not even notice that Sehanine was not with them. When the battle began the elvish forces were nearly overwhelmed. While they did fight the orcs back and achieve a victory, it was not the slaughter that Corellon was wanting. Orcs still lived, Grummush, wounded, still lived. Corellon raged, demanding to know who had betrayed them. Araushnee said nothing, still in shock over not dying in battle and wondering if her visions had been wrong. Then Sehanine returned, claiming she had been imprisoned by Araushnee, that she had discovered the Drow Queen’s plans to warn and join with Grummush.

Corellon confronted her asking if these claims were true. She admitted to telling Grummush, and that is all Corellon had heard. He went to strike her down but their son Vhaeraun stood in between them. Corellon struck him down instead. Now Araushnee grew enraged. She had sacrificed everything so that the elves could live and Corellon would remain a just ruler, but she was still the mother of this boy and no one, not even the First of the Seldarine, dared touch him in anger. Using all her own power she attacked her former lover. She knew his every move and was able to counteract his every attack and land her own instead. She would have succeeded in killing him had it not been for the lesser goddesses Sehanine Moonbow, Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya combining their power into one deity to defeat her.

With Araushnee defeated, broken and beyond everything else, despairing over the path Fate had lead her down. Corellon angered, cursed her, her form and her name. Cast her into the Abyss with her son and condemned all drow. He gave her powers to Sehanine Moonbow. He also cast out Eilistraee even though she had stood with her father.

Lolth, as she was now known, hid herself deep in the Abyss and wept.

The Worshippers of Araushnee

The lay worshipper of Araushnee is typically elven, though her voice finds an ear among half-elves and some humans. Her flock is typically younger than other new cults. It is believed that this is due to the fact that drow, once a feared nearly mythical boogeyman 20 years ago, are now more common of a sight. Even good Drow have been known to exist.

Tenants of Faith

Araushnee, now known as Lolth, was a member of the Elvish pantheon.
• She was unjustly banished and imprisoned in the Abyss.
• She wished for nothing more than to be reunited with her fellow elves. She forgives Corellon and even the goddesses Sehanine Moonbow, Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya. She wants them to welcome her back.
• The Drow are evil, but their evil is one that began with a lie and has been perpetuated by the Drow matriarchy.
• To achieve Arushnee’s reunification with the Seldarine, elven worshipers must achieve reunification with the Drow.
• Evils done in Lolth’s name are often the work of the evil Drow matriarchy, other demons, or even the Seldraine themselves.

Fourth Edition D&D

Araushnee
Lady of Fate, Banished Goddess, Queen of the Demonweb Pits
Unaligned Greater Goddess
Auaushnee, known to the world as Lolth, sits alone in the Demonweb Pits, the prison constructed for her by her former husband Corellon. She presides over Drow and spiders that mimic her ability to weave the stands of fate. Araushnee never answer summons, but communicates to her true followers in prophetic dreams and omens.

Araushnee does not make many demands on her worshippers, feeling that life is demanding enough. But she does hold all her worshipers to the following:
• Find your own fate and follow it.
• Honor Arsushnee not in words, but in deeds and actions.
• Seek to reunite that which has been sundered.

Worshipers: Drow, Dark and Star Pact Warlocks, Fortune Tellers, Diviners

New Feat: Web of Fate [Divinity]
Prerequisites: Channel Divinity class feature, must worship Araushnee (not Lolth).
Benefit: You can use the power of your deity to use web of fate.

Channel Divinity: Web of Fate Feat Power
The strands of fate play out before you like the silken threads of a spider. You may pluck a strand, altering fate in your favor.
Immediate Interrupt Close burst 10
Trigger: An ally in burst makes an attack roll or skill check
Target: One ally in burst
Effect: The target immediately rerolls the attack roll or skill check he or she just made, but must keep the second result, even if it is worse.
Special: You must take the Web of Fate feat to use this power.

