Thorgrim and Rollo from Death in Freeport were converted to D&D 5th Edition in my last two columns, and now it's time for the half-elf sorcerer Malevir.
The obvious starting point here is his sorcerous origin. The 5E Player's Handbook offers two choices, draconic bloodline and wild magic, either of which would fit well into the Freeport setting. Dragons and speaker of Draconic have been quite rare in Freeport products to date, but the city is home to a small but visible cult devoted to the draconic bloodline, who would certainly take an interest in any PC sorcerer with that origin. On the other hand, wild magic fits very well with the unpredictable weirdness and dark humor that permeates Freeport, so I eventually chose that path for Malevir.
Death in Freeport gives Malevir the following ability scores: Str 9, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 17. I bought the following 5E scores for him: Str 8, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14. His racial bonuses improve Dex to 16, Con 14, and Cha 16. Of all four sample characters, Malevir's scores remain closest to his 3E stats.
As with the other heroes, the original adventure doesn't give much information to go on for choosing a background, so I simply gave Malevir the Charlatan background used by the quick-build notes for his class. This choice will play up the fact that he's both the most charismatic member of the party, but as a sorcerer, he's not necessarily the most trustworthy. A generous DM will allow him to use his False Identity feature to create a new alternate persona in Freeport that he can use when his public hero role proves too conspicuous.
He gains the Deception and Sleight of Hand skills from his background. Add Arcana and Persuasion from his class list, and Intimidate and Perception for his racial Skill Versatility. His third language should be Dwarvish, to match his 3E sheet.
Malevir knew mage armor and magic missile in 3E, so keep those spells for 5E. (If you decide to change him to be a draconic bloodline sorcerer for your game, draconic resilience will make mage armor moot, so replace it with a new spell.) Chill touch, fire bolt, friends, and mage hand provide a well-rounded set of cantrips.
For equipment, choose a light crossbow, two daggers, an arcane focus (the amulet in his portrait), and an explorer's pack. 5E sorcerers are not proficient with maces, so ignore that item on his 3E sheet; he uses a dagger instead, which benefits from his high Dex. Spend his 15 gp on a forgery kit so that he can use both his tool proficiencies.
To summarize, Malevir gains the following stats:
Half-Elf Sorcerer 1 (Charlatan).
Str 8 (-1), Dex 16 (+3) (+5 Sleight of Hand), Con 14 (+2) (+4 saves), Int 12 (+1) (+3 Arcana), Wis (+0) (+2 Perception), Cha 16 (+3) (+5 saves, Deception, Intimidate, Persuasion).
AC 13 (16 with mage armor), Speed 30, Hit Points 8, HD 1d6.
Dagger +5 (1d4+3), light crossbow +5 (1d8+3).
Wild Magic (wild magic surge, touch of chaos), spell save DC 13, spell attack bonus +5.
Cantrips known: chill touch, fire bolt, friends, mage hand.
1st-level spells known (2 slots): mage armor, magic missile.
Next time, we'll finish up with Alaina, the human rogue.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
The Freeport Iconics in D&D 5th Edition, Part 2: Rollo
In my last column, I converted Thorgrim, the pregenerated dwarf cleric from Death in Freeport, to the D&D 5th Edition rules. This time, we turn to the next member of the party, the gnome fighter Rollo.
This warrior is largely defined by his exceptional physical scores and his signature double weapon, but first I want to touch on his race. The 5E Player's Handbook states that most gnomes are rock gnomes, but the forest gnome is the subrace with the minor illusion magic and ability to speak with animals that match Rollo's 3E racial traits.
Death in Freeport gives Rollo the following ability scores: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10. When you take into account that he would have needed to start with an 18 before the -2 racial penalty, this is one insanely tough little bastard! In 5th Edition, no character can start with higher than a 15 before racial modifiers, and there's no way Rollo can buy three of those without dropping all of his mental scores to 8. While this is certainly a valid character-building strategy, it's boring to play, and it guts the common sense and clever tactics implied by the above-average Int and Wis he was given in 3E. Instead, I bought the following scores: Str 14, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10. His race and subrace raise the Dex to 14 and Int to 12. Buying a 15 would not have given him any benefit over a 14 unless it was in Dex, and medium and heavy armor will limit his Dex bonus to AC.
Another consideration in the decision about Rollo's Dexterity score was the fact that the 5E Player's Handbook includes no exotic weapons or double weapons. This means that the gnomish hooked hammer is not available, rending Rollo's Two-Weapon Fighting schtick from 3E moot. This weapon was essentially a combination pick and hammer. His character portrait shows the hammer head, so I decided to replace it with a warhammer. In 5E, the warhammer is a versatile weapon, meaning it uses a larger damage die when wielded in two hands. Give him the Great Weapon Fighting style, and he has a new signature weapon that isn't completely divorced from the flavor of the original.
Of all the sample characters, Rollo's background was the hardest to choose. Death in Freeport assumes that the party is fresh off the boat, so the Soldier's Military Rank feature would be useless here in Freeport, where Continental ranks hold little authority. I finally settled on Folk Hero, with its Rustic Hospitality feature. A compulsive do-gooder like Rollo will need the aid of the common folk to survive in a city like Freeport, but even that help will have limits when his new fame draws down trouble from the authorities later in the Freeport Trilogy.
Folk Hero gives him the Animal Handling and Survival skills. Add Athletics and Perception to those. Rollo will lose the bonus languages he had in 3E, but I've already given one of them (Giant) to Thorgrim, and Draconic sees little use in Freeport.
As with Thorgrim, I used the default equipment for Rollo's class and background, and will do the same with Malevir and Alaina. I gave him chainmail (AC 16), a warhammer, a short bow, two handaxes, and a dungeoneer's pack. (As a side note, I preserved the weapons depicted in Thorgrim and Rollo's portraits as best I could, but they both ended up with better armor than the scalemail they received in 3E.)
