Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes - First to Second Edition

I have a few minutes today, so I want to get a post out on the changes from the first to the second edition of Blood & Treasure. I won't swear that this is exhaustive, but it's pretty close to it.

• Messed with multi-classing a little on races, tried to relate them a bit more closely to their original incarnations

• Classes each have their own XP chart now, and some were re-calibrated

• Assassins don't cast spells anymore, but can cast spells from scrolls at high levels

• Got rid of bard, paladin and ranger spell lists - they now cast off the magic-user, cleric and druid lists respectively

• Added some abilities to classes around 6th level to make the game a bit more distinctive and to hit some fantasy tropes missing in the original:

• Assassins can brew their own poisons

• Bards can carouse their way to valuable rumors … but may end up in the stocks or making enemies

• Clerics can temporarily convert sentient creatures to their own alignment – not always easy, and doesn’t necessarily last long, but I thought it might be a fun non-combat way to get through encounters

• Druids can harness greater bits of power by sacrificing the despoilers of the natural world

• Fighters can subdue monsters and use them as mounts (as in every cool 70s rock album cover and van art ever produced)

• Magic-users get access to little bits of arcane knowledge, ranging from something as simple as making phosphorous to making hot air balloons or understanding the healing arts

• Paladins gain chivalric badges that give them access to royal and ecclesiastic courts and tournaments (a minor bonus, but the paladin already has some pretty cool abilities)

• Rangers can pick up a loyal hunting beast (again, inspired by many pieces of fantasy art – particularly this one 

• Thieves can assemble teams of rogues for capers – bypasses the normal henchman rules … but can the thief trust these guys?

• Changed the way a fighter's multiple attacks worked, since lots of folks thought it was too powerful; also beefed up the barbarian a bit, as well as the sorcerer (see below)

• Got rid of the basic/advanced/expanded concept to make B&T more its own game than a reference to old games, but I did keep the idea of basic and advanced spells; to learn or prepare advanced spells classes have to make a quick roll under their Int or Wis minus the spell level; specialists get free access to certain advanced spells, but treat others as though they were a higher level

• Made some big changes to the sorcerer to keep it from being just a variant magic-user - they can now sense magic and do impromptu casting of spells they don't know (with dire circumstances for failure); they might also choose bloodlines, and might be related to other magical creatures (got this idea from Bewitched I'm proud to say)

• Changed some of the class variants, added a few - the monk has a ninja and ronin variant for example

• Tweaked the equipment charts - more weapons because I like cool weapon names, got rid of some 3E alchemy I never liked

• Worked on the adept spell list to better reflect its origins

• Tried to streamline rules wherever I could; fixed errors in time and movement, changed reaction rolls a bit (simpler, based on alignment), made task checks easier (roll 1d20, 18 or over to succeed, add bonuses, add level if "skilled")

• Changed saving throws so that it's now just one number, but you get a bonus to save vs. stuff that takes your character out of play (death, paralyzation, polymorph), magic from magic items (wands, etc.) and spellcasters get a bonus vs. spells - so a little like the old D&D saving throw categories, but streamlined

• Different disease system - I think better – focused on the effects and overcoming them

• Added a table of the mass of different materials - helps when adventurers want to pick up a golden idol and carry out of a dungeon and you need to figure out how heavy it is

• Got rid of a few spells (not many) and streamlined the rest when possible; I also got rid of 0-level spells, bumping them up to 1st level (sometimes with modification) - I never liked the 0-level thing

• Redid the treasure tables (I'm still not satisfied completely - I think I'll add some alternate scheme in Esoterica Exhumed)

• Streamlined the magic items, especially weapons and armor, and added some items that might be familiar from movies and cartoons; also added some sci-fi items as optional magic items for those who enjoy that – includes a mutation chart (for the mutagen capsules)

• The appendices cover inspirations, conversions (other systems, and notes like these for 1st to 2nd edition, though not super extensive), a couple additional "specialty mages" to show how one can devise their own lists of advanced spells, did some racial classes for folks who like them, made a list of all the spell components and foci for quick reference, and then made a quick reference chart of common dice rolls in the game

That's all that comes immediately to mind. I'm working diligently on the Monsters book now. Stay tuned, true believers!

Blood and Treasure 2nd Edition Rulebook is Released!