Third Edition D&D 

Araushnee
Lady of Fate, Banished Goddess, Queen of the Demonweb Pits
Intermediate Deity
Symbol: A spider web or a drow woman holding a distaff
Home Plane: Demonweb Pits
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Drow, Fate, Chaos, Night, Stars
Worshipers: Drow, the oppressed, fortune tellers, those that seek redemption, witches
Cleric Alignment: CG, CN, CE
Domains: Fate*, Drow, Chaos, Darkness
Favored Weapon: Distaff (staff)

*Found in Complete Warrior

As the former Lady of Fate, Araushhnee was also responsible for the management of the Weave for elves. It is because of her weaving strands of the Weave into the fate of all elves. This is why Elves are the most magical race and it is something that all elves to this day still feel.

Avatars
Araushnee rarely sends avatars to consult with worshipers preferring to communicate via prophetic dreams and omens. She does this since she feels as living creatures her worshippers need to choose their own fates.

Dogma
Araushnee’s followers are guided to find their own fates and follow it. There will be signs for those that can read them and these signs will guide you. In the spirit of reunification the followers are encouraged to make whole things that have been broken apart. A typical tactic is a group of pilgrims from one elven community to another will ask for odd jobs to do fixing things. While the male members will work, the females will stay with the others to speak of another who wishes to mend. Fortune tellers and others that deal with reading the fates for a price also work in the Word for Araushnee.

Clergy and Temples
The Clergy of Araushnee tend to be young, spirited and have an absolute sense that what they are saying is in fact correct. They will often quote passages out of the Elven canon describing Araushnee’s betrayal and even produce so called “lost works” of Elven scholars that have been deemed to heretical for inclusion. While such works are in fact quite old what is lost to time is whether they were not included because they were heretical, or simply not true. Where they are open the Cult of Araushnee will preach their message of reunification with their Drow cousins and speak of “mending old wounds” both among the elves and among their gods. They firmly believe that if they can get enough worshippers the Seladrine will have to allow Araushnee’s return.
The lay worshipper of Araushnee is typically elven, though her voice finds an ear among half-elves and some humans. Her flock is typically younger than other new cults. It is believed that this is due to the fact that drow, once a feared nearly mythical boogeyman 20 years ago, are now more common of a sight. Even good Drow have been known to exist.
Temples are usually temporary affairs since the cult is tolerated at best and hunted at worse. A typical worship center for the Cult of Araushnee is outdoors in a woodland area (for elven sensibility) and usually at night (out of respect of the Goddess they revere). It is considered a good omen if there are spider webs found in a potential spot and a great omen if spiders spin their webs during the worship service. A sign that Araushnee is pleased.

Second Edition AD&D

Araushnee
Intermediate Power of the Abyss
CN

PORTFOLIO: Fate, darkness, chaos, spiders, the drow race
ALIASES: Lolth, Lloth (Menzoberranzan and Uluitur), Megwandir, Moander, Zinzerena
DOMAIN NAME: 66th level/Lolth's Web (the Demonweb Pits)
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: None
FOES: Deep Duerra, Eilistraee, Ghaunadaur, Gruumsh, Ibrandul (dead), Kiaransaleen, Laduguer, Moander (dead), the Seldarine, Vhaeraun, Blibdoolpoolp, the Blood Queen, Diinkarazan, Diirinka, Great Mother, Gzemnid, Ilsensine, Ilxendren, Laogzed, Maanzecorian (dead), Psilofyr
SYMBOL: Female drow holding a distaff or a spider’s web
WOR. ALIGN.: N, CG, CN, CE


Specialty Priests
Fate Spinners
REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 13
PRIME REQ.: Wisdom
ALIGNMENT: CG, CN, CE, N
WEAPONS: Any
ARMOR: Any
MAJOR SPHERES: All, astral, animal, chaos, combat, divination, guardian, healing, protection, summoning, sun (reversed only)
MINOR SPHERES: Charm, creation, wards
MAGICAL ITEMS: As clerics
REQ. PROFS: Etiquette, weaving
BONUS PROFS: Animal training (spiders), spellcraft

