Campaign Chronicles

This is the d20 version of the "Thermonator", a Flame-Throwing Robot Dog manufactured by Throwflame, a company based in Ohio. The actual product retails for $9420. Flame-Throwing Robot Dog CR: 2     Medium Construct     HD: 1d10+10 (15 hp) Init: +0     Spd: 25'     AC: 15 (Alumisteel Armor), t: 10, ff: 15 Attacks: (BAB +0; Grap +2); +2 Bite: 1d4+2 (20/×2) or Flamethrower: 3d6 fire (5'×30' line, Ref ½ DC15) SA: SQ: Construct Traits Align: N     Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0 Str: 15, Dex: 10, Con: - -, Int: - -, Wis: 10, Cha: 1 Skills: Listen +5, Search +5, Spot +5 Feats: - - Gear: Integrated Alumisteel Armor, Class III Sensors (Visual including Infrared, Audio, and Olfactory), AV Transmitter, Fire Extinguisher (w/ 4 shots), Skill Chip (×3; Listen +5, Search +5, Spot +5), Weapon Mount w/ Flamethrower (10 shots) Purchase DC: 24 Using the table presented in d20 Fut...

I have recently joined a 2nd Edition Play-by-post Campaign as a player . The campaign I run uses 3.5e rules so there was a bit of an adjustment - at least as far as character creation went but when we got into our first fight, everything came rushing right back. Anyway, this is my character.  Rogo "the Red Checker" Bramblefoot : CG Stout/Hairfoot Halfling male Misadventurer of Brandobaris  5/Thief 6 Str: 11 Dex: 15 Con: 13 Int: 13 Wis: 14 Cha: 11 Hit Dice: 5d8 plus 6d6 (÷2) (25 hp) Armor Class:  2  (Bracers of Defensive AC6,  Cloak of Protection +2 , -2 Def adjustment) THAC0: 18 No. of Att: 1 Dmg/Att: Shortsword: 1d6 (1d8 for Large) or Dagger+2: 1d4+2 (1d3+2 vs Large) or Sling +2 (w/ bullet): 1d4+3 (1d6+3 vs Large) Saves: PPD: 9, RSW: 11, PP: 11, BW: 15, Sp: 13 Racial Abilities: +3 save vs. Poison and Rod/Staff/Wand, and Spells; +1 to hit with thrown weapons and slings; Surprise Opponents (-4 to opponents' Surprise rolls if 90' ahead of party/onl...

I was searching through old posts today, looking up what now seem like ancient and long-forgotten details about an event that took place twelve years ago in my play-by-post campaign and stumbled across an article about level limits in AD&D. This concept has largely been abandoned over the intervening decades since the creation of Dungeons & Dragons with 5e essentially capping out at 20th level for everyone but it got me to thinking about the story my players are currently engaged in. In earlier editions of the game, it was commonly accepted that the time of elves and dwarves, et al has passed with them reaching their "maximum potential" somewhere between 8th and 11th level. Humanity is the mover and shaker of the world now but it seems to me, and always has, that an elf with a lifespan of hundreds of years is going to amass more experience and have more time to hone his skills than any human.  The same can be said for dwarves and gnomes who also can expect to live to...

Not counting Groundhog's Day , Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have made quite a few Halloween-themed posts over the years and thought I would compile them in one place for DMs who might want to mine ideas for a Halloween-inspired session. • Bessie the Hellcow   •  Brain-Eating Geese • Breath-Stealing Cat • Bloody Mary  • Carrion Pigeon   • Curse of the Pumpkin People   • Dr. Strange and the Ghostbusters   • Ghostbusters Equipment   • The Great Pumpkin   • Head in a Freezer   • Jack-O-Lanterns • King Diamond's Abigail •  The Thing That Lives Under the Stairs and Eats Children 

Once upon a time, there was nothing - no light, no sound, no worlds or stars.  There was no way to know how many infinities the nothing lasted for because there was no way to gauge the passage of time.  Only the dark goddess Shar existed and She was content. Then, one day, the universe began – filled with an infinite array of life, light and sounds and the goddess was wroth.  She sought to unmake everything and return to the primordial nothingness that existed before. The other gods and goddesses rose to oppose Her, both directly and through mortal agents.  One band of these agents did battle with Shar's minions in a hidden temple beneath the city of Tsuragol and put everyone of them to the sword . Shar swore vengeance, not because She cared for Her followers but because the adventurers failed to cower in awed fear before Her.  The goddess, bound by strictures dictating that She could not directly interfere in the realm of mortals, watched and waited. The adve...

