Friday, January 11, 2019

Angels: Redoing the 5e Monster Manual

I already have angels in my world. Everyone in my world has an angel. They live inside your dreams and rarely show themselves on purpose. You have to seek them out. They're the kid in the yellow smock that's drawing with chalk on the pavement of that one weird nightmare you keep having.

They always have the yellow coat. They always have the chalk (they're often drawing you dying in horrible ways).

All angels are the daughters of Zweila, the giant who was to cut the head off the Ran (the world snake) before she was betrayed, her own sword stabbed into her. She escaped, like most giants, into a pocket dimension, left to bleed her white blood.

She holds her hands out, cupped to catch the trickle of blood from her mouth. Every so often there's a clot and it sludges out and falls in the pool of her palms, and this forms an angel.

They watch you from the dream plane hoping you'll be the one to pull the sword from Zweila and kill Ran.

I'm copying and pasting the rest from my reddit because I'm tired.

STATS

HD 25 HP 137 SPEED 220’ (flying/hovering/levitating/anything that allows them to not exert force)

AC 16 (high dex)

ATTACK Zweihander +8 to hit, 2d6 + 8 damage, 6d6 + 8 to demons (includes witches married to demons, half-demons, demon marked sorcerers, warlocks with demon patrons, or anyone with any positive association to a demon)

DEFENSE Immune to ranged attacks unless from another angel, Immune to Zweihanders, Offended by any attacks that don’t come from an immaculate weapon, also has a buckler shield that she will use on occasion (+2ac)

SPECIAL phobia of snakes (will not go to Ran and abhors the Serpent Prince) which imposes disadvantage to all rolls revolving around snakes in any capacity, and being presented with a snake has a 50/50 chance of snapping them into a battle frenzy or paralyzing them

Colorblind - they only see in shades of white on account of the milk they were born in

The Gift - Angels can reach inside you, as if your chest was a curtain, and pull from it something and gift it to you. They often do not know what will come out and are just as often disappointed by the lack of blood it spills.

Angel Appearances - or at your own discretion


When

  1. You critical fail at your most critical moment
  2. Someone crits you when you were about to do something great
  3. You fail your second death save
  4. After you anger the government
  5. Near a pit of snakes
  6. When someone breaks your heart

Where

  1. Out of the corner of your eye
  2. In the back of a muscle car
  3. Parachuting down
  4. Out from under some bricks (or a manhole)
  5. The shadow of an alley or a passing cloud
  6. From your chest, which opens like a curtain for her

Why? - what they say when you ask

  1. I thought you needed a cheerleader, she says using air-quotes and rolling her eyes.
  2. You’re boring if you’re dead. shrugs
  3. It’s a job. Nothing personal. snaps rubber glove on hand
  4. Brushes dust off your shoulder Shut up.
  5. You’re just about useless.
  6. That’s a weird way of saying “thank you”, kid.

THE GIFT

Angels can see what you really are, what creature wears your skin, what color your soul is. If they feel like it, they can pull this from your chest and let it face the world. It doesn’t have to be kind, or subservient. Most of the time they are violent and destructive. To help determine what this gift is, look at your birth month and year below.

Appearance

There is no definite look that I can give you for your Angel Gift, but these are the ideas behind each month that give it its shape. Embellish and exaggerate whenever possible. And if needed, here’s a list of d12 animals to use as a base.

  1. Cat
  2. Dog
  3. Wolf
  4. Shark
  5. Bull
  6. Octopus
  7. Hawk
  8. Gecko
  9. Snake
  10. Lion
  11. Fox
  12. Whale

Month


  1. January - shielded, solid parts for battering, clumsy
  2. February - sagging, tentacled beast, wrapped in aging debris
  3. March - pure evil, vile muck of a shadow, dripping with time
  4. April - berserking beast, jittering and hungry, rippling with energy
  5. May - immovable, unstoppable, gargantuan and blocky
  6. June - Vile, monstrous humanoid
  7. July - Many limbs, pincers, armor
  8. August - animal in nature, warped humanoid
  9. September - hunched and angry, pure instinct, humanoid
  10. October - made of machines and war, fire and neon
  11. November - Chimeric creature, human, animal, and alien
  12. December - a humanoid climbing out of an animal