• Fate Spinners are allowed to and encouraged to multiclass.
• Fate Spinners are immune to all spider venoms.
• Fate Spinners can communicate with spiders of all kinds, and spiders never harm them in any way.
• At 2nd level, Fate Spinners can cast spider climb (as the 1st-level wizard spell) or spidereyes (as the Ist-level wizard spell found in Wizard's Spell Compendium, Volume 3 or the Ist-level priest spell in The Drow of the Underdark) once per day. If spider climb is cast, it does not prevent spell-casting so long as two limbs grip the surface being climbed, and light objects do not stick to the priest's hands and feet. Spidereyes allows the caster to see through the eyes of a single normal or giant arachnid within 60
yards, but it does not grant any control over the arachnid's movements or direction of gaze.
• At 5th level, Fate Spinners can cast dispel magic (as the 3rd-level priest spell) or web (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) twice per day.
• At 7th level, Fate Spinners can cast summon shadow (as the 5thlevel wizard spell) or spider summoning (as the 5th-level priest spell) twice per day.
• At 10th level, Fate Spinners can cast true seeing (as the 5th-level priest spell, but with twice the normal duration) or spiderform (as the 5th-level priest spell) twice per day.
• At 13th level, fate spinners can cast dream (as the 5th-level wizard spell) once per day.

Fate Spinners are allowed the same spells as are the Arachne if they are drow.

Araushnee in the Campaign

Forgotten Realms
Araushnee has the strongest presence in the Forgotten Realms world of Toril. Her cult, while not wide spread, does have some concentration in the more urban centers of the world where ideas can easily be shared and of course high among the elves. In particular the cult has gained a foothold among the students of the University in Silverymoon and on the streets of Waterdeep. In Silverymoon more humans are found among the cult’s members than anywhere else, though elves still outnumber the human cultists. In Waterdeep, Araushnee’s message is whispered from trader to trader and in the shops and in the fortune tellers’ stalls. A small temple(in truth a small shop) is maintained in the Field Ward. The Temple is in good standing with the city having paid all their dues and strictly adhering to all the laws. So despite complaints the city officials have no cause to throw them out.
It is from these two strongholds of faith that the cult has spread. Recently the cult has been spotted in Baldur’s Gate as Elven travelers have left other parts of the world to come here.

Greyhawk
With little surprise the stronghold of faith for the worship of Araushnee lies in the City of Greyhawk itself. Once felt to be a minor esoteric cult grown out of the idle speculation of University students the cult has spread to many lands where there are elves. There are however more Drow in the Araushnee cult on Oerth than on Toril. Why this might be is unknown, but plannular scholars suspect it might be due to the lesser presence of other good-aligned Drow gods such as Eilistraee on Oerth.
Due to city laws there are no standing temples to Araushnee in the city and the members of the Oligarchy have spoken out about it.
Arushnee’s cult has taken longer to establish here than in other worlds since the events of the Temple of Elemental Evil are still within living memory.

D20 Modern – (Urban Arcana, Shadow Chasers, Dark*Matter)
The worship of Araushnee is open and widespread. Considered to be a neo-Pagan Goddess that has been “re-discovered” she is celebrated as a symbol of triumph (in particular female triumph) over adversity (in particular male adversity). She is revered both by humans and elves alike. Her popularity has grown since she was used as the “spokesperson” for the phenomenally successful “Lolth Fair – A Celebration of Women in Music” event of the previous decade.

Drow in power are less likely to follow Araushnee than those living in the streets or slums of the modern world. Though she has also found solid ground with the various feminist movements among the elves, they differ is feeling Araushnee should not have beg for forgiveness, but rather it is the other elven gods that should be asking for hers.

Witches of Arashnee

Given her status as a “rejected” or “outsider” goddess, the priesthoods of Araushnee could best be described as witches in the classical sense. They worship a god felt to be evil by all of those around. They could also be described as witches in the modern sense, worshipers of downtrodden and most misunderstood goddess.

1st and 2nd Edition, Complete Netbook of Witches
My suggestion of course would be to use my own “Complete Netbook of Witches and Warlocks”. It is a free netbook that is all over the internet now. Just Google it.

Witches of Arashnee are of an Eclectic or Faerie Tradition. Typically they will belong to a small coven of eight or less, eight being the primary number of significance for Arashnee’s cult.
The Gypsy Elves in this book are also among her worshipers and are one of the primary means for the spread of her cult.
Arashnee’s Witches have the following Occult Powers:
Lesser: Brew Truth Drug
Minor: Acquire Familiar (Spiders and Arachnids only)
Medial: Immune to Supernatural Fear
Greater: Fascination
Superior: Foretell Future

3rd Edition, Liber Mysterium, the Complete Book of Witches and Warlocks
While there are a number of d20 compatible witches on the market, I also suggest using my “Liber Mysterium” book on witches. Again, it is free and can be found with a Google search, most likely that same search that works above.

