Posts

• Nov 25, 2016

  Dragon's Dogma Equipment Upgrades in Dungeon Fantasy

  

  While the previous post gives you a pretty complete picture of the gear available to Gransys adventurer’s, there’s one aspect left to cover that can really bring that Dragon’s Dogma feel: equipment upgrades. Obviously, these rules can also be used to good effect in generic Dungeon Fantasy games.

  Upgrades in the original game

  The original game not only has a very extensive selection of equipment, it also allows the player to upgrade each of those items. Certain weapon vendors can apply from one to three upgrade levels to a weapon or a piece of armor. Each one increases its damage or protection value and decreases its weight. This both costs money and requires “special components”. More often than not, that means monster parts, though some might require specific types of ore or miscellaneous items like buckets and sconces instead. It’s unclear whether these upgrades are a mundane or magical process.

  In addition to this, when the player kills a dragon there’s a chance that their equipment may be “Dragonforged”, which improves it beyond what’s possible with the normal upgrades. These and the further alchemical “refinements” possible in the Dark Arisen expansion are definitely magical. They also have a nice mythic resonance!

  The game does still have a sizable selection of weapons of increasing effectiveness that’s common to most electronics RPGs. Sometimes it’s better to trade up to a better weapon, and sometimes it’s better to keep upgrading the one you have. Generally, though, you want to keep getting better weapons until the very end of the game, when you pick a high-level set that has the abilities you want and max their upgrades out.

  Designing the Upgrade System for GURPS

  We’ve seen what the system in the original game looked like. Does something like that have a place in the tabletop version? If so, can we implement it without needing to come up with a detailed list of monster parts required for each of the hundreds of entries in GURPS’ gear books?

  The “upgrade pattern” for weapons and armor in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy resembles the end-game pattern for Dragon’s Dogma from the start. PCs either start with their preferred weapon and armor types, or acquire them very soon into the game, and from that point on they seek to improve either the quality or the enchantments in their gear.

  The big difference here is that “upgrading” a piece of gear in DF means replacing it with an entirely new piece that was either bought in town or found in a dungeon. You can’t really add better quality descriptors to a given item, which is realistic. And while you can add or replace enchantments to a magic weapon by the rules, in DF the best magic is usually found as dungeon loot. When that happens, it’s better to use the new item than to cling to the old one.

  An upgrade system should challenge that assumption. It should give PCs the means to improve both the quality and the magic of a given piece of gear without having to replace it. It should give them tangible benefits for choosing this route over the traditional one, but it shouldn’t be so good that replacing gear is never a feasible option.

  One benefit of an upgrade system is that an upgraded item is still the same item. This gives players a little more incentive to invest in Signature Gear, Weapon Bond, or Armor Bond without fear that the points spent in these perks will be wasted. Another benefit is that it can be slightly cheaper to upgrade an item if the player can meet the necessary conditions.

  The Upgrade System: Gransys Alchemy

  As we said in previous posts, enchantment in Gransys isn’t the province of wizards. Instead it’s an expression of mastery in artisanship, borrowing from the old belief that each artisan learned the secret magic of their own profession as they progressed in skill. It’s a lot more similar to alchemy than to standard spellcasting - through knowledge of these secrets, an armorer can refine a weapon or suit of armor and get it closer to its platonic ideal.

  These secrets are jealously guarded, and usually the province of NPCs. Anyone who knows them is more than able to make a comfortable living without needing to mess with dungeon-delving! Some of these processes do require rare ingredients only found in dangerous places, but that’s what adventurers are for.

  This means that PCs with access to a skilled artisan can improve the quality of their weapons and armor by paying the difference in cost between the initial and final state of the item. Add up the CF of the desired options and multiply that by the item’s base cost.

  Adding magical enhancements to an item follows a similar process, though only those enchantments marked as available for sale in DF 1 can be added in this way. Simply total up the cost of the enchantments you wish to add. Adding a better version of an existing enchantment (say, Puissance 2 to a weapon that already had Puissance 1) does not grant a discount! The old enchantment is simply lost.

