RPG Person Profile

( template on Zak's blog )

i'm currently running:
i run a d&d session every now and then, but i can't keep it up.

I would especially like to play:
rules-lite d&d.

I want to run a game grounded in dull medieval realities, with landed nobles and chivalry and shit, but i end up doing asylum-pyramids and filthy beggars and viscera fairies, and that's okay, too.

but I would also try:
stuff that's not d&d.

i live in:
Brisbane, Australia.

three well-known rpg products i like:
holmes basic d&d, adventurer conquerer king system, abulafia

three novels i like:
the game of thrones books, cugel's saga, the earthsea saga

three movies i like:
salute of the jugger (aka the blood of heroes), groundhog day, beetlejuice

best place to find me:
on google+

you can find free d&d stuff i made:
on this blog, and more random generators on abulafia

i will read any rpg stuff that:
is brief, or makes me think that magic is real.

games i'm in are like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX3iz0JvKUs&feature=player_detailpage#t=68

six secret scorpions

1 firx, the scorpion who lives in your liver and follows a strict code of conduct, stinging you when you get out of line.
2 saggus, the scorpion made of a million tiny human hands.
3 trang, the hairy brown scorpion the size of a horse, who builds wooden houses.
4 fray, the scorpion with tentacles of bone, who eats bees.
5 if, the scorpion who sings sweet songs of summer in order to lure folk away from their lives and into service.
6 seck, who lives on the other side of shadows, the scorpion who eats names.

skullfire island

main factions
-the heirarchs, roman conquerers from the continent
-the driftlords, like mobsters or japanese daimyos, split remnants of earlier rule

neutral factions
-the fiends, the native population of tieflings, imps and so on.
-the lizards, bands of mercenaries, often dragonborn.
-the collectors, the ashsellers, the ghouls and the tinkers

beast factions
-the hive, kruthik or similar
-the rocs and raptors
-the triffids

cities
-The industrial city, Phintad
-The holy city, Kitan
-the steppe merchant town, Yartagun
-the ruined city, Argol

the guy trains you

THE GUY TRAINS YOU
which character trains you - which bonus that gives you

based on zak's (fighter/ranger/thief) tables, but more different.

whenever you level up, roll once on table 1. get that bonus.
as well, check the table for your class, get the appropriate bonus for the character who's training you - or if they're not on there fudge it, or you can just roll on that table.

basically I'm trying to do the thing it says in the DMG where you have to find a higher level character who can train you, in order to level up. Because i'm being stingy with levels, I want levelling up to be a cool thing that gives you cool stuff.

TABLE 1
[1] +1d4 to your prime ability (if maxed, roll again on this table)
[2] +1d4 to two ability scores at random (if an ability is maxed, not that one)
[3] +1 tohit and +1 to all saves
[4] +1d2 to your ok-good saves but not to your worst save (if any).

TABLE 2: FIGHTERS
[1] (training with a mercenary captain or barbarian or something) +1 melee tohit and +1 melee damage, and +1 damage with (axes/swords/hammers/spears/flails/unarmed) - whatever the trainer's best at.
[2] (training with an arena champion) +2 grapple checks etc, and +1 AC when wearing light armor or no armor.
[3] (training with a ranger or marksman) +1 missile weapon tohit, and +1 to hit a specific type of enemy you've fought before(mages or goblins or spiders or something), with any weapon.
[4] (training with a pirate king) get +1 to climbing and jumping and swimming. also, any one time you take damage, you can opt to lose an arm or leg (randomly determined) instead, and take no damage, even if the hit would've killed you - you can do this once for each time you do pirate training at level up.
[5] (training with a generous lord) you get a loyal dog or horse or henchman, who is better than a normal dog or horse or henchman.
[6] (training with a demon or skeleton king or giant snake or something) +3 vs flames or fear or poison or something.

TABLE 3: THIEVES
(thieves get [thief skills] according to their level, as normal)
[1](training with a beggar lord) +2 pickpocket and +1AC in light armor or no armor.
[2](training with a blademaster or street thug) melee backstab goes to 2X or 3X or 4x damage or whatever.
[3] (training with a ranger or marksman) missile backstab goes to 2X or 3X or 4x damage or whatever.
[4](training with an assassin) gain the 'handle poison' skill at d20+0 (assuming DC10). if you're an old hat at poisons, get +5 to that skill.
[5](training with a street performer or theatre troup) gain the 'disguise' skill at d20+5 (assuming DC10). if you're an old hat at disguise, get +5 to that skill.
[6](training with a thief lord or merchant prince) get +1 contact in every city.

TABLE 4: CLERICS
[1](training with a prophet or oracle) cumulative 1/6 chance to forecast future events, once a week. the character doesn't determine the events, only sees them.
[2](training with a bishop or evangelist) +2 to checks to convince somebody to join or support your religion. +1 to convince your god to do special god stuff for you.
[3](training with a beggar-priest or travelling friar) +2 to checks to convince someone to let you stay with them overnight. +2 when begging for alms.
[4](training with a healer or apothecary) +1 to healing spells, and +2 to identify magical reagents.
[5](training with a witch-hunter or inquisitor) get +1 to turn undead. and +2 to know things about witches/abominations/heresies.
[6](training with a angel or demon or similar) get +1 contact on every plane and get +1 to saves vs some alignment or flames or something.