Just a quick one today, boys and girls - the Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Rulebook is up for sale as a PDF on RPGNow.com and Lulu.com. $9.99. I'll get the hard cover and paperback version up ASAP - just need to get a review copy first.

This is a combination of player's book and referee's book, with all the classes, races, spells, rules, magic items and info on making dungeons, wilderness, settlements and other planes.

The monsters will be in a second book called, appropriately I think, Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Monsters. I'm shooting for getting that one up for sale in 1 or 2 weeks - there's some editing to do, and I want to include some mini-dungeons as well.

Anyhow - here's the ad copy for the Rulebook ...

Blood & Treasure is the fantasy role-playing game for people who want to spend less time arguing over rules and more time playing, and the new 2nd Edition continues this tradition.

Compatible with old school games, it strives to be rules lite and options heavy.

You get ...

Thirteen character classes, as well as suggested variations on the existing classes

The classic fantasy races

A streamlined and easy optional feats system

Hundreds of spells and magic items - you can run games for years without running out of new things to try

Optional scientific treasures for those who like science-fantasy

Quick and easy rules for exploration, combat, mass combat, naval combat, strongholds and domains and a simple task resolution system

Guidance on designing dungeons, wilderness, settlements and even the cosmos

Suggestions on converting to other old school systems and changes between the first and second edition

Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition is designed to give you years of enjoyment in just two volumes, this book and the forthcoming Blood & Treasure 2nd Edition Monster book, which features over 600 monsters to challenge players.

Blood & Treasure doesn't want to tell you what kind of fantasy game you should enjoy, it just wants to put all the tools in your hands and let you play YOUR GAME, YOUR WAY

Once the Monster book is finished, I'll jump into updating the NOD Companion, which will be retitled Esoterica Exhumed (and have a few new bits as well) and the Monster Tome, which will be retitled Monsters II. After that, whew - I'll rest.

Then I'll get busy on finishing up the next issue of NOD and writing some shorter books and some blog posts.

Random Berserking

Going berserk in combat is such a chaotic thing (small "c" chaotic, of course) that it seems like a perfect place to stick in a random table. 

I thought about making a random berserking table for the barbarians in Blood & Treasure Second Edition, but space constraints and a desire to avoid excess dice rolling (I know, for some there cannot be enough) I didn't. Still, I wrote it, so I might as well get it out there!

Berserkergang

Roll 1d10 and add your barbarian level (or half your fighter level, if your GM swings that way). You may roll once for the combat, or roll each round, with the effect lasting for that round and then ending.

d10	Effect
1-6	+1 to attack, +2 to damage; +1d6 damage vs. non-humanoids
5-11	+1 to AC, +2 to all saving throws
12-15	Two attacks each round
16-18	+2 to attack, +4 to damage; +2d6 damage vs. non-humanoids
19-20	Immune to fear and spells of 2nd level or lower; +1d6 damage to spell casters
21	Opponents must save or be frightened
22	Continue fighting after reaching 0 hit points; save vs. death at end of combat or die
23	Immune to spells of 5th level or lower; +2d6 damage to spell casters
24	Three attacks each round
25	Roll twice, combine results

While berserk, you cannot cast spells, make ranged attacks (other than throwing things), retreat from combat, make or follow complex plans, stop attacking a foe until you or it are dead, and when you kill one foe you must move on to the next closest foe.

A Weird Day at the Faire

Oh, the little faire looked pleasant enough - a sort of company picnic for the feudal set, with children running about and young men trying to show off for the ladies. People strolling, eating, drinking, singing, dancing - a good time.

But since the murder-hobos are involved, there had to be something sinister lurking just under the surface ...

Roll d20 and then d4 a few times to generate some interesting or weird encounters at the faire - something the PCs can bump into as they wander. Some of these might even prove of value as game hooks - players arrive too late to stop something from happening, but are called on by the king to investigate and set things right.

Click to enlarge

Monstrous One-Liners

Have you ever had a half-ass idea for a monster - just a description and a few ideas for special abilities, or maybe even just a picture - and wanted to use it without having to come up with all the other stats right then and there?

Today, I was jotting down some ideas for monsters at work and I thought up a way to do simple, one line monster descriptions and only one stat - a monster level - that ties into a random chart that determines the combat stats when you need them.

Monsters have levels that run from 1 to 10. The monster's level determines the dice you roll for its combat stats.