  The number of master artisans capable of imparting more powerful magic into an item can be counted on one hand. They all seem to have paid some unspeakable price for their knowledge, and either live in remote places surrounded by danger, make outrageous demands of potential customers, or both.

  Only half of the upgrade cost represents the artisans’s wages. The other half represents the materials and alchemical components required for the process. The PC can provide them directly to the artisan instead, thus saving some money in exchange for the time spent and the risks taken in finding them. The more extensive an upgrade, the greater the chance the artisan simply doesn’t have the necessary materials in stock, which means the PCs must go out and find them.

  As we’re dealing with sympathetic magic and not with mundane craftsmanship, these materials take many surprising forms. Aside from the metallic ores you might expect, upgrading a given weapon might require things like crystals, rare flowers that only grow near active volcanoes, or hydra gallstones.

  Somehow, it seems this stuff is never found just lying around in a peaceful meadow. Mineral ragents require rolls against Prospecting to find and extract. Rare plants require rolls against Naturalist or Herb Lore to identify and harvest. And monster parts require combat skills and everything listed under Dead Monster Bits in DF 2, p. 13. Alternatively, if you have DF 19 you can use Professional Skill (Dungeon Butcher).

  Each component contributes a certain monetary value towards the upgrade of an item, determined by the GM. Better components are more difficult to find and usually heavier. This table can act as a guide:

  Quality	Value
  Basic	$300
  Good	$1000
  Fine	$3000
  Legendary	$10K or more

  
  

  Note that the value listed above is only for the purposes of contributing towards upgrading a given item. PCs who go around harvesting random generic components for sale can expect to get around 5% of that price or less for anything less than Legendary components. Legendary components are never random or generic: they’re treasure!

  There is no fixed table of what each component requires. The GM is free to either come up with a fixed “shopping list” on the spot for each process, or let players present their own with justifications as to why they fit. If the GM judges a particular component is particularly resonant with the item being upgraded, they can have it count as a higher category.

  At the GM’s option, PCs seeking only relatively minor upgrades can simply pay the full cost in money - either the process didn’t require any special reagents, or the artisan had them on hand already.

  Example: Ser Alexa’s Family Sword

  Ser Alexa wants to turn her decrepit family blade into a weapon worthy of an hero. While she could perhaps afford a new sword, she wants to use this one to rid her barony of bandits. It’s the sword she trained with as a young squire, and she has a Weapon Bond to it. She also sees its state as symbolic of her family’s fortunes, and thus restoring it to its full glory would be a good omen. She asks Master Caxton, an armorer from Gran Soren, to perform the service for her.

  In game terms, Alexa wants to make her Cheap thrusting broadsword Balanced, Very Fine, and Silver-Coated. Going from Cheap to Good quality is +0.6 CF; the other options add up to +25 CF. Multiplying all of that by $600 gives us a final cost of $15360.

  This turns out to be far more money than she has on hand at the moment, so she settles for making the sword a Good-quality blade for $360, paying all of that in coin. After conferring with the weaponsmith, she spends the next few days looking for alchemical reagents that resonate with that particular sword and with her family legacy: dust from the family crypt, a scrap of silk to signify nobility, unspoiled silver ore from an old haunted mine in the barony, and a rare flower that only blooms at night and features prominently in the family’s coat of arms. That last one was especially hard to find.

  The GM judges that the first two components are Basic, the silver is Good and the Flower is Fine, for a total of $4600 in value. However, since Alexa has gone to the trouble of making sure every one of them is symbolically related to her quest to bring glory and prosperity back to her family, they also decide that these components are enough to cover the $7500 material cost of the upgrade after all.

  That still leaves another $7500 to cover Caxton’s wages, which the Impulsive Alexa acquires by pawning off the family jewels she smuggled out of the barony. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

• Nov 22, 2016

  Dragon's Dogma: Items and Equipment

  

  Now that we have a good handle on the locations and characters of Gransys, let’s take a look at its stuff. This means both the gear available to its delvers and the treasure that can be obtained from its dungeons. We’ll start with money, since that figures prominently in both categories.