Witches of Arashnee are of an Eclectic or Faerie Tradition. Typically they will belong to a small coven of eight or less, eight being the primary number of significance for Arashnee’s cult.
Typically the Witches of Arashnee hail from Eclectic or Faerie (Kuruni) traditions, with most witches being human and elf respectively.
They have the following Occult Powers
Minor (7th Level): Fate’s Luck
Medial (13th Level): Dream, as per the 5th level Wizard spell.
Greater (19th Level): Foretell Future

Links

A cool blog post I found about Lolth and Ereshkigal, http://dovearrow.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/the-descent-of-lolth-and-the-goddess-ereshkigal/
That Wikipedia thingy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolth
Forgotten Realms wiki, http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Lolth
Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, Lolth is a semi-regular, http://yafgc.shipsinker.com/

Who is Your Favorite Witch?

Something I did for another site, but thought it would work well here.  I started watching "Salem" finally. Love it so far.  Has not grabbed me like American Horror Story did, but it is only a matter of time.
We also have Maleficent out this weekend so really it is a good time for witches on TV and Movies.

Or as Time Magazine said it, "Witches are the new Vampires".

My goal with Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch and Warlock would be to allow you play ANY type of witch. Good, Bad, Wicked, whatever type of witch is YOUR favorite, that is what I want to do.

Here is a list of my Top Ten witches, in no particular order.  Who is your favorite?  Let me know in the poll below and in the comments section.

1. Cordelia Foxx (American Horror Story: Coven) - In the 13 episodes of 'American Horror Story - Coven' we saw Cordelia go from meek instructor of Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies and living in the long shadow of Jessica Lange's Supreme to be being blinded, given the Sight, finding out her husband was a witch killer, given some new eyes, blinded again and then finally displaying the Seven Wonders to become the newest Supreme.
As the Supreme she is in charge of all the world's witches.  Since going public that is a lot more girls that need training.  American Horror Story never shied away from death, gruesome dismemberment, sexual taboos and killing off main cast members.  While we might not see Supreme Cordelia again, we certainly will see Sarah Paulson in more seasons.

2. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter Books and Movies) - Harry may have been the 'Chosen One' but you know what he would have been without the "most brilliant witch of her generation"?  Easy. Dead.  Remember in the books Hermione was shy, not very attractive and an infuriating know-it-all.  By Book 3 Harry and Ron both begin to notice, but long before her magical makeover Hermione was proving she was worth more than a full Quidditch team of Chosen Ones.  She mastered spells long before any of her classmates, she brewed the Pollyjuice potions, even in Book 3 (the Prisoner of Azkaban) she is using a Time Turner to take extra classes in the same day.  Who else has done that?  Not to mention while dealing with the whole You-Know-Who thing she still manages to fight for House Elf rights.
Plus, and let us be honest here, she could have a wicked temper.  She was the one that tricked Dolores Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest to get captured by Centaurs and she keeps Rita Skeeter trapped in a jar for the last part of The Goblet of Fire.

3.  Piper Halliwell (Charmed) - For eight seasons of Charmed Piper went from the quiet middle sister of the Halliwell witches to the ass-kicking, demon killing leader of the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches in the world.   She helped kill the leader of the demon-world, The Source of All Evil, twice. Three times if you count the near attempts in the later seasons.   She married a Guardian Angel (a "White Lighter" in the show), gave birth to two sons that were half-witch and half-lighter and destined to be the future protectors of the innocents of the world.  But more importantly she did all of this while keeping her family and friends safe. Well...mostly safe.