The combat stats are then rolled on this chart. You could do one roll and use all the stats for that line, or roll for each stat - whatever you want. Treat a roll that is less than zero as zero.

Two notes:

*Damage for first attack; second and third attacks are 1 level lower; third and fourth attacks are 2 levels lower

**Movement is slow (S), normal (N), quick (Q) and rapid (R) – use your best judgment for what these mean in your preferred version of the grand old game

Finally - some monster one-liners (with a quick sketch of the killa-bot).

Killa-Bot, the murderous automaton; 4th level; electro-touch (1d6), resist electricity, maniacal laughter (confusion)

Befouler, the drooling eye orb; 8th level; rust ray, acid ray (1d6), disease ray, rot ray (ruins food and water)

Mindbender, worms out to conquer the world; 3rd level; appear as normal neckware, control mind with their touch, magic resistance 15%

Tar-Bull, bovine made of flaming tar; 5th level; fire body (1d6 damage), foul smoke (save or blinded), charge for x3 damage

Mercury Ape, violet violent primate with force arms; 3rd level; constrict with arms (x2 damage), resist all energies, immune to mind effects

 
So the adventurers run into two of mercury apes while exploring a dungeon. The DM rolls d6-1 five times and discovers they have 2 HD, AC 13, 2 attacks for 1d6 damage and they are slow. She can now make a note of this for the next battle, or even roll over again the next time mercury apes show up.

The Guardian - Over-Powered or Not?

A few magazine reviews ago, I came across Lewis Pulsipher’s description of an over-powered character class. It goes thusly:

“A party of ninth and tenth level magic-users, clerics, and fighters hunts for a lich. Among them is an eighth level ‘Guardian’ character, a class devised by the DM and used by the players. They come to a door. The guardian listens – he hears something. Then he looks through the door with his X-ray vision. Telling the others it’s too dangerous for them in there, he turns ethereal and walks through the door. Five minutes later, he opens it. ‘It’s OK now. It was just 10 mind flayers, and when they attacked me psionically my mental boomerang defence scrambled their brains.’ The party shake their heads and look for spoils.” – Lewis Pulsipher, White Dwarf 25

Overpowered?

Maybe not.

First, the guardian in the example is 8th level. He’s a bit behind the others in level (as would be a paladin), but not dramatically so. The 9th or 10th level magic-users he’s adventuring with can do some pretty spectacular stuff with their spells, and the magic items the other characters have could well duplicate many of the guardian’s abilities.

Second, there seems to be an unwritten assumption that the things this “guardian” does are the tip of the iceberg. Maybe they are. But if they aren’t – if that’s it – then maybe he’s not so powerful.

“Ah,” you say, “but he took out a whole room of mind flayers!”

Well, actually, the room of mind flayers took out the room of mind flayers – the guardian just had the ability to turn mental attacks back on the attacker.

With that in mind, I have decided to rehabilitate the mythical guardian class, and give it a proper write-up to see just how over powered it really would be. So, with no further ado …

THE GUARDIAN

Image from HERE - just because I like it

Day in and day out, brave men and women descend into the depths of the earth in search of treasure. Along the way, they hunt down and destroy all manner of terrible evils, and for that, the world must be grateful. It so happened that one day, many years ago, a band of Lawful monasteries decided they must do more than they had done to encourage this behavior. The masters of the monasteries developed a new, powerful training regimen, and recruited from among their ranks their most promising students. They put these students through this regimen, and found the vast majority of them not up to the challenge. Those few who did succeed became known as guardians.

Guardians are always on the lookout for danger, and have potent abilities to survive it and even turn attacks back on attackers. They are mediocre warriors, it is true, but are proficient with armor and thus difficult to injure. A guardian may not turn the tide of battle by her presence, but she can serve as the impenetrable rock on which the tide of battle breaks.


Requirements and Restrictions: Guardians must have a minimum scores of 9 in Strength, 11 in Constitution and 13 in Wisdom. They must also be Lawful in alignment. They may wear any armor and use shields, and can fight with any weapon.

Guardian Skills

Find Secret Doors—Guardians have a 2 in 6 chance to note the presence of secret or concealed doors.

Find Traps—Guardians can attempt a task check to discover traps in a room or on an object. Alas, they have no special skill at removing traps once found.

