Posts

• Feb 1, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Drakes, Part 3

  This is our third and final post on drakes, covering the two species that appear in the Monster Vault but not on the Monster Manual. It’s is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  Ambush Drake

  This species seem to be a Monster Vault original. At least, it doesn’t seem to appear on any of the Monster Manuals. According to the MV, Ambush Drakes “roam the plains” and frequently attack lone travelers or even whole caravans. No mention seems to be made of domesticated ambush drakes.

  These Medium drakes are Level 6 Skirmishers with 71 HP, making them slightly more dangerous than even rage drakes. They run at speed 6, and fly at speed 4 (clumsy). They’re also trained in Stealth. This tells me they likely use their flight ability to scout their surroundings or to silently approach unwary prey from above, but when they fight it’s with feet on the ground.

  Their basic attack is a claw, which can also be employed in a Shifting Strike that allows the drake to shift 1 square before or after the attack. When bloodied, they grow Ravenous and gain the ability to shift 2 squares towards a bloodied enemy as an at-will minor action.

  Bloodseeker Drake

  These Medium drakes first appear on the Monster Manual 2. As their name implies, bloodseekers have a keen sense of smell that’s specially attuned to blood. Domesticated specimens are prized for their tracking ability and used as hunting and patrol animals, but they get a bit hard to control when in the presence of too much blood.

  Bloodseeker Drakes are Level 4 Soldiers with 53 HP. They run with speed 6, and are trained in Perception. They attack with a bite that does extra damage against bloodied targets, and if a bloodied enemy adjacent to the drake shifts, they can make a bite as an opportunity attack against that enemy. This is useful because shifts don’t draw such attacks normally.

  The MM2 version has a few additional traits that were removed - it was immune to fear while within 2 squares of an ally, and had an extra +5 to track bloodied creatures on top of its Perception training. I don’t see any problem in reinstating these abilities if you want to. Them being gone seems to be more due to a general hardening of the “only show combat-relevant information in stat blocks” stance in the MV than due to any balance concerns.

  Final Impressions

  This ended up being a short article, since only those two species didn’t appear in the first Monster Manual. I like the bloodseekers, but ambush drakes feel a bit context-less to me. “Wild creature that attacks on sight” is not exactly something that stands out in D&D, you know? Giving them a function when tamed by humanoids would help giving them some more flavor.

• Jan 31, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Drakes, Part 2

  

  This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  In this post we’ll continue to look at drakes, covering the rest of the ones present in the MM.

  Pseudodragon

  Ever since Kitty Pride from the X-Men got her pint-sized pet dragon, lots of people have wanted one for their own characters. D&D 3.x finally granted that wish by introducing pseudodragons as a familiar option in one of its early sourcebooks. They return here as a type of drake, being of Small size, and are present in both books.

  While needlefang drakes are just “cat-sized”, pseudodragons pretty much are cats, at least personality-wise. Also of note is the fact that they’re really smart! The MM version has Int 6, and the MV equivalent not only has Int 9 but also has two languages listed in its stat block (Common and Draconic). They’re both still classed as Natural Beasts, so you could interpret that as meaning they can understand these languages but aren’t capable of speaking them. According to the MM, they purr, hiss, chirp and growl in the same situations a cat would emit each of these noises.

  In the wild, they’re predators and scavengers, but usually stick to small prey and don’t attack animals unless threatened. Their high intelligence makes them highly valued as pets, as well.

  MM pseudodragons are Level 3 Lurkers with 40 HP. They walk with speed 4 and fly with speed 8 (hover). They attack with a bite, or with a stinger that does the same amount of damage with some ongoing poison damage on top (save ends) and recharges on 3-6. Both of these count as basic attacks, allowing the pseudodragon to use the stinger when it performs a Flyby Attack. This, as usual, lets them fly their speed without drawing opportunity attacks and make a basic attack at any point.

  They also have the ability to turn invisible when they stand still. This is a standard action that recharges whenever the critter is damaged, which makes it useful both for lying in ambush or for escaping an ambush gone wrong.