  Currency

  The original game used a simplified currency system typical of electronic RPGs. The unit of currency was a generic “gold piece”. Early game items had 2-digit prices for consumables and 4-digit prices for equipment, going up to 5- and 6-digit prices respectively in the late game. Money was found in bags containing up to 10 thousand gold pieces either hidden in dungeons, or dropped from enemies. It could also be earned by selling items in town, and by the end-game selling unused equipment is the player’s main source of income.

  We can afford to be a little more detailed in this adaptation. I want Gransys to have a currency system that fits more with the “dungeon fantasy” genre and if possible I also want to sneak a tiny bit of history in there like I did with the villages and baronies. This results in the following system:

  Under Duke Edmun’s rule, Gransys has come to use coinage of several denominations. The copper penny is worth $1 in GURPS money, is about 23mm in diameter and weights 8 grams (125 to the kilogram). The silver shilling is worth $5, has a diameter of 15mm and weights 2.5 grams (400 to the kilogram). And the ducat is made of gold, worth $100, has a diameter a hair over 12mm, and weights 2.5 grams (400 to the kilogram). All of them are stamped with the Duke’s face on one side and with his coat of arms (a dragon with an exposed heart) on the other.

  These coins are heavily used in Gran Soren and the smaller towns of Gransys, and also by merchants and nobles to conduct their business. They are less widespread among the common citizens in the baronies and villages, who make most of what they need themselves and barter with their neighbors for the rest. They might still own some money from trading with traveling peddlers, but it’s not unusual for it to be used solely for that purpose. Feudal lords at this level take their tribute in goods more often than in money.

  These coin weights mean that the 10-thousand-coin “giant bag of gold” found in the orignal game would likely be a good deal smaller than its in-game graphic indicates, but would weight around 25kg and be worth $1,000,000! Needless to say, none but the most fabulous treasures have that much gold in them. The same weight of silver would be worth $50,000, or $10,000 if it’s copper. Most hoards will likely be mixed.

  PCs can also find variant coins, with different sizes or even made of different materials. These can come from the neighboring nations or from the ancient depths of some dungeon. See GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 1: Glittering Prizes for inspiration. “Money changer” isn’t an official occupation in Gransys, but many a wealthy merchant or collector would be glad to perform the service for a friendly fee.

  Mundane Equipment

  As mentioned before, Gransys is mostly a TL 4 setting, with transportation and information technology still at TL 3. What this means to delver PCs is that the list of gear available to them matches the one from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy pretty much exactly.

  Those groups who want to go into a little more detail here are encouraged to use the weapon and armor tables from GURPS Low-Tech instead of the ones from the Basic Set, especially for armor. This will generally result in lighter but more expensive armor, which matches up a bit better with the “realistic Middle Ages” vibe the setting gives off. And even though only the European Low-Tech weapons are appropriate for a Gransys game, that will still increase the amount of possible choices for players.

  Gransys towns carry basic mundane equipment and may have a few of the simpler weapons. Special orders and more elaborate weapons and armor are always available in Gran Soren, and may be available in towns on an individual basis. Manors might provide a limited selection of basic gear, but most villages will be unable to spare anything other than some food.

  Magic Items

  Magic items merit some special discussion. Like in standard Dungeon Fantasy, their making is the province of NPCs, but here these aren’t scholarly (or priestly) enchanters. Instead, they’re artisans who have mastered the secrets of their craft. These secrets are effectively a form of alchemy, and a master artisan might be as eccentric as any powerful magician. Still, they usually get more respect than a powerful spell caster, who is likely to be seen as sinister and feared for his powers.

  Magic items are available in Gran Soren at the same prices quoted in Dungeon Fantasy 1. This includes alchemical concoctions, available from apothecaries. It might be possible to buy such things in smaller settlements if the GM thinks they might be home to a sufficiently skilled artisan.

  Anything not listed as available for sale in DF 1 is either an ancient artifact that has to be pried from a ruin or monster, or the work of a true master of the sort who hides away from the world and places absurd demands on prospective customers. Either way, it requires adventuring to get!

  At the top end, most of the Artifacts from Dungeon Fantasy 6 and similar sources would be appropriate for inclusion in the game. They would obviously only be available as hard-to-find loot.