Listen at Door—Guardians can attempt a task check to hear faint noises through doors or in other circumstances.

Guardian Abilities

Guardians are only surprised on a roll of 1 on 1d6. They can extend this protection to up to one comrade per three levels. Thus, if all in a party of adventurers except the 4th level guardian are surprised on a roll of “2”, the guardian can allow one additional comrade to avoid that surprise.

2nd level guardians learn the secret of phasing through matter (but not energy). A guardian can walk through up to 2 inches of matter per level per day. Thus, a 6th level guardian could walk through up to 12 inches of matter, total, during the course of a single day. This could amount to walking through a single 1-ft thick wall, or four 3-inch thick doors.

A 4th level guardian gains the ability to peer through matter, as though wearing a ring of x-ray vision. She can do this once per day per four levels (i.e. 1/day from 1st to 4th level, 2/day from 5th to 8th level, etc.)

A 6th level guardian can attune themselves to one form of energy (acid, cold, fire, electricity or sonic) per day, gaining the ability to ignore hit point damage from that energy. The guardian can ignore 1 point of damage from that energy per level over the course of the day. Thus, a 9th level guardian who attuned herself to fire could ignore up to 9 points of fire damage during the course of the day.

Guardians maintain a shield around their minds. At 1st level, this blocks all spells and abilities that read or detect their minds. They can also choose to block out telepathic communication. By 3rd level, this protection extends to a +4 bonus to saving throws against illusions and mental attacks, such as confusion, fear, feeblemind, ego whip, id insinuation, phantasmal killer and the mind blast of the pernicious thelids. When a guardian of 6th level or higher passes a saving throw against a mental attack, she reflects that attack back on the attacker, who must pass their own saving throw to avoid the attack.

Stronghold

A 9th level guardian can establish a stronghold in the wilderness. The stronghold must be placed in such a place to resist attacks from the wilderness, for example between mountains inhabited by ogres and giants and a human or demi-human settlement. Once constructed, the guardian attracts …

Scientific Items for Blood and Treasure

It's been too long since my last post, but I've been pretty busy editing Blood & Treasure Second Edition. While the second edition is mostly about fixing errors and streamlining rules, I also decided to add a little extra to the game to make it more than just a revision. What I came up with was a few scientific items to spice up dungeon treasures. The items are, of course, optional for those TKs who do appreciate science fantasy.

Here's a little sneak peek at the items.

Scientific Items

Some TK’s may wish to mingle some science (or science-fantasy, really) into their game. Perhaps their campaign is set long after a great war that left the world in a primitive state, and thus powerful scientific artifacts are hidden in ruins. On the other hand, it could be a “sword & planet” or planetary romance campaign, not unlike the world of Barsoom in Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars series of books, which mingles objects of super science alongside swords and armor.
Whatever the reason, the following tables can be used to roll random scientific treasures to include in your dungeon ruins.

d%         Science Value01-12     Power crystals (1d6)
13-18     Bionics
19-21     Blaster
22-23     Brain implant
24-29     Chronometer
30-34     Cubitron
35-37     Electro-whip
38-41     Exoskeleton
42-44     Flying discs
45-47     Force belt
48-50     Holo-projector
51-58     Infrared goggles
60-61     Jet belt
62-63     Laser sword
64-68     Mutagen capsule
69          Preservation collar
70-75     Ray gun
76-78     Shock gloves
79-83     Sonic pick
84-89     Spacesuit
90-92     Throwing disc
93-97     Tri-scanner
98-00     Vibro-dagger

The items will require a flow chart to figure out.
 Here are a couple descriptions:

Bionics: Bionics are scientific items that can be attached to living bodies, improving them in various ways. The table below determines what bionic part was found:

d6 Bionic
1. Arm—left
2. Arm—right
3. Eye
4. Leg—left
5. Leg—right
6. Pincer

A bionic part can either be held up to a freshly severed stump, in which case it attaches itself (and stops the bleeding), or it can be opened and then sealed over the body part. In this latter case, the bionic item soon destroys the part it was fastened over (a painful process) and ruins it for future use.

Bionic items are not powered by power crystals. Rather, they integrate themselves into one’s own body, and power themselves biologically. Each bionic implant a character has “drains” one point of constitution while it is still implanted. When removed, the drained point of constitution is restored (though the body part is not).