To summarize, Rollo gets the following stats:
Forest Gnome, Fighter 1 (Folk Hero).
Str 14 (+2) (+4 saves, Athletics), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2) (+4 saves), Int 12 (+1), Wis 12 (+1) (+3 Animal Handling, Perception, Survival), Cha 10 (+0).
AC 18, Speed 25, HP 12, HD 1d10.
Warhammer +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), short bow +4 (1d6+2), handaxe +4 (1d6+2).
Racial cantrip: minor illusion (spell save DC 11).
Great Weapon Fighting, Second Wind.
This warrior is largely defined by his exceptional physical scores and his signature double weapon, but first I want to touch on his race. The 5E Player's Handbook states that most gnomes are rock gnomes, but the forest gnome is the subrace with the minor illusion magic and ability to speak with animals that match Rollo's 3E racial traits.
Death in Freeport gives Rollo the following ability scores: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10. When you take into account that he would have needed to start with an 18 before the -2 racial penalty, this is one insanely tough little bastard! In 5th Edition, no character can start with higher than a 15 before racial modifiers, and there's no way Rollo can buy three of those without dropping all of his mental scores to 8. While this is certainly a valid character-building strategy, it's boring to play, and it guts the common sense and clever tactics implied by the above-average Int and Wis he was given in 3E. Instead, I bought the following scores: Str 14, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10. His race and subrace raise the Dex to 14 and Int to 12. Buying a 15 would not have given him any benefit over a 14 unless it was in Dex, and medium and heavy armor will limit his Dex bonus to AC.
Another consideration in the decision about Rollo's Dexterity score was the fact that the 5E Player's Handbook includes no exotic weapons or double weapons. This means that the gnomish hooked hammer is not available, rending Rollo's Two-Weapon Fighting schtick from 3E moot. This weapon was essentially a combination pick and hammer. His character portrait shows the hammer head, so I decided to replace it with a warhammer. In 5E, the warhammer is a versatile weapon, meaning it uses a larger damage die when wielded in two hands. Give him the Great Weapon Fighting style, and he has a new signature weapon that isn't completely divorced from the flavor of the original.
Of all the sample characters, Rollo's background was the hardest to choose. Death in Freeport assumes that the party is fresh off the boat, so the Soldier's Military Rank feature would be useless here in Freeport, where Continental ranks hold little authority. I finally settled on Folk Hero, with its Rustic Hospitality feature. A compulsive do-gooder like Rollo will need the aid of the common folk to survive in a city like Freeport, but even that help will have limits when his new fame draws down trouble from the authorities later in the Freeport Trilogy.
Folk Hero gives him the Animal Handling and Survival skills. Add Athletics and Perception to those. Rollo will lose the bonus languages he had in 3E, but I've already given one of them (Giant) to Thorgrim, and Draconic sees little use in Freeport.
As with Thorgrim, I used the default equipment for Rollo's class and background, and will do the same with Malevir and Alaina. I gave him chainmail (AC 16), a warhammer, a short bow, two handaxes, and a dungeoneer's pack. (As a side note, I preserved the weapons depicted in Thorgrim and Rollo's portraits as best I could, but they both ended up with better armor than the scalemail they received in 3E.)
To summarize, Rollo gets the following stats:
Forest Gnome, Fighter 1 (Folk Hero).
Str 14 (+2) (+4 saves, Athletics), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2) (+4 saves), Int 12 (+1), Wis 12 (+1) (+3 Animal Handling, Perception, Survival), Cha 10 (+0).
AC 18, Speed 25, HP 12, HD 1d10.
Warhammer +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), short bow +4 (1d6+2), handaxe +4 (1d6+2).
Racial cantrip: minor illusion (spell save DC 11).
Great Weapon Fighting, Second Wind.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Freeport Iconics in D&D 5th Edition, Part 1: Thorgrim
My regular gaming group has just completed our first experience with D&D 5th Edition, in which Tim the Younger ran Lost Mine of Phandelver for us. (We triumphed, huzzah!) Tim plans to run more for us (probably Hoard of the Dragon Queen) when he's safely done with his oral exams this spring and his brain cells have had a chance to regenerate. I'm looking forward to it, but will miss playing my spooky tiefling warlock when we start over with new 1st-level characters. Of course, given the average lifespan of low-level characters, and the fact that Tim has admitted that Hoard is a bit of a meat grinder, Scharonn may very well see play as a replacement character partway through the new campaign.
Learning 5E coincided with migrating my Freeport errata pages to a new site, so naturally, I gave some thought to how to the new rules would work with that setting. And after my conversion of the "Freeport iconics" to Pathfinder and Fate, doing the same with 5E was the obvious next step. Over the next few columns, I will be describing the process I used to recreate Thorgrim, Rollo, Malevir, and Alaina as 5th Edition player characters.
As with the Pathfinder conversions, the first issue to address with these pregenerated heroes is their exceptionally good ability scores. Using 5E's point-buy system, no PC can start with a score higher than a 15 before racial modifiers, so these four heroes' scores will need some dramatic adjustments. However, 5E also reins in the trend towards ever-higher ability scores that 3E was known for, so more modest scores will certainly not cripple the characters in any way.
We'll start with Thorgrim, because he appears first in the book, and because his ability scores are more easily modified than his companions'. Death in Freeport gave him the following scores: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 10. As a cleric, Wisdom should probably be his best ability score, so when I bought his scores for 5E, I spent more points on Wis than Con: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 10. I chose the hill dwarf subrace, which raised his Con to 14 and Wis to 16, and gave him an additional hit point per level to offset his slightly lower Con compared to 3E.
In the original module, Thorgrim was described as a cleric of the God of Dwarves, but that was changed in the v.3.5 revision to the God of Valor. (Among other reasons, this allowed him to be proficient with the longsword listed on his character sheet.) One of his 3E domains was War, and that's the most logical choice of domain for him in 5E because it gives him proficiency with all martial weapons and armor, as well as appropriately flavored domain spells.