  In the next article in this series, we’ll take a look at one of the original game’s most distinctive subsystems - equipment upgrades!

• Nov 20, 2016

  Pathfinder Iconics in Dungeon Fantasy: Seelah

  Welcome back to our series of conversions of Pathfinder’s Iconic Characters to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy! This is the fifth post in the series. Previous entries can be found here:

  • Amiri the Barbarian
  • Lem the Bard
  • Kyra the Cleric
  • Lini the Druid

  Today’s template is the Holy Warrior, which means that today’s character is Seelah. Here she is:

  

  Cool, huh? She’s my second favorite design so far, losing only to Kyra (Lini is a close third). Her bio, however, is by far the best. It’s quite tragic, but seems to hit a good balance between “biblical” and “Arthurian”. Her official stats are here. From these we can learn the following:

  • Seelah is a paladin of Iomedae the Inheritor, a Lawful Good deity of justice and protection. She wears heavy armor and fights with sword and shield, with a bow kept in reserve.

  • She has the usual varied suite of paladin powers, the ones most emphasized are her fearlessness, her ability to smite evil, and her healing hands, in that order.

  • While Seelah goes after all manner of evil foes, she fights fiends and evil dragons with particular fervor.

  Given Iomedae’s description as the goddess of justice and valor, the default Holy Warrior package should suit her just fine. The end result doesn’t quite have the points to afford all the standard paladin abilities - healing is expensive! However, the GURPS version of Seelah is absolutely fearless, supernaturally resistant to disease, can channel divine might to enhance her strength, and is particularly adept at fighting demons. All that as a starting DF character! Buying the Faith Healing ability with earned character points should be next on her list.

  Seelah, 248-point Human Paladin

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

  Damage 1d/2d-1; BL 16.9kg; HP 13; Will 14 {10}; Per 12; FP 13; Basic Speed 6.00 {-10}; Basic Move 6.

  Advantages

  • Blessed (Heroic Feats: ST, Holy -10%) {9}
  • Born War Leader 1 {5}
  • Detect (Evil) (Holy, -10%) {18}
  • Enhanced Parry (Broadsword) 1 {5}
  • Higher Purpose (Slay Demons) {5}
  • Holiness 2 {10}
  • Resistant to Disease +3 {3}
  • Shtick (Foes slain personally can’t raise as undead) {1}
  • Unfazeable {15}

  Disadvantages

  • Charitable (12) {-15}
  • Compulsive Generosity (12) {-5}
  • Honesty (12) {-10}
  • Selfless (12) {-5}
  • Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}

  Skills

  • Bow (A) DX+1 {4} - 14
  • Brawling (E) DX+1 {2} - 14
  • Broadsword (A) DX+3 {12} - 16
  • Climbing (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
  • Diplomacy (H) IQ {4} - 12
  • Esoteric Medicine (Holy) (H) Per-2 {1} - 10
  • Exorcism (H) Will {4} - 14
  • Fast-Draw (Sword) (E) DX {1} - 13
  • First Aid (E) IQ {1} - 12
  • Hidden Lore (Demons) (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Intimidation (A) Will-1 {1} - 13
  • Leadership (A) IQ+1 {2}¹ - 13
  • Meditation (H) Will-2 {1} - 10
  • Religious Ritual (H) IQ-2 {1} - 10
  • Riding (Horse) (A) DX {2} - 13
  • Shield (E) DX+3 {8} - 16
  • Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
  • Strategy (H) IQ {2}¹ - 12
  • Tactics (H) IQ {2}¹ - 12
  • Theology (H) IQ-2 {1} - 10
  • Wrestling (A) DX+1 {4} - 14

  Equipment

  $2000.0, 52.13kg. Just barely into Heavy Encumbrance.