Arm: Increase strength by +1; if both arms are bionic, unarmed damage is 1d4

Eye: Darkvision to 60’, find secret doors on roll of 1 to 4 on 1d6

Leg: Increase speed by +10 feet per round; leap 15 feet forward and 5 feet backward or straight up

Pincer: Gain melee attack for 1d6+1 damage; opponents suffer -2 penalty to save vs. grapple attacks

Skullcap: Increase intelligence by +2

Blaster: A blaster is a large device that fits over one’s hand. It is powered by one’s life force rather than a power crystal. Each time it is used, the user must pass a saving throw or suffer 1 point of constitution drain. This drain cannot be healed until the device is removed, which requires a character to roll d% under her combined intelligence and wisdom scores.

While attached to a character, the blaster can send out a laser blast (120’ line, ignores half of armor’s armor bonus, deals 3d6 fire damage) or a sonic blast (60’ cone, 2d6 sonic damage, save vs. deafness for 1 hour, crystal and glass items must save or be shattered).

When a character's constitution falls below 5, he becomes Chaotic. If constitution is reduced to 0, the user becomes a mindless zombie and the blaster falls from their hand.

Flying Discs: These 2-ft. diameter metal discs can be adhered to the feet and provide the ability to levitate up to 60 feet off the ground, or fly at a speed of 60 feet per round. They consume 1 charge from their power crystals per 10 minutes of use.

Laser Sword: These swords appear to be no more than a pommel until activated. They drain 1 charge from their power crystal per minute of use. Laser swords give off light as a torch and ignore half of non-magic armor’s armor bonus. Laser swords deal 1d10 damage.

Power Crystal: These small, luminous crystals provide power for scientific items. Each crystal holds 10 charges when it is found (unless it is found in an object that was being used, in which case it has 1d10 charges).

Sonic Pick: This 8” long metal wand can be used to find secret doors, open locks and find and remove traps. The user must roll 1d20 under their intelligence score to successfully use the device. Each use uses 1 charge.

And if Brutorz Bill is reading this - yeah, the mutagen capsules come with a little random mutation table.

Dragon by Dragon - June 1981 (50)

Sometimes it's hard to believe how long ago, in human terms, 1981 was. Of course, 35 years is a drop in the bucket in cosmic terms, but for a 44-year old man, it's significant. Having a brain that absorbed the early '80s one day at a time, it just doesn't seem old, sometimes like it was just yesterday.

Enough of that. Dragon #50 came out 35 years ago this month, and here's what the 5th anniversary issue has to offer.

We begin, of course, with the cover by Carl Lundgren. Very nice piece of work, and certaily appropriate for the issue, depicting a dragon hovering over its hoard of treasure (or it it the dragon's hoard?)

As I so often do, I'll start with an advertisement for a new "family board game" by TSR ...

I'm picturing those old game covers or ads from the 1960's that show a smiling family playing a board game. Little Susie having to tell mom she's "The Duke of New York - A-number-one!" I just watched the movie a couple days ago, so it's fresh in my mind.

It should come as no surprise that they have a page for the game at Boardgamegeek.com.

The game was written by "Zeb" Cook, who also wrote the Expert D&D set.

Now that I've dispensed with the TSR's homage to Snake Plissken, let's get to the first article in this anniversary spectacular - Gregory Rihn's "Self defense for dragons". The article purports to give "everyone's favorite foe a fighting chance". The article posits that dragons, as they were written in 1981, were too easy to defeat by a large, well-organized party, especially given the treasure to be gained by defeating them. This would prove to be an important article to later editions of the game, for it expands the dragon's attacks quite a bit, adding 2 wing buffets, 2 wing claws, a foot stomp and tail lash. In essence, it gives the dragons enough attacks to hit all the attackers likely to be surrounding it in a fight. He goes on to give a couple ideas for good dragon tactics.