YEAR - special ability/trait


  1. 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960 - Animated tiny minions
  2. 2009, 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961 - Super strength
  3. 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962 - Shadow form
  4. 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963 - Super speed
  5. 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964 - Combustion
  6. 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965 - Invisibility
  7. 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966 - Regeneration
  8. 2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967 - Ethereal limbs
  9. 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968 - Polymorph into objects and animals
  10. 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969 - Telekinesis, levitation
  11. 2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970 - Immortal
  12. 2019, 2007, 1995, 1983, 1971 - Laser eyes, thermal vision

Optional rule: You can roll a d12 for each option, they are all based off of 12 options.

What does it do? Why is it here?

This is a last ditch effort and also a test. If what comes out is an ally, then you’re more worthy than you were before. If what comes out is a monster and you slay it, you’re more worthy than before. To determine if it’s friend or foe, flip a coin. Have the player call it and catch it in your hand. Do not show them the result. Describe to them what it looks like as its pulled from them. Ask them what they do. If they respond “I wait” then you can look at the coin. The Gift will get an action before them.

Creating stats for your Angel’s Gift

The easiest thing to do, and a way to make it level with you and always be a viable option in-game is to give the gift your stats. HP, AC, etc, only modified by the appearance and traits. You could also base them off the stat-block of an animal or similar creature in order to create a feel. For instance, if an angel pulls something from a terrible villain, you could use the stat block for a powerful monster.

Who is Worthy?

One who has faced their Gift and has eaten a snake. One who has swallowed true courage and has faced the Leviathan in the Dreamwave. Dream jumper, demon slayer. Crafter of their own Zweihander.

Only they can pull the sword from Zweila and slay the Serpent Throne.

At Last Atop the Crystal Palace - my elemental plane of fire



Red skiff sands push endlessly towards the sun that hugs the horizon in orange and purple hues. Its dominating shape searing smoke and steam into the land. A constant shimmer. Haze. Sulfur stench. A single fleck of sand can melt through steel. A sandstorm is genocide.
A lonely shape rides the flats. Sky blue color trapped in glass, latticing up and out and jutting into space and time with jagged precision. Dragon hearts morphed together to form a safe haven, mirrored and reflective in pillars of crystalline minerals.
This shape is the Crystal Palace. It's but a speck against the mountain of the sun. But its shadow stretches long miles into an unmappable distance.
It must keep moving. Cutting through the air is the only breeze it can afford its denizens. And the sweat is thick on the backs of all the wizards and warlocks that dodge the monsters in the streets. The burnt skin clings to the backs of slayers who hide in the shadows of dragons.

The Halls of Smoke and Flame

There are not many permanent residents of the Crystal Palace, but there are permanent places visited by the various groups that are drawn here. In a mountain of crystal, there are several tall, arched hallways that crisscross in perfect patterns. The walls are smooth and semi-reflective. Cold to the touch. The abrupt change in temperature creates a fog that bites at your ankles. Your breath visibly crystalizes and floats the air like snow.

Wizards come here to study the ways of fire and the natural magics of dragon hearts.

Fire Magics - Mages of Elemental Fire begin with the manipulation of fire and grow in power as they devour the 7 flames.
Create/control fire - Expending a spell slot creates a campfire-sized fire. Anything under that can be extinguished/created at will. For it to be more than just a nuisance/damage someone you must expend a spell slot. Using this you can lower/raise your own temperature. You can also do this for things you are touching, like weapons or other people. Again, for this to have damaging effects you must expend a spell slot. You can absorb larger flames to regain spell slots.

Gathering the Flames
The seven flames are scattered across various locales. Their history is made up of legend and myth, with a few half-truths thrown in.