  • Ordinary Clothing [Torso, Limbs]: Free, 1kg.
  • Scale Armor [Torso]: DR 4. $420, 17.5kg.
  • Mail Leggings [Legs]: DR 4/2*. $110, 7.5kg.
  • Mail Sleeves [Arms]: DR 4/2*. $70, 4.5kg.
  • Boots [Feet]: DR 2*. $80, 1.5kg.
  • Leather Gloves [Hands]: DR 2*. $30, neg.
  • Pot Helm [Head]: DR 4. $100, 2.5kg.
  • Arrows x20 [Quiver]: $40, 1kg.
  • Hip Quiver [Torso]: Holds up to 20 arrows. $15, 0.5kg.
  • Medium Shield [Torso]: DB 2. $60, 7.5kg.
  • Regular Bow [Torso]: Damage thr+1 imp. $100, 1kg.
  • Thrusting Broadsword [Torso]: Damage sw+1 cut, thr+2 imp. $600, 1.5kg
  • Backpack, Small [Torso]: Holds 20kg of gear. $60, 1.5kg.
  • First Aid Kit [Backpack]: $50, 1kg.
  • Blanket [Backpack]: $20, 2kg.
  • Rations x4 [Backpack]: $4, 1kg.
  • Personal Basics [Backpack]: $5, 0.5kg.
  • Waterskin [Backpack]: Holds 4L of liquid (4kg if water). $10, 0.13kg.
  • $226 in coin.

  1. +1 from Born War Leader ↩ ↩² ↩³

• Oct 25, 2016

  Blog or Treat: The Grim Reaper

  Welcome to our second Blog or Treat article! I wanted to do another scary monster during this week, and figured there was no reason think small. So in this post we’ll stat up Death.

  

  The Horror of Death

  In the previous article we launched right into the stats of the Snake-Maned Lion, but here let’s look at the historical and narrative concepts around the Grim Reaper first.

  According to the ever-helpful Wikipedia, many cultures and mythologies describe different personifications of death. It’s not considered a bad thing in all of them, which results in the messenger of death looking more like an angel who merely takes the departed to the afterlife. However, the version we’re interested in is the black-robed skeleton with the scythe, an invention of 14th-century Europe. The name “Grim Reaper” is more recent, having been first recorded in 1847.

  The mention of “14th-century Europe” might ring a bell. Indeed, that’s when the Black Death swept through the continent. It’s not a stretch to think that the skeleton-and-scythe imagery comes from it. It’s as much a personification of the fear of death as it is of death itself. The Reaper does not symbolize death as part of a cycle, or a gentle passing into some higher realm. A scythe is not a tool for gently picking individual wheat stalks. No, the Grim Reaper is the Death that does to humanity what a farmer does to a field come harvest time. It’s the Death that takes away your loved ones in the prime of their lives and then comes for you. You have as much defense against it as wheat does against the farmer.

  The monster and its variants statted up below draw inspiration from this imagery, and from a couple of other similar creatures I’ve run across in other games. It’s appropriate for Dungeon Fantasy or horror campaigns, being a much scarier threat in the latter.

  Grim Reaper

  Long thought just a legend or a metaphor for death, these beings turn out to be quite real. Most of what is known of them is pure speculation, as almost no one who got into a position to take a good look at them survived the encounter. Are they a form of spectral undead? A demon? Are they a species of monster, or is there just the one avatar of Death itself?

  It is known that Grim Reapers are floating figures wearing voluminous, tattered black robes and wielding large scythes. Beyond that, accounts vary. Some say they look skeletal, others see a demonic horned visage, and others report only darkness staring at them from beneath the hood. Some report it carring a lantern in addition to the scythe.

  One of the reasons it’s so hard to get a precise account of how their look is that these creatures inhabit a place between life and death. They are normally completely invisible to mortal eyes, and intangible to anything physical! They attack by reaching through this veil and pulling unwary mortals through. The closer they are to the reaper’s in-between home, the more than can interact with it… and once they are close enough, the monster cuts them down with its absurdly sharp scythe.

  No one has encountered more than one Grim Reaper at once… but they tend to hang out in places soaked in plague and/or evil, much like Snake-Maned Lions and other similar monsters, so it wouldn’t be implausible to encounter it alongside these other creatures.