This is followed up by Lewis Pulsipher's "True Dragons: Revamping the monster from head to claw". This appears to be the theme this issue - dragon's just ain't good enough. Pulsipher gives a long table with many more age categories and a few additional powers, including shapechanging (I like this one), causing terror and some special powers. One of them - two heads - I'm planning on adding to Blood & Treasure. It also has random tables of spells known, a random table of breath weapons, with the old standards as well as a few new ones - radiation, stoning, windstorm, hallucinogen, negate magic and polymorph. All goodies! Here's Pulsipher's take on radiation:

Those failing to roll a d20 lower than their constitution become unconscious and will die of a wasting “disease” in 1-4 days. The “disease” is cured by Cure disease and Remove curse. Effects of the disease are only slowly repaired by the body after the cure. A victim might look ravaged five years after his cure if he was near death, and this may affect his charisma.

Radiation as a curse. I dig it.

Overall, I think I like Pulsipher's take a little better, using special powers instead of additional attacks to get the job done. Both would go into beefing up dragons in later editions.

Colleen A. Bishop hits on baby dragons with "Hatching is only the beginning ...", which covers little dragons from egg to birth. It's a long article, with lots of tables. Maybe worth a look if you're planning on having a baby dragon in the party for a while.

Robert Plamondon gets us off the dragon train and introduces some folks called the Kzinti. I don't suppose they need much introduction to the folks who read this blog. They're tough customers here, with 4+4 HD and two attacks per round. A small group could really bedevil a party, and they're Lawful Evil to boot. The article covers their arrival on D&D campaign worlds, their religion, social organization, magic, psionics, etc. Very thorough for a monster entry, but no info on them as a playable race.

For those interested in the history of the hobby, David F. Nalle's reviews of some old time 'zines may be of interest. He covers Abyss by Dave Nalle, Alarums & Excursions (such a great name) by Lee Gold, The Beholder by Mike G. Stoner, The Lords of Chaos by Nicolai Shapero, Morningstar by Phillip McGregor, Pandemonium by Robert Sacks, Quick Quincy Gazette by Howard Mahler, The Stormlord by Andreas Sarker, Trollcrusher, The Wild Hunt by Mark Swanson and Zeppelin.

Pulsipher has another article, a very long one with way more math than needed to deal with gaze attacks in D&D. Personally, I let people close their eyes entirely (and open themselves to all sorts of trouble), or try to avoid the monster's gaze and suffer a penalty to hit, etc.

Larry DiTillio's article on the glyphs in his campaign world didn't do much for me.

The Chapel of Silence by Mollie Plants is a prize winning dungeon at IDDC II. It's a relatively small dungeon, but looks like a good one. It begins with all the adventurers having a strange dream, and goes from there - maybe a well-worn idea now, but clever back in the day.

Back to rules articles, "The Ups and Downs of Riding High" by Roger E. Moore covers flying mounts. Its a pretty thorough look at all the potential flying mounts in AD&D at the time, and covers their diet (most are carnivores), advantages, disadvantages and how much weight they can carry. It's a useful article to keep in your pocket, in case somebody starts flying around on a dragon and you need some ideas on how to spice up the experience.

This advert caught my eye ...

At first, I assumed it was the old computer classic, but it's something entirely different.

The Dragon's Bestiary presents the Giant Vampire Frog by Alan Fomorin. How do you not love these guys?

Here's proof that Mark Herro was nobody's dummy ...

"Home computers may be the most important new consumer appliance to come along in decades. Any device that can control household lights and appliances, edit and type letters and reports, selectively monitor United Press International and the New York Stock Exchange, and play some great games besides, may be almost indispensable in the years to come."

Word up!

This issue had a couple cartoons of note. First, an argument that persists to this day ...

And an old take on Batman vs. Superman ... or Batman and Superman vs. something else

And as always, we finish with a bit of Wormy, as we begin to move into the wargaming story line ...

Have fun on the internet, and for God's sake, be kind to one another!

Courtly Love for Paladins

Here's another notion I came up with for Blood & Treasure Second Edition that I decided not to use in the rules, as it seemed to be just one more thing to stack on top of paladins. Although the ability is designed for paladins, it could be extended to any Lawful Good character if a referee wished. It is probably most useful in a chivalric campaign.

The ability is, of course, inspired by Lancelot and Guinevere.

Courtly Love

Before reaching 5th level, a paladin may select a charming man or woman as their object of courtly love. The chosen must have a Charisma score of 13 or higher, and must be a member of the aristocracy, nobility or royalty. They may be married, and must not be Chaotic. The paladin holds them up as an ideal and does heroic deeds in their name and for their favor. The paladin may not deny them requests, so long as they do not violate his alignment and code of conduct, though in disobeying the object of courtly love becomes displeased, and the paladin suffers a -1 penalty to attack and to all saving throws until they are again pleased. The paladin remains true to their courtly love forever - they may not "break up" with them without losing their paladin status.