4.  Willow Rosenberg & Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - Willow was the shy Scooby. The one that didn't want cause problems, but she helped her new friend Buffy Summers, another chosen one, because if nothing else Willow does what it right.  She got a little taste of magical power in Season 2 and the rest. Well Willow became the most powerful witch in the series.  She re-ensouled Angel, she went toe to toe with demons of all sorts, and when a god destroyed her girlfriend Tara's mind then Willow did something that the Slayer herself had not done. She made a god scream.  Willow though struggled with her power and when a stray bullet killed Tara, Willow (and the Willow and Tara fans) went crazy and nearly destroyed the world. She was talked back down, but she never seemed the same after that.
Tara was and is my favorite Buffy character. For me she is a quiet, but deep well of power. Spend anytime on this site to see what I mean.

5.  Samantha Stephens (Bewitched) - You know what real power is?  Not strangling the annoying people around you! At least that is what I think Samantha's real power was.  Married to a muggl-sorry, mortal, Darren, Samantha still managed to use her powers, stay out of the spotlight (or at least the prying eyes of neighbor Mrs. Kravitz), solve the problems and still look fantastic all in 25 minutes.  A lot of Samantha's problems came from trying to please her husband Darren or from her relatives and later daughter.  With a twitch of her nose and nary a "hocus pocus" heard she still managed it all.

6. Joanna Beauchamp (Witches of East End) - Joanna Beauchamp has managed to do something so magical it makes the other witches seem like First Years at Hogwarts.  She made me really like Julia Ormond!  I am being slightly snarky with that I fear.  I like Julia Ormond, I just never cared for her characters till now.  Joanna is a fierce witch. She is the protective mother (and ALL that entails) of Freya and Ingrid and loving sister of Wendy (who I thought was going to be my favorite Beauchamp witch). She has proven to be strong, determined and despite all that, she still doesn’t know all the answers.  I like that in my witches; knowing that magic can’t solve all her problems.  Joanna and Julia keep me coming back for more Witches of East End.

7. Lafayette Reynolds (True Blood) - Lafayette may have died in the books early on, but in the TV series he is a series regular and one of the most popular characters.  Later on he learns he is witch when his boyfriend Jesus reveals to him that he is a Brujo.  Lafayette can channel the spirits of the dead and possibly even a demon.

8. Mary Sibley (Salem) - I have only just started watching this series but so far I love what I see. Mary is an interesting, conflicted character.  It is hard not to sympathize with her, but she is certainly not on the side of angels here.  Special recognition has to go out to Tituba, one of the historical Salem “witches” and the bridge point between this series and American Horror Story Coven.

9. Katrina (Sleepy Hollow) - We have only seen glimpses of Katrina and her power. But one thing is for sure she is firmly in the camp of the “Good Witches”.  Also given her birth she would be one of the first women to truly be called an “American Witch”.  I am looking forward to seeing so much more of her next season of what turned out to be one of my favorite shows of 2013.

10. Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent) - She is either a fairy or a witch, maybe both, but there is no doubt that she is powerful. She put a princess to sleep for 100 years and raised and entire forest of thorns.

Honorable Mention: Cassie (Hex), Wicked Witch of the West (Oz, Wicked), Angelique (Dark Shadows), Robin (Witch Hunter Robin), Sabrina (Sabrina the Teen Aged Witch), Luna and Tonks (Harry Potter), Witchiepoo (H.R. Puffinstuff), Jadis (The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe), Rachel Morgan (The Hollows Series) and Kiki (Kiki’s Delivery Service)

Who is your favorite?

Favorite Witches
	Cordelia Foxx (American Horror Story: Coven)
	Hermione Granger (Harry Potter Books and Movies)
	The Halliwell Sisters (Charmed)
	Willow & Tara (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
	Samantha Stephens (Bewitched)
	Joanna Beauchamp (Witches of East End)
	Lafayette Reynolds (True Blood)
	Mary Sibley (Salem
	Katrina (Sleepy Hollow)
	Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent)
pollcode.com free polls

Black Rose, Part 1

I had no idea people would like this one so much.  I mean to me it seems a no-brainer.   Let me roll back a bit and talk about why I think so.


I love Ravenloft.  It was *my* world for all of 2nd Ed.  I loved the Gothic horror feel, I loved that there were all these worlds and this was some sort of cosmic dumping ground of evil.  But mostly I loved the atmosphere, there was something about it that was different than all the other AD&D worlds out at the time.  Greyhawk was basically dead, I hated the Forgotten Realms, Planescape was cool but I hate stupid made up slang.
But I had a basic problem with Ravenloft.  A world drowning evil is not always the best one to play in.  Or as I used to say, Ravenloft was great at night, but during the day it was lacking.