The Freeport iconics have been given no personal history, so I chose backgrounds for them based more on what skills the converted characters needed than any specific idea of their origins. The obvious default for a cleric is the Acolyte, and that package easily meshed with Thorgrim's established abilities. The Shelter of the Faithful feature gives him a way to connect to his god's local temple--which, granted, is not a large one in Freeport, but any help is better than none. (If your campaign doesn't specify who the God of Valor is, good choices from Appendix B of the Player's Handbook include Torm, Heironeous, Kiri-Jolith, and Tyr.)
For skills, Thorgrim needs Medicine and Religion, and gets Insight from his background. I chose History for his fourth skill because none of the other PCs are trained in it, and they have Malevir (who I'll address in a future column) for their Persuasion needs. One of the languages Thorgrim gains from Acolyte should be Celestial. Giant is an appropriate choice for the other (plus his buddy Rollo will lose that language in 5E).
For equipment, I used the default equipment for his class and background, giving him chainmail and a shield (AC 18), a warhammer, a thrown hammer (giving him a ranged attack, which he lacked in 3E), and an explorer's pack. He ends up with two holy symbols this way, so make one of them an amulet and one an emblem on his shield. Spend his 15 gp on a longsword, his god's weapon of choice.
Guidance, light, and sacred flame make good choices for his starting cantrips. He may prepare any 1st-level cleric spells, but bane, command, cure wounds, and protection from evil and good best match the list given in Death in Freeport.
To summarize, Thorgrim gains the following stats:
Hill Dwarf, Cleric 1 (Acolyte)
Str 14 (+2), Dex 10 (+0), Con 14 (+2), Int 11 (+0) (+2 History/+4 stonecunning, +2 Religion), Wis 16 (+3) (+5 saves, Insight, Medicine), Cha 10 (+0) (+2 saves).
AC 18, Speed 25, HP 11, HD 1d8.
Longsword +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), warhammer +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), light hammer +4 (1d4+2).
Spell save DC 13, spell attack bonus +5.
Cantrips known: guidance, light, sacred flame.
1st-level spells prepared (2 slots): bane, command, cure wounds, divine favor*, protection from evil and good, shield of faith*.
Next time, I will convert the gnome fighter Rollo to 5th Edition. The most difficult part of his stats will be his signature weapon, the gnome hooked hammer, which does not appear in the 5E Player's Handbook.
Learning 5E coincided with migrating my Freeport errata pages to a new site, so naturally, I gave some thought to how to the new rules would work with that setting. And after my conversion of the "Freeport iconics" to Pathfinder and Fate, doing the same with 5E was the obvious next step. Over the next few columns, I will be describing the process I used to recreate Thorgrim, Rollo, Malevir, and Alaina as 5th Edition player characters.
As with the Pathfinder conversions, the first issue to address with these pregenerated heroes is their exceptionally good ability scores. Using 5E's point-buy system, no PC can start with a score higher than a 15 before racial modifiers, so these four heroes' scores will need some dramatic adjustments. However, 5E also reins in the trend towards ever-higher ability scores that 3E was known for, so more modest scores will certainly not cripple the characters in any way.
We'll start with Thorgrim, because he appears first in the book, and because his ability scores are more easily modified than his companions'. Death in Freeport gave him the following scores: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 10. As a cleric, Wisdom should probably be his best ability score, so when I bought his scores for 5E, I spent more points on Wis than Con: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 10. I chose the hill dwarf subrace, which raised his Con to 14 and Wis to 16, and gave him an additional hit point per level to offset his slightly lower Con compared to 3E.
In the original module, Thorgrim was described as a cleric of the God of Dwarves, but that was changed in the v.3.5 revision to the God of Valor. (Among other reasons, this allowed him to be proficient with the longsword listed on his character sheet.) One of his 3E domains was War, and that's the most logical choice of domain for him in 5E because it gives him proficiency with all martial weapons and armor, as well as appropriately flavored domain spells.
The Freeport iconics have been given no personal history, so I chose backgrounds for them based more on what skills the converted characters needed than any specific idea of their origins. The obvious default for a cleric is the Acolyte, and that package easily meshed with Thorgrim's established abilities. The Shelter of the Faithful feature gives him a way to connect to his god's local temple--which, granted, is not a large one in Freeport, but any help is better than none. (If your campaign doesn't specify who the God of Valor is, good choices from Appendix B of the Player's Handbook include Torm, Heironeous, Kiri-Jolith, and Tyr.)
For skills, Thorgrim needs Medicine and Religion, and gets Insight from his background. I chose History for his fourth skill because none of the other PCs are trained in it, and they have Malevir (who I'll address in a future column) for their Persuasion needs. One of the languages Thorgrim gains from Acolyte should be Celestial. Giant is an appropriate choice for the other (plus his buddy Rollo will lose that language in 5E).
For equipment, I used the default equipment for his class and background, giving him chainmail and a shield (AC 18), a warhammer, a thrown hammer (giving him a ranged attack, which he lacked in 3E), and an explorer's pack. He ends up with two holy symbols this way, so make one of them an amulet and one an emblem on his shield. Spend his 15 gp on a longsword, his god's weapon of choice.
Guidance, light, and sacred flame make good choices for his starting cantrips. He may prepare any 1st-level cleric spells, but bane, command, cure wounds, and protection from evil and good best match the list given in Death in Freeport.
To summarize, Thorgrim gains the following stats:
Hill Dwarf, Cleric 1 (Acolyte)
Str 14 (+2), Dex 10 (+0), Con 14 (+2), Int 11 (+0) (+2 History/+4 stonecunning, +2 Religion), Wis 16 (+3) (+5 saves, Insight, Medicine), Cha 10 (+0) (+2 saves).