  The MV pseudodragon has the same level, role, HP and speed, but trades Flyby Attack for a less powerful effect on its bite that allows it to fly 4 squares without worrying about opportunity attacks. The stinger remains a basic attack but is also a bit more restricted, as it can only be used on a target that can’t see the pseudodragon. To make up for this, its Invisibility power now allows it to move, and only ends when the pseudodragon makes an attack.

  All of this adds up to a more lurkerish monster, which will charge its chosen target with a stinger attack while invisible, then use the bite combined with its high fly speed to get away.

  Spitting Drake

  Spitting Drakes are Medium, and got their name from their ability to spit gobs of acid. This is their main weapon when hunting, and they’re also easily domesticated to serve as (somewhat messy) guard animals. In the wild, they’ll sometimes join guard drake packs, which I think is an interesting worldbuilding detail. They’re present in both books but their stat block is the same in both cases.

  These creatures are Level 3 Artillery with 38 HP, and run with speed 7. Their bite, as standard for artillery, is kinda weak. Their acid spit is a Ranged 10 attack targetting Reflex and doing acid damage.

  Rage Drake

  When the books say larger drakes are harder to tame, they’re talking about Rage Drakes. Our first Large drake, it also has the Mount keyword. It appears in both the MM and the MV.

  Rage Drakes definitly didn’t get this name because they’re gentle! Adult specimens are outright impossible to tame, but a trainer that starts with a hatchling can make it into a combat mount better than any warhorse.

  Wild rage drakes are highly territorial hunters. Like other drakes, they’re also social creatures who gather in clutches. In fact, a solitary rage drake will sometimes invite itself into a clutch or guard drakes or other smaller species and become its leader. So yes, it’s possible for your PC party to run into a single drake clutch composed of rage, spitting and guard drakes, all wild and all hungry.

  Rage drakes are Level 5 Brutes with 77 HP. They have a single basic attack in the form of a bite, but also have a slightly weaker claw attack. Their Raking Charge ability allows them to charge and make two claw attacks.

  When bloodied, Rage Drakes freak out! They become immune to fear, and gain +2 to hit and +5 to damage on all their attacks. If they’re serving as a mount, the rider also gains a +2 to hit on all of their attacks.

  The MV version is largely identical, save for the facts that its damage math has been fixed and the damage bonus from being enraged is only a +2. The accuracy bonus for the drake and its rider remains the same.

  Sample Encounters

  The MM gives us three for the entire “Drake” entry:

  • Level 2: 2 guard drakes, 2 elf archers, 1 elf scout. A patrol and their guard animals.

  • Level 4: 1 pseudodragon, 1 human mage, 2 human guards, and 2 human bandits. Either a bandit squad of bandit-hunting militia, with the mage having brought his familiar along.

  • Level 5: 1 rage drake and a band of assorted lizardfolk protecting their swamp home.

  Final Impressions

  I really, really like this version of drakes, mainly because of the lore they bring along. Domesticated drakes should be a common sight in any society, which does a lot to make the world feel not only magical but also fresh. I’m actually a bit disappointed that 5th edition seems to have gone back on this and made them related to dragons again.

• Jan 27, 2020

  Let's Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Drakes, Part 1

  

  This post is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

  These beasties seem to be new to Fourth Edition, at least as presented here. If I remember correctly, the things 3.x called Drakes were related to dragons - they had the Dragon “monster class” but weren’t technically dragons themselves. As a GM you would use drakes when you wanted a “lite” dragon encounter.

  Here, the name is basically another bit of Behemoth-like medieval taxonomy employed by the people people who live in the 4e implied setting. A drake is a clawed, carnivorous reptile that’s not big enough to be called a Behemoth. There are several species of drake: some walk on two legs and have limited manipulation capability, some walk on all fours, some even fly!

  I’ve heard that this means they correspond to the smaller varieties of dinosaur, but I think that’s not quite true. While several of them are similar to certain species of dinosaurs, they’re less so than behemoths (where you often can draw a direct visual parallel between a given behemoth and the real-world counterpart).

  Drakes in the wild are aggressive and territorial predators, more likely to attack a group of humans than a wolf or bear. Despite this, they’re rather easy to tame, and can be frequently encountered not only as guard or attack animals, but as pets or even mounts!