Well I put Ravenloft away when I did my great D&D break of the late 90s.  When D&D 3 came out I purchased one of the limited editions Ravenloft core books.  After all it was being done by White Wolf and they know horror.  While it did make me interested in the lands again, the spark was gone.  Besides at this time the Kargatane was breaking up and Ravenloft was not as fun as before.

Then a new game came into my life.  Blue Rose.   In Blue Rose I felt there were a lot of the same things I liked about Ravenloft.  Emphasis on character development and story telling, less on combat.  One by nature the other by choice.  I know a lot of people disliked Blue Rose, but it did give us True 20.  And in True 20 I saw the answer to a lot of the problems I had with Ravenloft.  Ravenloft as an idea was Gothic Horror stapled on to a fantasy action adventure game.  True 20 was systemless.  It was much easier to represent more people with combinations of the Expert, Warrior and Adept classes than the standard D&D ones; or worse the 36 some odd classes we had in the d20 Masque of the Red Death.



Blue Rose also took on some of the same issues that Ravenloft did.  That of being an outsider for one, or working for a cause of light vs. darkness.  People criticized BR's morality, but that is a perfect morality for Romantic Fantasy or Gothic Horror.

In the last couple of years we have seen a surge of books that fall under the term "Urban Fantasy" or "Horror Romance" and even "Chick-Lit".   Typically these books feature a strong willed female protagonist who sometimes makes mistakes but in the end finds her own inner strength.  Sometimes she gets the guy (or girl, or both) all in a world where magic, vampires, werewolves and other horrors are real.  Maybe she is even one of those horrors herself.  Plus many of the authors of those early Ravenloft novels are now "names" in this market such as Elaine Bergstrom, Christie Golden, P. N. Elrod and Laurell K. Hamilton.  Modern urban gothic fantasy is in Ravenloft's DNA.   Blue Rose as a concept supports this type of roleplaying very well.

So I sat down with my Blue Rose book and my d20 Ravenloft book and I started to notice too all sorts of places where they were the same.  So I had this idea, blasphemous as it sounds, to mix in Ravenloft with Blue Rose. I wanted to cast a shadow of Aldea, something is not right any longer. The Queen still holds court, lovers still walk hand in hand, and there are still adventures to be had.   But I had questions I needed to answer. Why has Aldea and Ravenloft "merged"? Or were they always together?
If they merged what was the catalyst? Why now?
What is the effect on the populace with this new influx of evil and dread?

One of the things I have wanted to do is bring Ravenloft out of "mists" and into a real world. Yeah I know that looses someof what makes Ravenloft unique, but I also like the idea of "horror is everywhere" and not needing to go someplace remote to find it.
By bringing Aldea and Ravenloft together I can have "days" and "nights" covered.  Aldea becomes a near perfect landscape with some deep seated malaise over it.  A dark cloud on the horizon.  Or as I call it in my games, "the oncoming darkness"

Here are my first thoughts.

The Races and other Groups
Humans are humans and remain untouched.

I plan to keep Sea Folk for now, but given my Lovecraftian background I will certainly introduce some dark spawn that plauges them. Something like the Shadows out Innsmouth or something.

Night People are the easiest to deal with since their creation is basically to fill that game playing niche of half-orcs. But they also serve other purposes as well, as a constant reminder of the dangers of dark magics and in the case of good and noble Night People, to remind the players and characters that you cannot judge a person by their birth. In all these regards they are nearly identical to the Ravenloft Calibans.

Both games describe these ersatz Half-Orcs much in the same manner. They are products of dark sorcery; they are feared, hulking brutes. I will use the Night People racial modifiers from the BR Core and the backgrounds of both races into one since there is no conflict between them.