TABLE 5: MAGES
[1](training with an alchemist) +2 to create potions, and +2 to identify potions and reagents. 
[2](training with an astrologer or fortune teller) cumulative 1/6 chance to forecast future events, once a week. the character doesn't determine the events, only sees them.
[3](training with a researcher or scholar) +1 on spell research checks and checks to create magic items.
[4](training with a travelling shaman or hedge wizard) +2 to identify magical stuff and +1AC in light armor or no armor.
[5](training with a djinni or demon or whatever) get a wish.
[6](training with a duelist) +1 to your casting speed.

DEATH and DIMINUTION

i've got this weird DEATH SAVE rule I've been using, it's pretty simple:

everybody has a DEATH SAVE. you roll 1d6 and write down the result, and write DEATH SAVE or draw a big skull or something. the death save should stare out at you from the page, humbling you. "I want to jump over this chasm - but if I fall, there's a 3-in-6 chance I will die," you will say.

so whenever you are hit by an attack that takes you down to 0HP, make a DEATH SAVE.
or when a thing happens that should kill you, or when the book says 'save or die', make a DEATH SAVE.

to make a DEATH SAVE:
roll a d6, get on or under your DEATH SAVE score.

if you fail, you are dead.
if you succeed, you are not dead, and (optional variant: you heal a little) and (optional variant: you lose a thing), and your death save goes down by one, so that with each successful save you are slowly ticking down to the day when you will die. if your death save reaches 0, you can still do adventures if you want to, but you can't succeed a DEATH SAVE anymore.

the DEATH SAVE increases by one each time you level up.

HOW TO MINMAX A D&D NEXT GUY

(using the optional point-buy rules)

the standard array:
[15,14,13,12,10,8]   basically not good for humans (need mostly odd)
                     AND not good for demihumans (need mostly even)

the point buy system in the book suggests (as most extreme and most boring cases):
[15,15,15,8,8,8]     okay for a human, but three bad scores.
[13,13,13,12,12,12]  +1 to everything. dumb.

so these are pretty bad examples to include in the book.
there are essentially four kinds of guys you can make in d&d next:

I:   humans with +3 to one ability score and +1 to all the rest
II:  humans with +2 to two scores and +1 to all the rest
III: demihumans with +2 to one score
IV:  demihumans with +1 to two scores

you need to point-buy differently in each case - so a cautious player (with access to the point buy system) will spend too much time making a guy. d&d next character creation is full of little problems like this. (if you are a dm running d&d next and a player asks to use an optional rule, "hey I can create my own background right?" say no) (I always do all the optional stuff)

numbers in [] brackets are the original scores just from point buy.
numbers with no brackets include bonuses from race and class.

good sets for a human:

(I: humans with +3 to one ability score and +1 to all the rest)
18,16,16,9,9,9    [15,15,15,8,8,8]    (three good scores, three bad)
                                      (as suggested in the book)                                     
18,16,14,14,12,9  [15,15,13,13,11,8]  (four good scores, one bad)
                                      (much better)                                     
18,14,14,14,13,10 [15,13,13,13,12,9]  (or this)

(II: humans with +2 to two scores and +1 to all the rest)
16,16,14,12,11,11 [14,14,13,11,10,10] (three good scores, no bad)
16,16,13,12,12,12 [14,14,12,11,11,11] (no bad scores)

good sets for other races:

(III: demihumans with +2 to one score)
16[14],14,14,10,10,10     (two good scores, no bad)
16[14],14,12,12,11,10     (no bad scores)

(IV: demihumans with +1 to two score)
16[15],16[15],14,12,8,8   (three good scores, two bad)
16[15],14[13],14,10,10,10 (three good scores, no bad)
14[13],14[13],14,12,12,10 (three good scores, no bad)

(all this is from the current playtest packet. maybe the game will not be like this when it's out.)

weird table

this is like the laziest DM tool ever but it works so whatever.

for my village generator on abulafia i made this one table, that will madlibs a weird adjective in before any noun to make it more weird. I keep finding places to use it when I'm generating other stuff.

 example: [weird] wolf, [weird] wizard, [weird] sword, [weird] room, [weird] mine.

MAYBE WEIRD
1-4 regular
5-6 weird


WEIRD
1 fish
2 bug
3 egg
4 fungus
5 glass
6 slime
7 poison
8 soul
9 acid
10 salt
11 crystal
12 clock
13 vapor
14 sex
15 dream
16 sleep
17 imaginary
18 blood
19 flesh
20 bone
21 bile
22 ash
23 tentacle
24 trash
25 time
26 space
27 quantum
28 cosmic
29 extradimensional
30 non-euclidian