  In short, drakes pretty much fill the same roles as dogs. If you want to make your particular version of the setting feel more fantastical you could even say that it has no dogs, since the sapients here never domesticated wolves. It’s all drakes all the time.

  The Monster Vault kinda backs down from this idea a bit, saying that drakes are more aggressive and “alien” than corresponding domesticated mammals and such tend to be feared by common people, though they are often encountered in the service of hostile humanoids. Personally, I would disregard this bit completely and keep them as a common dog-substitute for all sapient peoples.

  Both books agree that the larger varieties of drake are harder to domesticate, which would mean good old warhorses are still more common than rage drakes.

  All Drakes are Natural Beasts with the Reptile keyword. Between the Monster Manual and the Monster Vault there are quite a few of them, so we’ll split this single entry into multiple posts. This is part 1.

  Spiretop Drake

  Present only in the MM, this Small drake is a Level 1 Skirmisher with 29 HP. It waddles at Speed 4 but flies with speed 8 and hover capability. They’re a social species that likes to nest in high places, which means clutches of the things nest in towers and spires in large cities and swoop down to steal shiny things from unwary passerby.

  Unusually, it has two basic attacks: a bite with its toothed beak that works as usual, and a claw attack that targets Reflex. The claw attack does a measly 1 damage, but a hit also allows the drake to steal a small object from the target, like a single coin, vial or scroll. The fact that the snatching claw is a basic attack is important, because it means the drake can use it as part of a Flyby Attack, where it flies 8 squares while immune to opportunity attacks and performs a basic attack at any point along the movement.

  So yeah, having your small, shiny, plot-critical McGuffin stolen by a pack of spiretop drakes is a hazard in urban adventures. Ideally they’d nest atop a crumbling abandoned tower filled with enough bad stuff to count as a dungeon. As a level 1 monster it’s not really affected by the math bug, so you can use it as-is.

  Guard Drake

  In the wild guard drakes are pack hunters, but they got this name because they’re very commonly used as guard animals, since it’s very easy to train them for this role. Basically, if someone in the real world would use rottweilers for a job, they’ll use guard drakes in D&D. Yes, even as pets.

  This Small drake has nearly identical stat blocks in both books. It’s a Level 2 Brute with 48 HP and a single bite attack that does extra damage if the drake is within two squares of an ally. This makes then pair well with any melee monster.

  The only difference between the MM and MV versions is that the MM version is immune to fear, which is an interesting detail. I’m inclined to keep it, since it’s flavorful and unlikely to make a PC completely ineffective even at this level.

  Needlefang Drake Swarm

  From what I hear people saying on the Internet, needlefang drake swarms have been responsible for more PC deaths than most other monsters in this edition. Let’s see why.

  Needlefang drakes are cat-sized bipedal lizards, though I guess they’re more like angry chihahuas in temperament. A single individual is not really dangerous, and I imagine some people might want to keep one as a pet. In the wild, they gather in large packs that can take down much larger prey and “strip it to the bone in seconds” according to the book, which also implies some people keep whole swarms of them as “living traps”. Beware needlefang drake hoarders!

  A swarm of needlefang drakes is Medium in size and counts as a Level 2 Soldier with 38 HP and the Swarm keyword. Like all swarms it takes half damage from melee and ranged attacks, and extra damage from close and area attacks. It’s immune to fear, and has a Swarm Attack aura 1 that allows it to make a free basic attack against each enemy that begins its turn inside.

  This swarm has two actions: a Swarm of Teeth as a basic attack, which deals extra damage against prone targets; and Pull Down, which targets Fortitude and does no damage, but knocks the target prone on a hit.

  So why are needlefang drake swarms so dang deadly? Well, as MM1 soldiers, their accuracy is 2 points higher than it should be (something which would be fixed by the new monster math). So a swarm has no reason to ever spend its standard action on anything but Pull Down, which will hit even tough fighters very reliably and set them up for an increased-damage free attack from the aura which will hit even more reliably due to combat advantage.

  To make things worse, if you have multiple swarms in play they can position themselves so that anyone they knock down is subject to aura attacks from all of them. That amount of damage per round can take a level 1-2 PC down to 0 quite fast. And to top it off, there’s no in-setting reason for needlefang drakes to follow the sort of combat etiquette that prevents them from attacking downed PCs, so they can potentially keep making free attacks until those PCs hit their death threshold.