  ST 18; DX 14; IQ 10; HT 12

  Dodge: 10; Parry: 14; DR: 4; SM 0

  HP 18; Will 12; Per: 12; FP 12

  Speed 7.5; Move 7

  • Pull Through the Veil (16): 1 point toxic, and the target becomes marked by the Reaper (see Notes, below). Reach C, 1. This is a Cosmic attack that ignores DR, and affects substantial targets.
  • Grim Scythe (18): 3d+3 cut or 3d+1 imp or 1d+1 cut (Hook). Reach 1. Often done as a Deceptive Attack. This is a Cosmic attack that ignores DR! See Notes, below, for which targets are valid.

  Traits: Astral Entity (p. B263); Dark Vision (with Color Vision); Fragile (Unnatural); Flight (max Move 7); Enhanced Parry 2 (Scythe); Indomitable; Immunity to Mind Control; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Brain, No Vitals, Unliving); Skinny; Temperature Tolerance 10; Unfazeable; Vaccum Support.

  Skills: Brawling-16; Two-Handed Axe/Mace-18; Observation-12;

  Class: Undead.

  Notes: When a target first becomes marked by the Reaper, they begin perceiving their surroundings as blurry and colorless (-1 to Per-based rolls to make out detail). Characters who have been marked once can see the Reaper in full detail; they can attack it for half damage, and it can attack them for half damage as well. Twice-Marked characters can interact with the Reaper as if it was fully substantial and vice-versa.

  These marks fade after a minute, returning the character to normal. The scythe disappears when the creature is slain.

  Fighting the Grim Reaper

  The Reaper attacks by invisibly approaching the most vulnerable-looking party member, marking them twice, and cutting them down. Its touch grants it the ability to isolate vulnerable adventurers without having to rely on terrain, as it remains invisible and insubstantial to the victim’s friends. It makes free use of tactics such as Deceptive, Defensive, Committed or All-Out Attacks to exploit holes in its opponent’s defenses.

  To effectively fight a Reaper, the PCs should have access to magic that allows them to see and affect invisible and insubstantial creatures. Being undead, it’s also vulnerable to some Cleric and Holy Warrior powers. Lacking either of those, they might contrive to get marked by the monster and fight it that way, though that’s pretty risky as it’s a superb melee combatant. Its multiple injury tolerances and high HT mean it might only die when it hits -36 HP, and it’s smart enough to fly away and try again when the marks have worn off.

  Even a single Grim Reaper can pose a significant challenge to a whole delver party.

  Variant Reapers

  Plenty of variance is possible here by changing the answers to the questions at the beginning of the monster’s description.

  Different Class: This variant is not undead, but is either a Demon or a Divine Servitor. This either makes it vulnerable to a different set of Holy powers, or not particularly vulnerable to any of them.

  Greater: This large variant carries an oversized scythe. It might well be the Grim Reaper! Change ST and HP to 27; change SM to +1; change scythe damage to 5d+5 cutting or 5d+2 imp or 3d-2 cutting (Hook); change scythe range to 1-2.

  Lantern-Bearing: This variant carries a skull-shaped lantern in addition to its scythe. The lantern can cast Mass Sleep at power 15 and has a 30-point Energy Reserve. Particularly cruel GMs can have the Mass Sleep be cast at power 20 instead. The lantern also disappears if the creature is slain.

  Materialized: While still a spirit, this variant exists closer to the world of the living than to the world of the dead. It’s visible and almost solid, but still difficult to hurt. Remove Astral Entity and the Pull Through the Veil attack and replace Injury Tolerance (Unliving) with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse).

  Incidentally, one of the inspirations for this monster is Dragon’s Dogma, which features a Greater, Materialized, Lantern-Bearing Grim Reaper in its most dangerous dungeon.

• Oct 24, 2016

  Blog or Treat: The Snake-Maned Lion

  Welcome to Blog or Treat, a Halloween Special conspiracy concocted by a secretive cabal of GURPS bloggers. Here at Octopus Carnival, I will present to you two particularly scary monsters! One you see below, the other will grace your screen tomorrow.

  

  The Snake-Maned Lion

  This horrible beast is a nightmare made flesh, a huge lion with a dozen venomous snakes growing out of its black mane. Some sages proclaim it comes from the darkest faerie realms, while others ascribe an infernal origin to it. What they do agree on is that he creature makes its home in places haunted by evil. It hunts at night, drawn to the scent of fresh blood, the cries of small and helpless things, or any light sources.