When the paladin performs a heroic deed for their courtly love, there is a chance in 20 equal to the paladin’s level that their love is pleased and grants them a token (a scarf, a pin, a lock of hair, etc.) While in possession of this love token, the paladin may invoke the the following effects three times: Add his love's Charisma bonus to an attack roll, a damage roll or a saving throw.

When so pleased by their paladin, there is a percentage chance equal to the paladin’s Charisma score that the courtly love is overcome by emotion and attempts to seduce the paladin into a true romance. The paladin may not give in to this temptation without breaking his code and losing his paladin status. That being said, to refuse makes the courtly love displeased (see above). A Lawful love will not press the matter, but may suffer as per a geas if their love is not returned. A Neutral love will press the matter, forcing the paladin to pass a saving throw to resist the temptation. The TK may add the paladin's Wisdom bonus to the saving throw, but must subtract his love's Charisma bonus from the roll as well.

Uh oh - he better not try to turn undead any time soon ...

Don't Lose Your Barbaric Edge

This is a half-formed notion that came to me last night while working on Blood & Treasure Second Edition. It's not in that book, but I thought somebody might find it useful.

The idea of a "barbaric edge" comes from good old Robert E. Howard, who posited the notion that barbarians were in many ways superior to members of civilization, whether they be decadent nobles or downtrodden peasants. Barbarians in Howard's fiction are usually a cut above non-barbarians.

The Edge

In games, the barbaric edge allows you to treat one of the following ability scores - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution or Wisdom - as though it were an 18. Each morning, a person with the barbaric edge can decide which ability they will treat this way. Ability damage affects the temporary score, and the real score if the damage persists and the barbarian chooses to boost a different ability score from the one that was damaged.

Note that druids who boost Wisdom do gain extra spells for high Wisdom, but clerics do not unless they worship something wild and primordial. One might permit it for a cleric of Thor, for example, but not a cleric of Minerva.

Example: Crom the Barbarian (pictured above) wakes up one morning and stretches his iron sinews. He normally has a strength score of 13 (a +1 bonus). Today, he'll increase his bonus (but not his actual strength score) to +2. Tomorrow he might be feeling especially cat-like, and improve his +0 dexterity modifier to +1.

Gaining the Edge

How does one obtain a barbaric edge? By living rough in the wilderness and eschewing the soft pleasures of civilization. This means that the barbaric edge is open to any class, provided they do the following:

1) Always sleep outside in the wilderness; in a pinch, sleeping in an alley or field will do. This means no beds, no pillows - no more than an animal pelt to protect you from the elements.

2) Low retention of wealth; you can keep 10% of your found treasure to spend on equipment and gear (maybe more if you use a system that requires paying for training to level up), giving the rest away. Treasure is there to be won, not enjoyed - think of it as catch-and-release. Treasure not kept must either be discarded as though it were trash, given to others (who may not spend it on you) with a hearty sniff of contempt, or spent in a tavern on booze and sex (i.e. drinks on the house, and you must drink until you collapse or get in a rip-roaring fight).

3) No fancy clothes or armor; you retain the barbarian edge by wearing no more than leather armor or maybe a chainmail shirt if they are used in the campaign. You cannot wear silks and satin - really just a loincloth and sandals or fur boots will do when you're not fighting.

4) A lack of trust for civilization and civilized people. A barbarian can adventure with civilized men and women, but they must be kept at an emotional distance, and the barbarian must sneer at and criticize their soft living and decadent morality. This is primarily done through role playing.

5) A barbarian's food must come from his own hunting, gathering or fishing rather than from "iron rations" and magic. If this means going hungry, so be it. The barbarian may indulge in a tavern after an adventure, but only once and only in terms of a tavern crawl as in (2) above.

Losing the Edge

Breaking any of these rules means the barbaric edge is lost. No ability boosts. It can only be regained by living by the above rules for a full month of game time (or perhaps for two or three game sessions if that's easier to calculate). Only after that time spent living wild does the barbarian shake off the excesses of civilization and regain his barbaric edge.

Don't trust them Conan, they use rugs!