  These tiny terrors are just the thing to spruce up a kobold lair or the hideout of a sadistic villain, but don’t overuse them. Or at least make sure your wizard knows Thunderwave before using more than one swarm at a time.

• Jan 27, 2020

  Dungeon Fantasy Character: Ser Alexa of the Flame, Human Mystic Knight

  

  Years ago, Alexa’s father (a minor baron) sent her to the capital to serve as squire to a somewhat eccentric knight. She returns to her home a knight in her own right, skilled with sword and spell, to find her ancestral lands at the edge of ruin. Against the wishes of her ailing father, Alexa sets forth to bring honor, glory, and wealth back to her family name.

  Alexa is made using the spell-based Mystic Knight template from this blog, rather than the Imbuement-based official one. Her Weirdness Magnet is a perfect explanation for why the Odds and Sods party got together in the first place, making her their unnoficial leader.

  Alexa, 245-point Human Mystic Knight

  ST 14 {40}; DX 13 {60}; IQ 12 {40}; HT 13 {30}

  Damage 1d/2d; BL 19.6kg; HP 14; Will 12; Per 12; FP 13; Basic Speed 6.25; Basic Move 6 {0}.

  Advantages

  • Born War Leader 1 {5}
  • Magery 4 {45}
  • Weapon Channeling {1}

  Disadvantages

  • Code of Honor (Chivalry) {-15}
  • Obsession (Restore My Family’s Holdings) {-5}
  • Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
  • Weirdness Magnet {-15}
  • Impulsiveness (12) {-10}

  Quirks

  • Dislikes entering water {-1}
  • Always carries the family sword {-1}
  • Writes letters to her departed mother {-1}
  • Stands at attention unless she makes a conscious effort not to {-1}
  • Hotter to the touch than usual due to fire magic affinity {-1}

  Skills

  • Armory (Body Armor) (A) IQ+1 {4} - 13
  • Brawling (E) DX+1 {2} - 14
  • Broadsword (A) DX+4 {16} - 17
  • Connoisseur (Weapons) (A) IQ+1 {4} - 13
  • Diplomacy (H) IQ-2 {1} - 10
  • Fast-Draw (Sword) (E) DX {1} - 13
  • Forced Entry (E) DX {1} - 13
  • Heraldry (A) IQ-1 {1} - 11
  • Hidden Lore (Magic Items) (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Innate Attack (Projectile) (E) DX+2 {4} - 15
  • Leadership (A) IQ {1}¹ - 12
  • Occultism (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Riding (Horse) (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
  • Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ {1} - 12
  • Shield (E) DX+3 {8} - 16
  • Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
  • Strategy (H) IQ {2}¹ - 12
  • Tactics (H) IQ {2}¹ - 12
  • Thaumathology (VH) IQ+1 {1}² - 13
  • Wrestling (A) DX+1 {4} - 14

  Spells

  All have +4 from Magery.

  • Communication and Empathy
    • Sense Foes (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Sense Evil (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
  • Fire
    • Ignite Fire (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Create Fire (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Shape Fire (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Heat (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Flaming Weapon (H) IQ+3 {2} - 15
    • Fireball (H) IQ+3 {2} - 15
    • Extinguish Fire (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Fireproof (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Resist Fire (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
  • Healing
    • Lend Energy (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Recover Energy (H) IQ+3 {2} - 15
  • Protection and Warning
    • Shield (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14
    • Missile Shield (H) IQ+2 {2} - 15
    • Mystic Mist (H) IQ+2 {1} - 14

  Loadout

  • Fine Medium Shield: DB 2. $600, 5.63kg.
  • Light Mail Suit: DR 3/1. 10 FP as a power item. $1500, 18kg.
  • Broadsword: Damage sw+1 cut or thr+2 imp. Enchanted with the Staff spell. $630, 1.5kg.
  • Quick-Release Backpack: Holds 20kg of gear. Dropping it is a free action. $300, 1.5kg.
    • Blanket: $20, 2kg.
    • Canteen: $10, 1.5kg.
    • Personal Basics: $5, 0.5kg.
    • Rope, 1cm, 10m: Supports 150kg; $5, 0.75kg.
    • $430 in coin.