The Thing That Lives Under the Stairs and Eats Children CR: 2     Small Outsider (Evil) HD: 3d8     Hp: 16 Init: -1     Spd: 30' AC: 12 (+1 size, -1 Dex, +2 Natural), t: 10, ff: 12 Attacks: (BAB +3; Grap -1) ; +4 2 Claws: 1d3 and +2 Bite: 1d4 SA: Improved Grab, Swallow Whole SQ: Darkvision 60'; Fear Aura; Light Vulnerability; Subjective Appearance Align: NE     Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +2 Str: 10, Dex: 9, Con: 10, Int: 8, Wis: 7, Cha: 6 Skills: Bluff +4, Diplomacy +0, Disguise -2 (+0 act in character), Hide +5, Intimidate +4, Listen +5, Move Silently +6, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +2, Spot +5 Feats: Ability Focus (Fear Aura), Multiattack Things That Live Under the Stairs and Eat Children, also known as "Dwellers in Closets" or "The Monster Under the Bed", are fiendish spirits drawn to places where children have suffered. They frequently haunt children's hospitals, orphanages, and sc...

The Midnight Special is a ship that exists in several different versions in my campaign.  Its "default" form is that of a keelboat that operates in the waters around the Velen Peninsula in the Forgotten Realms.  The second version is a seaplane in the 1920s on Earth-218 and the third is an armored fishing trawler used to hunt pirates off of the Somali coast in modern times. Midnight Special Gargantuan Vehicle (30‘l x 10‘w x 5‘h, 5‘draft) Seaworthiness: -2; Shiphandling: +2 Speed: wind x 10’ or oars 10’ (good); Overall AC: 1 (-4 size, -5 Dex) Hull Sections: 3 (sink 1 section); Section Hp: 50 (hardness 5); Section AC: 3 (-5 Dex) Rigging Sections: 1; Rigging Hp: 60 (hardness 0); AC: 1 Ram: 3d6; Mounts: 1 light Complement: 16; Watch: 2 (+8 rowers); Cargo: 20 tons (speed wind x 5’ or oars 5’ if 10 tons or more) Weapons: 1 Ballista (1 fore) Crew: 1 Hardness: 5 Hp: 75 Dmg: 3d8 (19-20/x2) Range: 120’ A Medium creature take...

I was watching the Tick with my youngest son the other day and got to thinking, "I could make Blowhole into a D&D character" so, with a little puttering about, I present yet another Tick-related post for your enjoyment. Blowhole : male Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale CR: 8     Gargantuan Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)     HD: 12d8+72     Hp: 124 Init: +1     Spd: 40', swim 40'     AC: 16 (-4 size, +1 Dex, +9 Natural); t: 7, ff: 15 Attacks: (BAB +12/Grap +36) ; +20 Slam: 2d6+12 (20/x2) or Trample: 2d6+18 (Ref ½ DC  28) SA: Swallow Whole, Trample SQ: Blindsight 120'; Hold Breath; Low-Light Vision Align: N     Saves: Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +9 Str: 35, Dex: 13, Con: 22, Int: 10, Wis: 12, Cha: 6 Skills: Listen +18*, Spot +18*, Swim +20 * additional +4 underwater with Blindsight Feats: Alertness, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Run • Blindsight (Ex): Whales can “see” underwater by emitti...

Background: The party had left Tsuragol and were headed east. A storm sprung up and the group took shelter in an abandoned roadside temple dedicated to Talos. The events that followed would launch them from the familiar environs of their own world into a foreign and hostile land. The Temple:   Originally built nearly fifty years ago, this temple has been abandoned for almost a decade after the worshippers were slain by members of a nearby druidic circle. An unsettling aura of evil still hangs over the ruin, almost as if the very stones used in the temple's construction remember the foul rites that were once performed here.  The temple was built along the western shore of the Easting Reach to take advantage of a naturally occurring weather phenomenon: tornadoes and thunderstorms.  Cold dry air sweeping down from the Earthspur and Galena Mountain range collide with warm humid air from the Sea of Fallen Stars to generate powerful storms. A series of metal rods in the t...

Sometime in the late fall of '92 and early spring of '93, I ran a campaign that revolved around a group of adventurers who called themselves the Knights of Daggerford.  The group lasted through two iterations with new adventurers replacing the originals as members died or retired.  The second group of Knights battled and killed a manticore early in their career and harvested its wings.  I no longer remember what the wings were originally intended for but the party ended up fashioning a leather harness, attaching the wings to it and strapping the entire contraption to a dairy cow. They named the cow, “Sid.” From a distance, the wings looked real and were effective in frightening away superstitious goblin tribes.  Unfortunately, the cow wandered off and although a search was conducted, no sign of Sid could be found.  A sober memorial service was held and the Knights went on with their lives. Occasionally, a farmer from one of the outlying regions would report seei...