Roamers will be replaced by the Vistani from Ravenloft. There is just so much information on the Vistani that it makes sense to use them in place of the Roamers. I will keep the Roamer name, that is what native Aldeans still call them. I will still use most of the information on Roamers from the World of Aldea book, in particular the sayings. Where they contradict is simple. The Vistani are a large group with many Tasques, something that is true for one in not true for the other. Or true depending on where they are. Or, let’s face it, neither group is very forthcoming with information to the giorgios. I have to decide whether or not to use the “Half-Vistani” race. In the Vistani lore there is ample evidence that these children are different than their full blooded cousins. And not using them robs me of a plot device where a young half-blooded Vistani goes on an epic quest to discover “her father’s people” and ends up discovering herself instead. Plus I love the Tarot work on backgrounds. So I will see if it can be adapted to use the Tarokka deck. Maybe when adventures get ready to go on their first epic quests a Vistani vardo comes to town and reads their fortunes to them (using the Ravenloft rules) and then shows them their character (Blue Rose rules).

Vata are still more or less Elves, or more to the point, the Sidhe of Aldea. Ravenloft has elves and half elves, but not a lot of them. My solution then is to go with Blue Roses’ idea and have all the Elves (Sidhe, Vata) be extinct. I have not decided with domains to pull in, but I have figured out that the Ravenloft Domain of Sithicus was the last Vata/Elf country before they were destroyed. Now it is a sad, haunted land.
I might remove the Vata’an and Vata’sha as races and instead use a feat to represent “Vata Touched”. Still thinking about that one really.

Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes exist as rumors or fairy tales only. They might have existed somewhere in the past, but no longer.

More on the lands and bringing these worlds together later.

Character Creation Challenge: Enter the HIVE!

 I wanted to spend a week doing evil characters, but my week got away from me. I was supposed to do these yesterday. Plus I also have another reason for doing these. My oldest is building a bunch of NPC adventuring parties. In his current game these adventuring guilds are akin to the social media celebrities of his world. They are all ranked, with the ones with the highest ranks getting the best sponsorship deals and merchandising deals. Groups with signature-named weapons do better since the weapons can be sold separately for their action figures.  

The Hive here are not highly ranked. But that is fine since he needs a few of them.

I am not 100% sure about the origin of these guys, but the timing and the names of the characters remind me of my own "Spyder Society" I had made a couple years before them.  I don't think they were made to be NPCs, these look like characters he was going to play at some point. Plus a few have what look like "play notes" on them.

What REALLY stands out about these characters though is they were made for the Forgotten Realms. This is interesting because I didn't even know Grenda, a hard core Greyhawk guy, was doing anything at all with the Realms. But they all worship evil gods from the Realms. He also has his city, Rivendell (not the Tolkien one), placed in the Realms somewhere. If I use them, I'll change that to Waterdeep. Though I would have liked to have known where he put his city on Faerûn.

There is a nice variety here, but all are 1st level (or so) and all are fairly standard AD&D classes. So translating them into Wasted Lands is pretty easy.

Cobra

Class: Renegade
Level: 1
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Warrior

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

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 10
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Thug

Gear
Longsword, dagger, crossbow

Widow

Class: Renegade
Level: 1
Species: Dökkálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Warrior

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

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 6
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: 1 Level of Sorcerer

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Longsword, dagger, dart

Pi

Class: Renegade/Necromancer
Level: 1/1
Species: Half-Ljósálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

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

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 7
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from the Dead

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Telekinesis 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Speaker to the Dead

Gear
Shortsword, mace, dagger

Wasp

Class: Renegade/Sorcerer
Level: 3/3
Species: Deep Gnome
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

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

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 4
Vitality: 13
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

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

Sorcerer Abilities
Spell casting, Aracna (Enhanced Senses, Psychic Power Suggestion)

Sorcerer Spells
First Level: Chill Ray, Extinguish Light
Second Level: Invisibility

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Bio-feedback 
3rd Level: Luck Benefit

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Shortsword, mace, dagger

Cottonmouth

Class: Renegade/Necromancer
Level: 1/1
Species: Half-orc
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 17 (+2)  
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 10 (+0) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 8
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from the Dead

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Assassin

Gear
Bastardsword, morningstar, dagger

"The Shadow"

No idea who this is. "He" appears to be their boss or handler.  His name appears on all their sheets under Patron. It is likely that one of his own characters relocated to the Realms.

I must admit. I am tempted to reuse these characters for my own Forgotten Realms expropriations. A great set of antagonists for my Sinéad.

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