  Combat

  Assumes Light encumbrance.

  • Defenses
    • Dodge 8 (10)
    • Parry 11 (13)
    • Block 11 (13)
    • DR 3/1.
  • Attacks
    • Broadsword (17): 2d+1 cut or 1d+2 imp, Reach 1.
    • Shield Bash (16): 1d cr, Reach 1.
    • Brawling Punch (14): 1d cr, due to mail gauntlets. Reach C.
    • Brawling Kick (12): 1d+1 cr. Reach C, 1.
    • Wrestling Grapple (14): 1d+1 control.
    • Fireball (15): 1d to 3d burn, Acc 1, Range 25/50. Cost 0 to 2.
      • Alexa doesn’t usually charge it for more than 1 turn.

  1. +1 from Born War Leader ↩ ↩² ↩³

  2. +4 from Magery ↩

• Jan 24, 2020

  Old-School Movement in Dungeon Fantasy

  I’ve been looking at some old D&D modules lately and wondering how to convert them to Dungeon Fantasy. One of the things that gave me some trouble was movement.

  Dungeon movement in AD&D is by default extremely methodical and done with an almost paranoid level of caution¹. This is why even an entirely unencumbered party moves only 120ft/40m over ten minutes. They’re moving reeal slow; they’re trying to maintain stealth; they’re looking for traps and secret passages; someone is mapping. You move five times faster if you don’t have to map, and ten times faster if you throw caution to the wind and tromp through the dungeon at combat speed.

  This is important because AD&D wants you to track turns precisely and roll for wandering monsters every so often. As a delver, you ideally want to get in, get the treasure, and get out as soon as possible. Every extra turn you spend in there has a chance of bringing in hostile enemies who don’t have any loot.

  Dungeon Fantasy (either version) expects the party to move cautiously but doesn’t have specific or timing rules for it². So, when you convert AD&D modules to Dungeon Fantasy, how do you handle movement?

  The easy solution is to just glom the AD&D turn and movement rules into Dungeon Fantasy! The resulting amalgamented abomination is actually rather playable. Check it out:

  Dungeon Fantasy Movement

  Time spent inside a dungeon is measured in ten-minute turns, like in ye olde days. When exploring a dungeon, delvers are by default assumed to be moving very cautiously and methodically, keeping their marching order. When moving this way, they cover a distance per turn equal to ten times the Move of the slowest party member, measured in yards or meters. For example, a party containing a heavily armored knight with Move 3 would explore 30 yards/meters in a turn³.

  Moving this way is slow, and costs the party 1 FP per 5 turns of movement, but has several benefits:

  • The party is assumed to be on the lookout for danger. They roll to detect traps, enemies and other hazards automatically without having to state they are doing so.

  • Similarly, they can make Stealth rolls to avoid detection by monsters. If they’re walking together, this is a group Stealth roll as detailed in Exploits p. 6. All the usual factors for stealth are still at play here, such as light sources and so on.

  • This is the pace that allows the PCs to map the dungeon as per Exploits p. 18.

  Actively investigating a room for treasure and secret doors also takes a turn and requires the normal rolls for these procedures. Turns spent searching do count for tracking FP cost.

  The FP cost makes ye olde routine of delving for 5 turns and resting for one an efficient way to proceed, though the delvers can elect to push forward and take the FP loss if they’re pressed for time. The party can elect to move at five times this pace and still retain the first two benefits above, which makes traversing already-mapped portions of the dungeon a lot faster.

  These rules are perfect for playing in converted old-school modules. You can use the modules’ own rules for random encounters with them, though obviously you’ll still want to convert the monsters. It’s probably okay to ignore these rules in modules made specifically for the DFRPG, since they tend to assume a faster pace.

  1. Which is the right amount of caution for Gygaxian dungeons. ↩

  2. Even though the headers in its dungeon exploration section are remarkably similar to those of AD&D. ↩

  3. Divide that by 3 to get convert it to ten-foot squares. ↩

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