The Gaming Journal 01

Madonna of the Twelve Cats
- Name is an alias, an outcast of her people or self-exiled, comfortable living in near a human village.
Alignment: Neutral Good
Race/Sex: Elven female
Class: Wizard with the Incantatrix prestige class
Levels: 10 Total: Wizard – 6th, Incantatrix – 4th
Spell level/Number: 0/4, 1st/5, 2nd/5, 3rd/4, 4th/4, 5th/2
Str: [-10-][+00], Int: [-22-][+06], Wis: [-14-][+02], Dex: [-12-][+01], Con: [-12-][+01], Cha: [-16-][+03]
Feats: Brew Potion, Craft Wand, Extend Spell, Iron Will, Maximize Spell, Persistent Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Penetration, Summon Familiar (Cat).
Apprentices(?): Yes. A halfling male almost finished with his studies and soon to graduate and a young human male 15 or 16 years of age in a possible love relationship. I could opt out for a love triangle in Madonna acquires a third apprentice. The young human is a sorcerer with silent spell and quick spell feats. Intelligent and athletic, he already knows Expeditious Retreat and Feather Fall.
Weapons and Equipment
Staff of Divinations, Wand of Flame Arrows, Bracers of Armor +3, 2 Ioun Stones, Spell Storing Dagger +2, Several Potions, Powders, Oils, Censer of Summoning Air Elementals
Notes: An attractive but delicate physique, study but not fragile. She has twelve adorable cats as companions.

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

Madonn of the Crows
- Name is an alias, a twin outcast of his blood or self-exiled, comfortable living in near a human village or larger metropolis.
Alignment: Neutral Good
Race/Sex: Half-Orc
Class: Wizard
Levels: 10 Total: Wizard – 9th, Mage of the Arcane Order – 5th
Spell Level/Number: 0/4, 1st/5, 2nd/5, 3rd/5, 4th/5, 5th/3, 6th/3, 7th/2
Guild Membership: Greyhawk City (Oerth) – Baldur’s Gate (Toril)
Str: [-16-][+03], Int: [-24-][+07], Wis: [-13-][+01], Dex: [-13-][+01], Con: [-15-][+02], Cha: [-14-][+02]
Feats: Cooperative Magic, Craft Rod, Craft Wondrous Item, Extra Slot, Extra Spell, Maximize Spell, Quick Spell, Scribe Scroll, Summon Familiar (Crow)
Apprentices(?): Yes. A goblin male nearing the competition of her studies and oddly enough, one of his finer students (a superb addition to his small but peaceful community). A waifish half-elven female, no more than fourteen winters old, who’s shown an immature but romantic (but not plutonic) relationship with Madonn of the Crows.
Weapons and Equipment
Bracers of Armor +4, Staff of Passage, Rod of Flame Extinguishing, Wand of Lighting Bolts, Cube of Force, Fire Elemental Gem, Pearl of Power, Ring of Mind Shielding, Ring of the Ram, Spell Storing Dagger +3
Notes: An outspoken attitude with a robust personality

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

A Righteous Life of the Dragon-blooded

Lytherin-Ax (Axl)
- Fins little solace in human or elven communities, save those that worship a good dragon deity as their patron. Axl has utter contempt for evil dragon worshippers, especially those who pay homage to Tiamat.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Race/Sex: Half-Dragon (Brass)
Class: Cleric with the Morniglord of Lathander and Dracolyte prestige classes
Levels: 13 Total, 6th Level - Cleric, 4th Level – Morninglord of Lathander, Dracolyte – 3rd Level
Spell Number/Level: 0/6, 1st/6+1, 2nd/6+1, 3rd/5+1, 4th/5+1, 5th/3+1, 6th/2+1, 7th/1+1
Patrons: Lathander, God the Dawn and Renewal and Bahamut
Str: [-19-][+04], Int: [-14-][+02], Wis: [-24-][+07], Dex: [-14-][+02], Con: [-15-][+02], Cha: [-17-][+03]
Feats: Dragonfriend, Improved Turning, Toughness, Power Attack, Turn Undead
Skill Considerations: Knowledge (Religion – Sammaster), Knowledge (Dragons), Knowledge (Religion: Cult of the Dragon), plus any skill requirements as per his prestige classes.
Apprentices(?): None, hopes to get his first wyrmling soon.
Weapons and Equipment
Heavy Searing Mace +03, Plate Mail +03, Shield of Acid Resistance +02, Wand of Cure Serious Wounds, Wand of Delayed Neutralize Poison, Meta-Magic Rod of Spell Penetration
Notes: Talkative, boisterous, and has a gift for stating the obvious

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

More Chaos from the Abyss
Fiendish Codex I: The Hordes of The Abyss

A few ideas I’ve been kicking around in my head. It’s time to pull them out of the brainstorming box and put them into development.

- Offalmound – The 233rd Layer
One question of the minds of Abyssal sages is whose left ruling the largest mound of putrid waste in the Abyss since the demise of Moander?

- Several Factions seem to be locked in an endless battle over supremacy. Juiblex and Zuggtmoy have sent raiding parties into that layer to harvest and scavenge whatever remnants of Moander’s divinity they can collect while dodging the demonic companies of no less than three powerful abyssal demons who vie for control and title of that particualr plane.

Zzzeymozzz, a Chasme/Balor demonic crossbreed and rebellious upstart of Obox-Ob left Zionyn after the Queen of Chaos murdered the Prince of Vermin and gave his title (Prince of Demons) to Mishka the Wolf-Spider. Zzzeymozzz knew which way the abyssal wind (under Mishka) was blowing and through a sheer fit of abyssal insight saw his Master’s vacancy as his chance for true power and status. For the last several centuries, he has offered his considerable services as a mercenary-general to any Demon Lord or Divine Aspect willing to pay his price. Now with Moander the Rotting God asunder, Zzzeymozzz may very well control his own plane and inherit the title the Prince of Rot.