AC 18, Speed 25, HP 11, HD 1d8.
Longsword +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), warhammer +4 (1d8+2 or 1d10+2), light hammer +4 (1d4+2).
Spell save DC 13, spell attack bonus +5.
Cantrips known: guidance, light, sacred flame.
1st-level spells prepared (2 slots): bane, command, cure wounds, divine favor*, protection from evil and good, shield of faith*.
Next time, I will convert the gnome fighter Rollo to 5th Edition. The most difficult part of his stats will be his signature weapon, the gnome hooked hammer, which does not appear in the 5E Player's Handbook.
Friday, January 9, 2015
A Very Brief Introduction to H.P. Lovecraft
Historical note: This article is a lightly edited version of a review that I posted many years ago on a friend's book review site (which is no longer available). I feel that this piece still stands as a good starting point for exploring HPL and his work, so I offer it again here.
*****
--H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"
Whether you care for his works or not, Howard Philips Lovecraft (1890-1937) remains one of the most important figures in world horror fiction. Though still not widely accepted among "serious" literature critics, his fame and influence are insidiously creeping outward--much like the power of his Great Old Ones. HPL has been a major influence on today's horror writers, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Anne Rice.Lovecraft spent his life struggling to find and perfect his own writing style. Like many hopeful writers, he passed through periods of slavishly mimicking his literary heroes, of writing embarrassing polemics on topics he knew little about, and of despairing about his perceived lack of talent and audience. At times he was just a painfully bad writer, but at other times, he could elevate the genre of the "weird tale" to new heights of perfection.
HPL left two legacies, the most obvious being his several dozen horror tales, few of which saw print before his death. The other, and perhaps more enduring, legacy is the number of friends he made in the amateur writing world, the loyalty and confidence he inspired in these fledgling writers, and the vast correspondence he left behind to chronicle these relationships.
Lovecraft's stories have been collected in hardcover by Arkham House and reprinted in paperback by Ballantine/Del Rey; these can be found in most large bookstores). In addition, Necronomicon Press is a small press dedicated to printing rarer works by and about Lovecraft, while Chaosium publishes Mythos fiction in addition to the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. The best collection to start with is either The Dunwich Horror and Others (Arkham House) or The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (Del Rey), both of which contain almost exactly the same set of stories.
I have not rated Lovecraft's works individually, but the following holds true for nearly all of his work: The violence in Lovecraft's stories is fairly restrained compared to modern fantasy, SF or horror novels, and the majority of it takes place "off stage." Sexual content in Lovecraft is virtually nil. HPL is most "adult" in the complex philosophical underpinnings of the "cosmic horror" he writes. Readers familiar with Edgar Allan Poe will find a very similar sensibility in Lovecraft's work.
The Cthulhu Mythos
The label "Cthulhu Mythos" has been applied to certain stories by HPL (and his imitators) which deal with a common theme of "cosmic horror." In most of these stories, an intellectual man (often a scientist or academic) stumbles across evidence (forbidden books, family secrets, hidden temples, etc.) of pre-human gods or aliens and the cults who worship them. As the protagonist pieces together the clues he finds, he uncovers increasingly uncomfortable truths about the nature of the universe, which erode his sanity. The opening of "The Call of Cthulhu" (which starts with the line quoted at the top of this page) neatly summarizes the philosophy behind this type of horror.
The best introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos are the following short stories: "The Call of Cthulhu" (the first story to articulate this philosophy), "Pickman's Model," "The Rats in the Walls," "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Haunter of the Dark." Lovecraft's best works, however, are his short novels: At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Shadow Out of Time. These works show Lovecraft at the peak of his mature writing, in a format substantial enough to fully develop his central ideas.
Forming a distinct body of work from Lovecraft's other work are his "Dreamlands" stories, tales largely inspired by Lord Dunsany's Pegana myth cycle. These fantasies take place in the collective dream-world of mankind. Some are fairy tales involving beings who belong wholly to the dream-world, while others are epic quests by powerful dreamers seeking answers from the gods themselves. The best place to start with these would be "The Cats of Ulthar," "The White Ship" and "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," then to read HPL's single dream-story novel, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
Lovecraft also wrote more conventional supernatural stories. Many are consciously modeled after his idol Poe. Some of these may contain the trappings of the Cthulhu Mythos (such as the names of certain entities and books) but the plots do not involve the "cosmic horror" of those stories, or they rely more on black magic than "scientific" horror. (Some definitions of the "Cthulhu Mythos" would include any reference to its fictional mythology; the term is nebulous at best.) The best of the non-Mythos, non-Dreamlands stories are "The Outsider" and the short novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
Lovecraft was a prolific poet, but the quality of his poems was even more erratic than that of his prose. The best selection of his poetry is probably Fungi from Yuggoth, a loosely-connected series of 36 sonnets. These poems touch on many of the themes to which HPL repeatedly returned: ancient buildings, books of forbidden lore, sinister astronomical events, degenerate cults, and the like.
Dreamlands
Forming a distinct body of work from Lovecraft's other work are his "Dreamlands" stories, tales largely inspired by Lord Dunsany's Pegana myth cycle. These fantasies take place in the collective dream-world of mankind. Some are fairy tales involving beings who belong wholly to the dream-world, while others are epic quests by powerful dreamers seeking answers from the gods themselves. The best place to start with these would be "The Cats of Ulthar," "The White Ship" and "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," then to read HPL's single dream-story novel, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
Other Weird Tales
Lovecraft also wrote more conventional supernatural stories. Many are consciously modeled after his idol Poe. Some of these may contain the trappings of the Cthulhu Mythos (such as the names of certain entities and books) but the plots do not involve the "cosmic horror" of those stories, or they rely more on black magic than "scientific" horror. (Some definitions of the "Cthulhu Mythos" would include any reference to its fictional mythology; the term is nebulous at best.) The best of the non-Mythos, non-Dreamlands stories are "The Outsider" and the short novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
Other Writings
Lovecraft was a prolific poet, but the quality of his poems was even more erratic than that of his prose. The best selection of his poetry is probably Fungi from Yuggoth, a loosely-connected series of 36 sonnets. These poems touch on many of the themes to which HPL repeatedly returned: ancient buildings, books of forbidden lore, sinister astronomical events, degenerate cults, and the like.