FlameLocation
FirstIn the Halls of Smoke and Flame
SecondDown in the Furnace
ThirdSold by a merchant that comes to the Crystal Palace once a year
FourthIn the shadow of the Crystal Palace, across the wastes
FifthHeld by the faerie atop Melancholy Hill
SixthAt the gates of Mazmorra
FinalAtop the Crystal Palace

First Flame - Flame tongue. You can lick any fire and know who made it and their general direction. You can also speak to fires lit by someone else. Fires only talk about what their creator is trying to help.
Second Flame - Healing. Expend a spell slot to turn your flames green and white, healing someone for d6. This works alongside your create/control fire.
Third Flame - Combustion. As the fireball spell.
Fourth Flame - Icarus. Expend a spell slot to dim or brighten the sun. This can have subtle effects. The more slots expended the more powerful the dimming or brightness. All spell slots will blackout the sun or blind people.
Fifth Flame - Fire Wall. Expend more spell slots to change its properties. 1 = a wall of flame that hurts both sides, 2 = hurts only one side, 3 = same as below but only one side can pass through
Sixth Flame - Mirage Door. Create a mirage which opens an extra-dimensional space shared by all Elemental Fire Mages. It's a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees. Expending spell slots can allow additional people to come with you. You can also expend more slots to summon creatures from this extradimensional space (d4; 1. giant lizard, 2. dire raccoon, 3. colossal scorpion, 4. baby blue murder tarantula)
Final Flame - Rage Against the Dark. When you drop to 0hp, expend all remaining spell slots to survive for that many more round, wreathed in flame.
by Dimitrii Ustinov

Creation

The Crystal Palace itself is made from dragon hearts. The only thing that can withstand the heat. The exact creation isn't known to many, but the cursed Elves saw it happen long ago. Unlike the other planes, this one existed before the Giants and they used it as a place to lock away the fae. Even their mighty magics wouldn't resist the heat of the sun. But as Manos gave birth to dragons, the beasts saught the fae and piled up, one by one on the gravesite/prison, melting away until just their hearts remained. Legend has it that the most powerful of the fae are still crystalized perfectly in the center of the Palace.

Dragon Hearts, a Study

Wizards and scholars alike come here to study the strange materials. The gems are perfect for soul-trapping as well as different scientific experiments. Dragon Mutants with a bit of sanity left inside of them often scream about sanctuary being at the Crystal Palace. It's rumored that if you eat a Dragon Heart then you can reverse the negative effects that the Draconic language has on the brain and body.

The Scaled Church

Close to the top of the Palace, dragon mutants gather, each with their own goal and story behind their mutations. But here they have a sense of community, sequestered out of the Cage by people calling them Demons and other terrible, terrible things. Here they are not hunted and are even respected.

Tyranny's Claw

An extremist sect of the Scaled Chruch who continue to read and speak the Draconic texts, warping their bodies into these crystalline shapes. They hope to become dragons themselves, but many become statuesque, unable to move and trapped in horrific poses. It's unsure if any of them have succeeded in their tests and practices. You'd have to gain access to the Smoulder Archives to find out...

Smolder Archives

Connected via secret tunnels to the Halls of Smoke and Flame. There's a game that Wizard students play where they sneak into the Archives under a dare to retrieve a dragon scale. It's said to be good luck. But many students never return. The Archives are kept dark and locked away. It's a library with no books. Only row after row of petrified and crystalized people. Getting information from them requires gaining favor with Madam Cruel.

The Snake of the Crystal Palace

Madam Cruel is a medusa. They say she's the reason the Archives are kept dark. They also say that she is one of the first dragon mutants or even a daughter of Manos. She doesn't know and will only care if it means finding a way to control the Crystal Palace. She calls all dragon mutants her children and treats them with a stern but soft hand. To gain her favor you must tell her something she doesn't already know. But be careful...if it's too interesting she might want to keep you.