Bloodbriar (a Shambling Mound/Briarvex/Balor composite) is an unwholesome monstrosity to behold. Red uncongealed blood, black ichorous sap, rotting puss and all many of vital fluid bleed from his body. This creature and former General of Moander Bloodbriar believes he is the inheritor of Moander’s rotting legacy and those who trespass upon Offalmound do so under threat of death. Bloodbriar, however, is on the loosing end in the civil war that wracks this layer and maybe soon he will be forced to choose. Envoys from the Queen of Fungi are close in securing his allegiance, but at high price. His allegiance could shift the power structure in Zuggtmoy’s favor against her hated enemy, Juiblex.

Fiendish Otyughs and ravenous Otyughs have spawned rapidly across Offalmound with Moander’s demise and so at the bidding of a Klurichir/Ravenous Otyugh variant. This monstrous general’s goal is unknown save Qulyll is clever enough to play all sides against each other.

Finally, a Demonhive led by a creature that, general description reports, is a Bloodmote Swarm/Succubus variant. The hive is eager to carve a portion of this layer for themselves and expand their hive.

- Gracc’Loa - The Bottomless Gullet – The 465th Layer
From the few records of the Terminus Archive, very little is known about this 465 Layer of the Abyss. Journals and fell tomes name the layer as Gracc’Loa or the Bottomless Gullet, a layer of the Abyss where Demon Lords and their lackeys discard the unwanted and dangerous (be it persons, personas, and things). Most information describing the internal layer itself is considered outdated as it has gone unexplored, or avoided, for nearly eight centuries. The earliest field journals tell of maggot-like demons attaching themselves and consuming their prey slowly over decades and some over centuries, some awash in pools of boiling stomach acid and putrid phlegm. Any living sources are vindictive to all literature procured in the Terminus Archive. The few expeditions and diplomatic entourage that have enter the layer have lost their sanity. Little is known of its forgotten Obyrith lord save his own dying people shunned him and imprisoned him as a true maddening creature whose sole function is to feed off what ever living creature pleased him. That and he’s known by the twin titles as the Prince of Parasites and the Prince of Consumption. The Tanar’ri send a few diplomats hoping to retrieve a mistakenly discarded object or unfortunate person, most bring relics and living sacrifices as bargaining chips.

- How to create a Marilith of Lolth
Using the standard Marilith (MM-I, Pg. 41) from the Monster Manual One, I would change her lower torso from that of a serpent or serpent-like abomination to that of a large hairless ebon-skinned spider. These maraliths in the service of Lolth would be taken directly from loyalist Drow stock and all would be female. They would retain all racial abilities and those would stack with abilities and skill from the base Marilith template. However, I would imbue such war-like creatures with a Lolth-touched template (MM-IV, Pg. 93) followed by the Anarchic template from the Planar Handbook (PlH, Pg 107-108). Seriously, I like to keep my demon that way, in regards to the nature of the planes they inhabit and in regards to the Demon Princes and Queens they serve. Second, I like the feat, the Abyssal Bound Soul, and the art from Fiendish Codex I (Pg. 83). That picture alone opened door to designing base demons in the servitude of particular Lords and Queens. Personal, most should have physical and psychological attributes detailed after their particular Patron. All Mariliths in the service of Lolth should be drawn heavily from the fighter or cleric classes. The former over the latter preferred.

And just a side note, I’m not using the Abyssal Bound Soul Feat per rules, but it’s given me a source of inspiration and creativity. I’ll need to do block stats sometime soon.

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

A Primer on Divination

The basic and advanced spell functions of the spell-craft in the school of divination are based on the principals:
- The Six Interrogatives: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
- The Three Constraints of Time: Past, Present and Future occurrences

- Enhanced Sensory Perception
Psychotelemetry: The ability to discern and navigate towards specific locations. Homing senses
Empathy: the ability to perceive emotional states and discern psychological states including deception, falsehood, and cognitive capabilities.
Energy or Magic Perception: Detect magic patterns, environmental fluctuations, etc.
Aura/Alignment Perception: Detect planar auras and patterns of potential hostilities or incantations that mimic low level empathic and telepathic abilities.
Precognition: Information obtained through future before the events unfold in the present

- Telecommunication across Vast or Outer Distances, Eavesdropping and voice recognition
Planar Communication: Expand Higher States of Consciousness
Scrying: The ability to sense and gather information from locations beyond the capabilities of human sensory capacity

- The Accumulation of Lost or Censored Knowledge
Psychometry: Object Reading
Ancestor Reading/Worship: Commune with ancestors, interned relatives, historical figures, etc.
Chronological Psychometry: Reading the historical events in a specific location

- The Accessibility of Lost or Censored Knowledge (Condition Magic)
Diviner’s Access: Insight in the pathology of magical enchantments and patterns of exploitation.

- Archival Systems of Storage and Retrieval
Magical Items and Enchantments: The underlying principals of divination as enchantments and other magical devises. (I.E. maps that draw themselves and other locations)

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

Dice Rolls, or why Ninjas Should Not Play With Sharp Onjects

A simplified method of understanding the mechanics behind DC checks in any d20 game.

Active Vs. Active
Active Vs. Defensive (to Hit Armor Class)
Defensive Ss. Active (Damage Resistance, Toughness, to Parry)
Passive Vs. Defensive
Passive Vs. Passive

Drawing a blank on how I could explain or incorporate this into a d6 or d20 RPG. I think I’ll shelf it and come back to it later.

© Jeffrey N. Williams, 2007. All rights reserved.

Art Blocks


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