HPL also wrote numerous essays, ranging from erudite scientific articles to histrionic polemics, as well as occasional humorous pieces. These pieces are harder to locate than his prose or poetry, but many of these have been published in Miscellaneous Writings by Arkham House. "Supernatural Horror in Literature," one of his longest nonfiction works, is an impressive survey of the "weird tale" genre, and has been reprinted in Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Arkham House) and other places.
The rest of Lovecraft's output pales beside the volume of his letters. The John Hay Library at Brown University holds the majority of his extant letters. Arkham House has published five volumes of Selected Letters, and Necronomicon Press has published booklets of HPL's letters to specific correspondents, but these cover only a small fraction of the total. Lovecraft may very well be the most significant American letter writer of this century. (Personally, I have yet to read any significant number of his letters, except for those excerpted in the handful of biographies and scholarly articles that I have read. The letter collections are more difficult to acquire, and difficult for casual readers of HPL to appreciate.)
Further Investigations
H.P. Lovecraft: A Life, by S.T. Joshi (Necronomicon Press, 1996): The only previous full-length biography of H.P. Lovecraft (Lovecraft: A Biography) was written in 1975 by L. Sprague de Camp. S.T. Joshi is known as the top HPL scholar, and is responsible for correcting the texts of the Arkham House collections of Lovecraft's work. (He still considers this his most important contribution to Lovecraft scholarship.) Joshi's long-awaited biography is indebted to de Camp's work, but is vastly superior due to Joshi's more careful and exhaustive research. This biography is long and complex, and devotes much attention to the following facets of Lovecraft's life and work:
- Basic biographical data, as culled from legal records, correspondence, memoirs by friends, etc. Poorly understood sections of his life, such as his failed marriage and his final illness, receive careful treatment.
- Information about Lovecraft's friends and major correspondents, and their impact on his life and ideas. His enormous correspondence may overshadow even his fiction in its importance to his legacy.
- The history of HPL's literary efforts, showing the progression of his story ideas, his working methods and aesthetic sense, and his attempts at publishing his work.
- The development of HPL's world-view. When dealing with the less "comfortable" parts of his philosophy (such as his racism), Joshi does not try to excuse, only explain. His analyses of how the various facets of HPL's personality interacted is impressive. Among other things, they show that his flaws should not be taken as excuses to deny him serious treatment as a writer and thinker.
The H.P. Lovecraft Archive: This collection of articles on HPL's life, writings, creations and interests, the popular culture his works inspired, and internet resources is the most comprehensive and professional online guide to Lovecraft that I have found.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Throwback Thursday: A Lewis Carroll Bestiary, Part 2
See Part 1 for my original "Lewis Carroll Bestiary," for Big Eyes Small Mouth, Second Edition Revised. This installment gives BESM Third Edition stat block for these creatures.
Notes: All three species are rare enough that all individuals qualify for the Marked defect.
Bandersnatch
The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. Its speed is legendary, and "Might as well try to catch a Bandersnatch" is a popular saying in the lands near its home, used in response to a proposed action that the speaker believes impossible.
A Bandersnatch attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is grabbing its prey with its many multi-jointed legs and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a "Snatch" grappling attack followed by a "Banding" tangle attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.
Size: Large
Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4, Grappling 7)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Superspeed 6, Ranged 4 [5 with Superspeed], Grappling 7 [8 with Superspeed])
Damage Multiplier: x5 (x6 Leaping)
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45
Notes: Damage: Fangs 14 (Leap 19); Initiative: +10 [+5 Attack Combat Value, +3 Lightning Reflexes, +2 Superspeed]; Speed: Superspeed 100 meters/round.
(Skills were bought using Multi-genre costs. In almost all genres, these three skills total 7 Points or less; apply any leftover points to Wilderness Tracking.)
Notes: All three species are rare enough that all individuals qualify for the Marked defect.
Bandersnatch
The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. Its speed is legendary, and "Might as well try to catch a Bandersnatch" is a popular saying in the lands near its home, used in response to a proposed action that the speaker believes impossible.
A Bandersnatch attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is grabbing its prey with its many multi-jointed legs and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a "Snatch" grappling attack followed by a "Banding" tangle attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.
Size: Large
| Value | Points | Stat |
| 9 | +90 | Body Stat |
| 3 | +30 | Mind Stat |
| 4 | +40 | Soul Stat |
| Level | Points | Attribute |
| +3 | +6 | Armor (Armor Rating 6) |
| +2 | +4 | Combat Technique (Leap Attack, Lightning Reflexes) |
| +1 | +9 | Defense Combat Mastery (Dependent -1: Superspeed) |
| +2 | +4 | Energy Bonus |
| +1 | +14 | Extra Actions (Dependent -1: Superspeed) |
| +1 | +2 | Heightened Awareness |
| +2 | +6 | Melee Attack (Grappling) |
| +2 | +6 | Melee Defense (Grappling) |
| +1 | +3 | Skill: Acrobatics (Jumps) |
| +1 | +3 | Skill: Stealth (Concealment) |
| +1 | +1 | Skill: Wilderness Tracking (Desert) |
| +5 | +10 | Special Movement (Balance, Light-Footed, Slithering, Wall-Crawling 2) |
| +3 | +12 | Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase) |
| +1 | +12 | Superspeed |
| +1 | +10 | Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage) |
| +1 | +3 | Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance) |
| +0 | +7 | Weapon "Banding" (Enervating 3, Tangle 2, Unique Variable 2: Victim suffers Impaired Speech -6 while entangled) |
| +1 | +1 | Weapon--Alternate Attack "Mandibles" |
| +0 | +1 | Weapon--Alternate Attack "Snatch" (Flexible 2) |
| Points | Defects | |
| -6 | Impaired Speech (No Language) | |
| -5 | Inept Attack (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -5 | Inept Defense (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -3 | Marked (Gigantic Centipede) | |
| -1 | Unique Defense (Big and Heavy) | |
| Total: | +262 Points |
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4, Grappling 7)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Superspeed 6, Ranged 4 [5 with Superspeed], Grappling 7 [8 with Superspeed])
Damage Multiplier: x5 (x6 Leaping)
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45
Notes: Damage: Fangs 14 (Leap 19); Initiative: +10 [+5 Attack Combat Value, +3 Lightning Reflexes, +2 Superspeed]; Speed: Superspeed 100 meters/round.