Dragon Clouds

Every day, as the Crystal Palace skiffs across the wastes, dragons crowd the sky. They dance in water, moving fluidly across the sky. It's a stunning sight, especially if you've ever seen the feral eyes of a dragon up close. It's something about the intense heat, the massive sun, that calms them. You can watch their tiny shadows move across the sun.

Sulfur Rock

This blackened slab of obsidian juts out from the Palace. It's covered in dusty, white, chalk signatures. Dragon Slayers make it a point to come here, witness the Dragon Clouds, and write their name. "We are but names taken away in a breath." The motto is carved at the tip of Sulfur Rock. It's been there since Madam Cruel.

Dragon Attacks

They are frequent and odd because they are never done in anger or ferocity. Dragons swoop and claw and burn and bite. But they always are targeting the Palace itself, sometimes even stopping and chewing on it. People get caught in the crossfire. It's just what happens here.

City of Ash

As we all know, Warlocks gain their power by trading their heart for a monster heart. This is one of the sacred sites of such rituals. Towards the bottom center of the Palace, through miles of caves, there is a city of fire elementals and living spells. Sticking out of the crystal walls are the limbs and face of an ancient fae. If you bring her your heart, she will push her tongue inside your chest and ignite a fire. And as you grow more powerful, your humanity will burn away to ash and smoke, leaving only monstrous fire. But you will be powerful.

Rumors of a Crystal Heart

The ancient fae within the City of Ash will deny this, but a few sages speak of another fae trapped even deeper in the caves. One that will take your heart and replace it with a gemstone. Maybe this is how you become a dragon? Think of the possibilities...the power...

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Aboleth: redoing the 5e monster manual

Zak S. started this project a while ago. And ever since then it's changed the way I create new monsters and look at the current stuff we have for 5e (or any edition).

With that in mind, I'm going to try to redo the entire 5e Monster Manual. Let's see if I get further than Zak.

Aarakocra

Today is the Aboleth
Click to make bigger

I'll be honest, I never ran an Aboleth before. Looking at them I was kinda bored. They "enslave" people and live in lakes and are kinda gross? I much prefer the Mindflayer or the Beholder when it comes to Aberrations. 

So these Aboleths are just incubation sacks for alien god babies of the Sleeping Giant, infecting our dreams and leaking into our world. Go slay them or they might give birth to the end of life as we know it. 

They probably got some treasure too.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Redoing the 5e Monster Manual

Zak S. started this project a while ago. And ever since then it's changed the way I create new monsters and look at the current stuff we have for 5e (or any edition).

With that in mind, I'm going to try to redo the entire 5e Monster Manual. Let's see if I get further than Zak. Starting with Aarokocra.

Click to make it bigger

So basically these guys are inspired by the Valravn folklore, and they serve this long-dead Queen and see her in every other woman in existence. They carry big swords, fly through the air, and eat dead, searching for the hearts of kings so that they can further their surrogate queen's power. 

Inspiration from the Munchkin card game, which has abilities/monsters that function/react differently to you depending on whichever gender you are. If the wording isn't inclusive, please let me know how I can reword it. 

Monday, January 7, 2019

D12 Creepy Rooms

This is for when your party goes into a place and you want something a little creepy (could also be funny depending on how you play it). When in doubt, use whatever assassin statblocks you have handy, but definitely give everyone sneak attack damage and a big fucking dagger.