  The snake-maned lion possesses animal intelligence, but it’s clever enough to adapt its tactics to the strength of its potential prey. When faced with a weak or helpless victim, it delights in striding boldly into view and letting out an intimidating roar followed by a frontal attack. When faced with a group of more capable opposition, it will attempt to strike from ambush, targetting isolated stragglers and using its roar to drive others away before dragging its victim off. In either case, it prefers to attack by biting and hanging on, letting the snakes finish the job and helping them along with its claws.

  The monster is solitary in that it’s rarely seen together with others of its kind, but its choice of hunting ground means it’s often encountered alongside a group of undead or demonic creatures. It seems to have a natural tendency to leave these monster types alone, and they in turn don’t bother it. Sometimes, a more powerful villain such as a lich, dark fey lord, or demon will manage to tame one of these beasts.

  ST 20; DX 13; IQ 5; HT 12

  Dodge 10; DR 1 (Tough Skin); SM +1

  Will 10; Per 12; HP 20; FP 12

  Speed 6.25; Move 6.

  • Terrifying Roar (-) : Anyone who hears it must make a Fright Check at -2. Usable once per fight.
  • Bite (15): 2d cutting. Reach C. May grapple the target on a hit. Parried as a weapon.
  • Talons (15): 2d cutting. Reach C, 1. Parried as a weapon.
  • Serpent Mane (18) (x4): 2 points impaling + follow-up 1d toxic (HT-1, plus -1 per additional bite, to resist; 5 cycles; 1 minute per cycle). Often aimed at the face (-5) or neck (-5) if those are unarmored.
  • A Thousand Bites (-): A Bite aimed at the torso followed by four Serpent Mane attacks aimed at the grappled target’s torso, face, or head.
  • Horrid Onslaught (-): A Rapid Strike combining a Talons attack and a Bite aimed at the torso, followed by four Serpent Mane attacks aimed at the grappled target’s torso, face or head.

  Traits: Combat Reflexes; Extra Attack 4 (Serpent Mane only); Fearlessness 5; Night Vision 7; Penetrating Voice; Quadruped; Restricted Diet (Fresh Meat); Sadism (9); Wild Animal; Terror 2 (Roar).

  Skills: Brawling-15; Stealth-15; Wrestling-15;

  Class: Hybrid.

  Notes: Animal spells which affect hybrids work on the lion.

  Fighting the Snake-Maned Lion

  As you can see from its stats, getting into melee combat with the snake-maned lion is a very bad idea. Through a combination of high skill, Rapid Strikes and Extra Attacks it has a very good chance of damaging its chosen victim at least once per turn.

  The beast should be fought at a distance, with ranged weapons or magic. Of course, it will try its hardest to force a melee confrontation by sneaking in close before its initial pounce, and it might disrupt the efforts of any ranged attackers with its roar. If keeping away is not an option, distracting it with numbers and flanking it is the next best bet.

  The sound of the lion’s roar is audible over a mile away, so unless the PCs take precautions like plugging their ears in advance, they will be inside its area of effect at the ranges in which the monster likes to use it.

  Variant Lions

  The Snake-Maned Lion has some similarities to mythological beasts such as the Chimera or the Manticore, and might fulfill similar narrative roles. According to this Wikipedia article on the Chimera, chimerical figures appear in medieval art as deceptive or even satanic embodiments or raw nature.

  The base creature above is well-suited to this, but if you don’t think it’s scary enough you can try these variants:

  Armored: This variant is covered in reptilian scales instead of leonine hide. Raise DR to 4 and remove the Tough Skin limitation.

  Intelligent: This variant is smart enough to understand speech and come up with really clever ambush setups. It’s also no longer affected by Animal spells, requiring Mind Control magic instead. Raise IQ to 8, Will to 12, and remove Wild Animal.

  Demonic: A materialized spirit from hell set loose in our plane! Change its class to Demon and add Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), which makes it a lot more resistant to most ranged weapons.

  These variants can stack with each other and with any of the generic monster prefixes from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1.

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