(Skills were bought using Multi-genre costs. In almost all genres, these three skills total 7 Points or less; apply any leftover points to Wilderness Tracking.)
Jabberwock
The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.
Size: Huge
Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Defense Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Damage Multiplier: x6 (Melee x7)
Health Points: 80
Shock Value: 26
Energy Points: 40
Notes: Damage: Claws 31, Fangs 24; Initiative: +7; Speed: walk 32 meters/round, fly 10 meters/round.
Jubjub
The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.
Size: Large
Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Melee 7, Ranged 4)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4)
Damage Multiplier: x5
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45
Notes: Damage: Beak or Talons 16; Initiative: +5; Speed: walk 14 meters/round, fly 30 meters/round.
(Its Skill was bought using Multi-Genre costs. In genres or settings where Animal Training is only 1 Point per Level, raise this Skill to Level 2.)
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.
The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.
Size: Huge
| Value | Points | Stat |
| 8 | +80 | Body Stat |
| 2 | +20 | Mind Stat |
| 5 | +50 | Soul Stat |
| Level | Points | Attribute |
| +6 | +12 | Armor (Armor Rating 12) |
| +2 | +20 | Attack Combat Mastery |
| +1 | +2 | Combat Technique (Hardboiled 1) |
| +2 | +20 | Defense Combat Mastery |
| +1 | +2 | Energy Bonus |
| +1 | +15 | Extra Actions |
| +1 | +8 | Flight |
| +1 | +7 | Massive Damage (Melee) |
| +2 | +6 | Melee Attack (Claws and Fangs) |
| +2 | +4 | Special Movement (Fast 2) |
| +1 | +8 | Superstrength |
| +5 | +20 | Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase) |
| +3 | +6 | Tough |
| +2 | +20 | Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage) |
| +2 | +6 | Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance) |
| +2 | +4 | Weapon "Claws" |
| +1 | +1 | Weapon--Alternate Attack "Fangs" |
| Points | Defects | |
| -2 | Achilles Heel (Vorpal Swords) | |
| -4 | Blind Fury (Taking Damage) | |
| -6 | Impaired Manipulation (Talons) | |
| -6 | Impaired Speech (No Language) | |
| -10 | Inept Attack -2 (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -10 | Inept Defense -2 (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -2 | Less Capable (Stealth: -4 Penalty) | |
| -3 | Marked (Huge Draconian Beast) | |
| -3 | Unappealing | |
| -2 | Unique Defense (Big and Heavy 2) | |
| Total: | +269 Points |
Attack Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Defense Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Damage Multiplier: x6 (Melee x7)
Health Points: 80
Shock Value: 26
Energy Points: 40
Notes: Damage: Claws 31, Fangs 24; Initiative: +7; Speed: walk 32 meters/round, fly 10 meters/round.
Jubjub
The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.
Size: Large
| Value | Points | Stat |
| 7 | +70 | Body Stat |
| 3 | +30 | Mind Stat |
| 6 | +60 | Soul Stat |
| Level | Points | Attribute |
| +4 | +8 | Armor (Armor Rating 8) |
| +2 | +2 | Features (Appearance: Impressive, Mimic Sound) |
| +2 | +14 | Flight (Maintain -1, Spread 1) |
| +2 | +6 | Melee Attack (Beak and Talons) |
| +5 | +30 | Mind Control (Any Bird) |
| +1 | +2 | Skill: Animal Training (Birds) |
| +1 | +2 | Special Movement (Fast) |
| +3 | +12 | Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase) |
| +1 | +10 | Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage) |
| +1 | +3 | Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance) |
| +0 | +11 | Weapon "Song of Despair" (Area 3, Drain 4: Soul, Psychic 6; Toxic -2: Sound-Based) |
| +1 | +1 | Weapon--Alternate Attack "Beak" |
| +1 | +1 | Weapon--Alternate Attack "Talons" |
| Points | Defects | |
| -2 | Easily Distracted (Shiny Objects) | |
| -6 | Impaired Manipulation (Talons) | |
| -6 | Impaired Speech (No Language) | |
| -5 | Inept Attack (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -5 | Inept Defense (Ranged Attacks) | |
| -3 | Marked (Gigantic Multicolored Bird) | |
| -1 | Unique Defense (Big and Heavy) | |
| Total: | +234 Points |
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Melee 7, Ranged 4)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4)
Damage Multiplier: x5
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45
Notes: Damage: Beak or Talons 16; Initiative: +5; Speed: walk 14 meters/round, fly 30 meters/round.
(Its Skill was bought using Multi-Genre costs. In genres or settings where Animal Training is only 1 Point per Level, raise this Skill to Level 2.)
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.
Throwback Thursday: A Lewis Carroll Bestiary, Part 1
While migrating some of my old wiki pages to new homes, I came across this page from several years back (circa 2003-2005?) and decided to share it here. Part 1 gives my original BESM Second Edition stats; Part 2 will provide conversions to BESM Third Edition.