  1. When you open the door you see yourself as if it's a mirror. You see the room behind this reflection though, and cannot discern any mirror. This reflection mimics everything you do perfectly...almost.
  2. Someone takes your coat. You have another under it. Someone else takes that one. This continues and it gets harder and harder to leave the room as more and more people come to take your coats.
  3. A laundry room. All the machines begin to flood. Inside each is a body of something/someone you've killed.
  4. Floor is water, though looks like carpet when still. There’s a shark deep below.
  5. Six men share one lollipop but refuse to touch each other.
  6. There's a man standing in the corner, counting down from 100. What happens when he reaches 0? 
  7. A room with a clock, it moves and is labeled like any other clock (1-12), except it references months. You can watch the seasons change out the window as the world ages around you at this accelerated rate.
  8. It's your birthday. The rest of the party smiles and feeds you forkfuls of cake. Forcibly. They have so much cake for you to eat. And if you don't eat it, they have forks to prod you with.
  9. A room with a bad ant problem. If you kill just one of the ants, you will get the sensation that there is something crawling on you. You will see ants in your peripheral vision. If you ignore it, it will bite you with hallucinatory poison.
  10. Once you enter this room you must listen to Messa da requiem: lux aeterna. Don't speak while it plays. Just sit and listen. (See how long you can just sit and stare at your party in complete silence before they do something)
  11. In this room is a you from another dimension. They have a day job. A content life. A wedding ring. You can trade spots with them. You can make them do this instead of you.
  12. One of your parents is being conceived behind the curtained bed in the center of the room. If you stop it, reroll your race.

These ideas suck

I'm depressed.

It's hard to say that, even after what has happened.

Two times I was hospitalized because I took too many pills. There wasn't a reason. Not a good one. The first time I was staring down the barrell of this college I hated, wracked with social anxiety, eating myself into oblivion. I gained 50 pounds in 18 weeks.

I was a fucking wreck.

The second time was last year. I was getting on this strong medicine for some medical issue and the doctor asked, "do you have serious dealings with depression?"

That's a weird question to ask. So I said no. I think it would have made sense to say, "one of the side effects of this pill is suicidal thoughts". But no. And I was dumb. I am dumb.

I'm saying all of this because it can be hard to know when something is disposable or not, when it comes to my own ideas/art. I feel in a slump right now and I canned three of my own projects.

Shark Island
Buckner's Place
Buckner's Dream

I'm going to tell you about them and see what I want to keep from each, if anything.

Shark Island


Kirska, the giant, fled from the world and made this place. She had a piece of Atom and locked it away, chaining herself to the door so it could never escape. Her brother (Gone) was beheaded and has been slowly dying for several thousand years. She keeps the head on the island but can never go see it, because of the door.

Gone's brain bleeds mermaids (half woman, half shark). (this is something I didn't know until now) And they spill out of the wound on his scalp and into the Sea around the island. When other people come, these mermaids turn into sharks and hunt them. It's said that each person on the island has a shark...and if you kill it, you will find something you've lost inside of its gut.

So the idea is that you ONLY come here if you have lost something and need to get it back.

Let's see if there's still something here--


  • Kirska's Sharks - "He has his sharks. Kirska has us."
  • There are these barbarians that give the players a map and tell them each challenge so the players know what they're getting into. They must complete 3 to get Kirska's Boon. 
  • There's a skull that you can draw on, and it will answer your drawing with another. So pictionary, kinda. 
  • There's a rock that you must write your name on. You then experience the deaths of all of your ancestors. Roll a dice to see if you get past this vision. If you fail you gain a gnarled scar. Either way, it's up to the player to describe what they see. They then get tattooed by Kirska's Sharks.


  • There's a rock with 3 colored mushrooms on it. Past, present, future. Each one has a roll table. So a skill check leads you to having to do another thing and gaining a possible benefit. Example:

BLUE - FUTURE
You are brought face to face with the future version of you, from an indeterminate number of years ahead. Roll a flat d20 and consult the chart.
1-8 - You see your corpse in a shallow grave, in flood plain. The water is coming. You can say one thing before it collapses on you. Awaken coughing up water and soaked. 
9-10 - It’s your funeral. There’s some people there. The other party members. You can ask one of them a single question. The coffin is a closed casket. 
11-13 - You’re on your dying breath. You can ask yourself one question, but they can only answer in three written words. 
14-16 - You’re so close to your goal. There’s some hope in your eyes. You can ask yourself 1 question.
17-19 - You’ve been able to retire but are poor and live in squalor. You can ask yourself 2 questions.
20 - You’ve fulfilled your goal and can ask yourself 3 questions.