The following creatures are based on the works of Lewis Carroll (specifically, Through the Looking-glass and "The Hunting of the Snark"), with some ideas inspired by Gary Gygax's versions of these monsters (in the AD&D adventure The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror).
Each species described here is rare enough to qualify for the Marked defect. Skills were bought using Medieval Fantasy costs.
Bandersnatch (35 CP)
The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. It attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is "snatching and banding": grabbing its prey and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a wrestling attack followed by its Special Attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.
Body 9, Mind 3, Soul 4 (16 CP)
Attributes: Elasticity 1 (1 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Heightened Awareness 1 (1 CP), Highly Skilled 1 (1 CP), Kensei 1 (Chanbara Master) (1 CP), Light Armour 2 (5 armour) (2 CP), Natural Weapons 3 (Claws, Fangs, Tentacles) (3 CP), Special Attack 1 ("Banding": damage 15; Drain Energy, Tangle: 10 HP, Unique Ability: victim suffers Cannot Talk 1 while entangled; Melee, No Damage) (4 CP), Special Movement 3 (Balance, Light-footed, Wall-crawling) (3 CP), Speed 4 (2 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (gigantic centipede) (2 BP)
Skills: Acrobatics 1 (Jumps) (3 SP), Ranged Defense 1 (Personal) (4 SP), Stealth 1 (Concealment) (4 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Unarmed Defense 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Wilderness Tracking 1 (Desert) (3 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13
Notes: The bite does 7 damage, claws 10, including ACV; add 5 with a successful Chanbara attack. Its many extra legs give the benefits of Tentacles for wrestling attacks; with Elasticity added, it gains a total of +2 when attacking or defending while wrestling. Speed gives it +2 Initiative.
Jabberwock (35 CP)
The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.
Attributes: Combat Mastery 2 (4 CP), Damn Healthy! 3 (3 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Flight 1 (4 CP), Heavy Armour 1 (10 armour) (4 CP), Massive Damage 1 (2 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Claws, Fangs) (2 CP), Super Strength 1 (3 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (2 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (hideous draconian beast) (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP), Vulnerability (Vorpal Swords) (1 BP)
Skills: Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 7, Defense Combat Value 5, Health Points 80, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 16
Notes: Its bite does 24 damage, its claws 27, including ACV, Massive Damage, and Super Strength.
Jubjub (40 CP)
The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.
Body 7, Mind 3, Soul 6 (16 CP)
Attributes: Flight 1 (can't hover) (3 CP), Light Armour 3 (7 armour) (3 CP), Mind Control 5 (Birds only) (10 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Beak, Claws) (2 CP), Special Attack 4 ("Song of Despair": damage 30; Area Effect: 10 m radius, Drain Soul, Soul Attack; No Damage, Toxic: sound-based) (16 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Easily Distracted (shiny objects) (1 CP), Marked (gigantic bird) (2 BP), No Arms (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP)
Skills: Animal Training 1 (Birds) (2 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13
Notes: Its beak does 7 damage, its claws 10, including ACV.
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.
A Lewis Carroll Bestiary
Monsters for Big Eyes, Small Mouth, Second Edition Revised.
The following creatures are based on the works of Lewis Carroll (specifically, Through the Looking-glass and "The Hunting of the Snark"), with some ideas inspired by Gary Gygax's versions of these monsters (in the AD&D adventure The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror).
Each species described here is rare enough to qualify for the Marked defect. Skills were bought using Medieval Fantasy costs.
Bandersnatch (35 CP)
The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. It attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is "snatching and banding": grabbing its prey and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a wrestling attack followed by its Special Attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.
Body 9, Mind 3, Soul 4 (16 CP)
Attributes: Elasticity 1 (1 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Heightened Awareness 1 (1 CP), Highly Skilled 1 (1 CP), Kensei 1 (Chanbara Master) (1 CP), Light Armour 2 (5 armour) (2 CP), Natural Weapons 3 (Claws, Fangs, Tentacles) (3 CP), Special Attack 1 ("Banding": damage 15; Drain Energy, Tangle: 10 HP, Unique Ability: victim suffers Cannot Talk 1 while entangled; Melee, No Damage) (4 CP), Special Movement 3 (Balance, Light-footed, Wall-crawling) (3 CP), Speed 4 (2 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (gigantic centipede) (2 BP)
Skills: Acrobatics 1 (Jumps) (3 SP), Ranged Defense 1 (Personal) (4 SP), Stealth 1 (Concealment) (4 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Unarmed Defense 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Wilderness Tracking 1 (Desert) (3 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13
Notes: The bite does 7 damage, claws 10, including ACV; add 5 with a successful Chanbara attack. Its many extra legs give the benefits of Tentacles for wrestling attacks; with Elasticity added, it gains a total of +2 when attacking or defending while wrestling. Speed gives it +2 Initiative.
Jabberwock (35 CP)
The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.
Body 8, Mind 2, Soul 5 (15 CP)
Attributes: Combat Mastery 2 (4 CP), Damn Healthy! 3 (3 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Flight 1 (4 CP), Heavy Armour 1 (10 armour) (4 CP), Massive Damage 1 (2 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Claws, Fangs) (2 CP), Super Strength 1 (3 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (2 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (hideous draconian beast) (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP), Vulnerability (Vorpal Swords) (1 BP)
Skills: Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 7, Defense Combat Value 5, Health Points 80, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 16
Notes: Its bite does 24 damage, its claws 27, including ACV, Massive Damage, and Super Strength.
Jubjub (40 CP)
The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.
Attributes: Flight 1 (can't hover) (3 CP), Light Armour 3 (7 armour) (3 CP), Mind Control 5 (Birds only) (10 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Beak, Claws) (2 CP), Special Attack 4 ("Song of Despair": damage 30; Area Effect: 10 m radius, Drain Soul, Soul Attack; No Damage, Toxic: sound-based) (16 CP)
Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Easily Distracted (shiny objects) (1 CP), Marked (gigantic bird) (2 BP), No Arms (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP)
Skills: Animal Training 1 (Birds) (2 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)
Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13
Notes: Its beak does 7 damage, its claws 10, including ACV.
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
The Freeport Iconics--now for Pathfinder!
Green Ronin Publishing is releasing a new Pathfinder edition of Freeport: The City of Adventure, their ENnie Award-winning RPG setting. This book contains a first-level adventure, "The Iron-Jack Legacy," that showcases the city's flavor of pirates and eldritch horror. Unlike the original Freeport Trilogy adventures, no pregenerated characters are provided. In this column, I will discuss how to convert the "iconic" Freeport player characters--the dwarf cleric Thorgrim, the gnome fighter Rollo, the half-elf sorcerer Malevir, and the human rogue Alaina--to Pathfinder. See pages 139-142 of The Freeport Trilogy: Five Year Anniversary Edition for the party's v.3.5 statistics.
For this conversion, I will only use the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This will limit the options to a manageable size for discussion, but there's another precedent here: In 2000, the first players of the original Death in Freeport adventure only had access to the Player's Handbook.
The first difficulty with this conversion is that these four pregenerated characters have very good ability scores for their level:
For this conversion, I will only use the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This will limit the options to a manageable size for discussion, but there's another precedent here: In 2000, the first players of the original Death in Freeport adventure only had access to the Player's Handbook.
The first difficulty with this conversion is that these four pregenerated characters have very good ability scores for their level:
- Thorgrim: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 10
- Rollo: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10
- Malevir: Str 9, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 17
- Alaina: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 11, Cha 13
These scores give total modifiers of +8, +11, +9, and +10, respectively. Compare that to the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) which comes to +5, or +6 after adding the net +2 to ability scores for any of the core races. This disparity become even more pronounced if you calculate the costs to get these scores using Pathfinder's purchase method (accounting for the most efficient racial ability adjustments): 19 points for Thorgrim, 34 for Rollo, 30 for Malevir, and 29 for Alaina. Thorgrim is solidly at the High Fantasy level (20 points), but the other three far exceed even the Epic Fantasy level (25 points).
Freeport is a setting full of high adventure and high stakes, so the High Fantasy level seems most appropriate here. To start with, I dropped the odd scores by one, which saved some purchase points without reducing modifiers. Then I dropped a few of the highest scores, because buying them at that level would eat up too much of the point budget. I then lowered some of the scores that were less essential to the class, to bring the total cost down to 20 points. These changes gave me the following new ability scores:
- Thorgrim: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 11. Dropping his Con to 16 (still +3) freed up enough points to raise his Wis to +3, making him a more effective cleric.
- Rollo: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 9. Rollo needs to keep the 15 Dex for Two-Weapon Fighting, but that plus the Str 16 [18, -2] would cost 24 points. I dropped the Str by 2, and reduced his mental stats to bring him down to 20 points.
- Malevir: Str 8, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16. Rounding down odd scores left him only 2 points over budget, so I only dropped Int after that.
- Alaina: Str 13, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12. I decided that preserving her high Dex was more important than most of her other scores. Her human ability score bonus made purchasing a 18 reasonable, if still expensive.
That brings us to skills, which Pathfinder simplifies in several ways. First, multiplying points by 4 at first level, and doubling costs for cross-class skills, are replaced by simply adding a +3 bonus for trained class skills. Second, many skills were merged, notably Listen and Spot into Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Stealth. For all but Thorgrim, the adjusted ability scores included Int, but this was partially compensated for by using the favored class bonus to replace the lost skill point at first level. Their new skill lists are as follows:
- Thorgrim: Appraise +1 (+3 metals or gems), Heal +6, Perception +2 (+4 unusual stonework), Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +5. Appraise and Perception are untrained.
- Rollo: Acrobatics -1 (-5 jumps)*, Climb +2*, Craft (weapons) +3, Perception +2, Stealth +3*, Swim +2*. Craft and Perception are untrained. Skills marked * include a -4 armor check panelty.
- Malevir: Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (arcana) +4, Perception +3, Spellcraft +4. Perception is untrained. Diplomacy includes a +3 for the Skill Focus racial bonus feat.
- Alaina: Acrobatics +8, Appraise +5, Bluff +5, Climb +5, Diplomacy +5, Disable Device +9, Escape Artist +8, Linguistics +5, Perception +4 (+5 find traps), Stealth +8. Alaina benefited from Pathfinder's shorter skill list, and I actually had to choose a new trained skill for her (Linguistics, to replace the lost bonus language).
The other details are fairly straightforward, except for a few class features. Rollo and Alaina need no further changes from v.3.5 to Pathfinder, However, I have swapped out Alaina's Alertness feat for Weapon Finesse, which has no prerequisite in Pathfinder. This will make her a much more deadly combatant.
Malevir needs to choose a bloodline. Arcane is the default, and fits him well enough. I chose a bonded object (the amulet in his portrait) rather than a familiar, mainly because he never had one in v.3.0 and v.3.5. Under those rules, he would not have had the starting cash for the ritual to summon a familiar.
In the Trilogy, Thorgrim is described as a lawful good cleric of the God of Valor, with the Good and War domains. However, the new Freeport book makes that god chaotic good, without the War domain. Therefore I've changed him to be a cleric of the lawful good God of Justice, and given him the Sun domain instead of War.
That completes the conversion, and you can find my full converted stat blocks here, at Tim's Errata Archive. I hope that you find them, and my notes here, to be useful in your own games.
--Tim
As a bonus, I have also converted these characters to Fate, for use with the "Fury in Freeport" adventure in the Fate Freeport Companion.
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