  • Then Atom's Eye is a beholder. If you defeat it you get to put his eye in your socket. 


AFTER ALL OF THAT - I like the story of the giants, but everything else is kinda useless. The pictionary skull would be fun.

BUCKNER'S PLACE & BUCKNER'S DREAM

So the idea for these places is that one is the multi-dimensional house of a giant and the other is the everlasting dream of that giant within the house.


  • I was inspired by Howl's Moving Castle for Buckner's Place, but it's nowhere near as interesting as that. You can hang paintings on the walls and go into them, and these paintings would be unlocked after meeting requirements (Super Mario 64). 
  • There's a bedroom with a bed for each person who has ever been in Buckner's Place. It says MIA, KIA, or LIVING over each one. There are 6 people missing when you enter and they would be sprinkled throughout the paintings.
  • There's an infirmary where injured people would show up occassionaly to give plot hooks. 
  • A garden locked by a petrified statue (DS2), a library to let people research, a tower with a dragon guarding it, a dark room for artists, and the Soul Shaper. Basically it brings you back to life. Each time you come back you roll on this table, and the counter clicks up by 1. When the counter reaches certain numbers, it triggers certain events. When it reaches 10, someone comes to take one of you away permanently and add another KIA to the bedroom. 
  • I don't even like all of the entries on the resurrection table. 
  • I don't like any of it. The idea of a hubworld is really cool and interesting to me. But this is not it. It's scrapped. Forever.


BUCKNER'S DREAM

I don't like any of it.

Except Trauma--

An elongated, monster mask with twisting antelope horns. If you put it on, you take on a beast form.

Beast Form

  • You can only take damage from attacks that are suitably large: powerful spells, explosives, large groups of attackers
  • Your attacks are suitably large: can damage structures with ease, roll d20’s for damage against individual targets
  • You have 6 arms for grabbing and climbing and crushing. 
  • After 10 minutes, or when you run out of health, you revert back to your normal form and you gain a Trauma. A Trauma is personal to you, or what you’ve done in your beast form. Erase one of your personality traits and replace it with a Trauma.
  • When you have 3 Trauma, you become a beast for good.


Everything else can go.

Okay, so, looking at it now, I feel good that I scrapped these ideas. They aren't going to help me. They're all just other people's ideas.


Sunday, January 6, 2019

Toonworld


I made this cleric domain because I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

Toonworld Domain for Clerics

Cleric Spells
1 - Unseen Servant, Feather Fall
3 - Tiny Hut, Spirit Guardians
5 - Telepathic Bond, Arcane Hand
7 - Reverse Gravity, Simulacrum
9 - Gate, Time Stop

Toon Legacy
At first level you gain proficiency in the persuasion skill, and you gain the arcane cantrips Mage Hand and Message.

Mage Hand - acts as a cartoonish white glove that floats off of your hand and can go invisible.
Message - acts as a word bubble that appears above your head.

Channel Divinity: buh-bye
Starting at 2nd level, as an action, you become 2-D. You can't attack (cause you're flat), but attacks against you have disadvantage, and you're flat...there's a lot you can do with that.

6th Level Ability
An anvil falls from the sky aimed at a target within 30ft of you. This counts as ranged spell attack and deals 1d8 force damage + your wis mod. If the target takes max damage, little birds fly around their head and they are stunned for one round.

8th Level Ability
You have a portable hole that you can throw down 1/day per point of wis mod.

17th Level Ability
1/day per point of wis mod you can draw something of medium size or smaller and it will become real.

Spell Flavor
Unseen Servant - it's your shadow
Feather Fall - umbrella
Tiny Hut - just a normal looking door with nothing behind it
Spirit Guardians - tiny little cartoon version of you and your friends
Telepathic Bond - word bubbles
Arcane Hand - the gloved mage hand grows HUGE
Reverse Gravity - You just jump onto the roof
Simulacrum - you pull the outline off of someone and color it in
Gate - BIG DOOR that you pull out of your pocket
Time Stop - wrist watch that you stop